LONDON, ENGLAND, March 21, 2009: An aging Hindu residing in Britain is fighting for the right to have a natural cremation on a funeral pyre, per Hindu tradition. Government lawyers are contending this would be abhorrent to the majority of the British population.
Davender Kumar Ghai, a devout 70-year-old Hindu who has lived in Britain since 1958, is the founding president of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society; he has been awarded a Unesco Peace Gold Medal and an Amnesty International lifetime achievement award. He is in poor health, and his final wish is to die in the knowledge that his son will be allowed to cremate him according to Hindu tradition to ensure the liberation of his soul. “I have lived my entire life by the Hindu scriptures. I now yearn to die by them and I do not believe that natural cremation grounds — as long as they were discreet, designated sites far from urban and residential areas — would offend public decency. My loyalty is to Britain’s values of fairness, tolerance and freedom. If I cannot die as a true Hindu, it will mean those values have died too.”
The National Council for Hindu Priests, in common with most British Hindu organizations, supports Ghai’s claim, viewing it as a significant campaign to promote Hindu religious freedom in the UK.