UNITED KINGDOM, May 17, 2012 (BBC): Bristol’s Hindu community may be able to scatter the ashes of loved ones in the River Avon in future rather than travelling to India’s River Ganges. The city’s new Lord Mayor Peter Main said providing a consecrated site was one of his first priorities. The Environment Agency and Bristol City council are trying to identify a site.
Mr Main said: “It’s their tradition to scatter ashes on water and quite often now they’re flown back to India to do that. “They’re Bristolian, most are born and bred in Bristol, why shouldn’t they have somewhere in Bristol to scatter their ashes?”
Parag Bhatt, from Bristol Hindu Temple, said it was difficult for a big family or elderly relatives to travel to India. Mr. Bhatt said there were currently about 10,000 Hindus in Bristol and the surrounding area. But he added: “It’s not just the Bristol Hindu community that’s going to benefit, it will be other communities like the Sikh and Buddhist as well.
Scattering ashes in British rivers is not new. The River Soar in Leicestershire and the River Thames in London are already used.