Funeral Services Provided by a Woman

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KERALA, INDIA, August 5, 2003: After her husband abandoned her twenty years ago, Gomathi, a Palghat brahmin, took the advice of an uncle and began to offer her services to bereaved families. Within hours of hearing about the death in a family, Gomathi arrives with a priest, books the crematorium and a hearse, and she even accompanies the body to the funeral pyre. Even though Hindu women are not traditionally involved with last rites, the brahmins who received funeral agent services from Gomathi were impressed and grateful for her service. Gomathi’s daughter Karpagam, who lost her husband a few years ago, also works with her mother. The mother and daughter team have handled more than 10,000 funerals. One brahmin gentleman, who was unable to attend his mother’s funeral, asked Gomathi to light the funeral pyre. He knew from past experience when his father died that the ceremony would be handled sensitively. Venkatraman of the Brahmin Sabha says, “When Gomathi displayed courage to take this as her profession, we were morally bound to support her.”