Manikarnika Ghat in Banaras: The Community That Lives Amidst Death

 

This 'baithak' of people on a random day. People discussing issues… Politics, weather and society, NO.

These people are discussing death, the number of death to be specific.

How many bodies have been cremated today, what's the amount of wood used and what have been the earnings?

The family members of the person dead have done any issues regarding the money or the rituals?

These are some insights from their discussion.

Banaras: The Holiest City in the Country

I belong to a city older than history, the majestic city of spiritualism, serenity, and devotion.

Banaras is famous for a lot of things but the evident one being the 84 ghats laid out in a semi-circular shape. I have been in awe of the beauty of the ghats but there was always one of them which made me anxious and frightened. The Burning ghat of Varanasi- Manikarnika ghat.

Even when I took boat rides on the Ganges, I used to look away when Manikarnika ghat came in front of me. This ghat is the holiest cremation ground situated alongside the Ganges. One must find a way through the crowd and very narrow lanes to reach the place.

 

Community Responsible For Cremation

It is believed that when someone is cremated here the person attains Moksha or Salvation.

The cremation process never stops here, it goes on for 24 hours. There is a flambeau of fire which never simmers down because there's always some or the other body ready for cremation.

There is one very crucial group of people without whom neither Manikarnika's existence would be justified nor would the cycle of cremation continue. This community, involved in the process of cremation is the Dom community. From collecting and selling wood, and decorating the pyre, to providing fire for the body, everything is taken care of by them.

I wonder if I am so afraid of a mere visual of death, how do these people manage to do this job round the clock? How is their life? What is their life like? How do they sleep at night after encountering such disturbing scenes?

These were the questions that consequently led me to explore and know more about the community. The moment I entered the premises of the ghat I encountered a huge pile of wood. I saw a person, belonging to the Dom community, cutting the wood. This wood comes from nearby districts like Chandauli and from parts of Madhya Pradesh. It arrives on the other side of the river and is transported on boats to this side. It is nearly impossible to bring any truck or heavy transport vehicles to the narrow lanes leading to Manikarnika.

 

More About the "Dom" Community

People get to choose the kind of wood they would prefer, the cheap or the expensive. 'Chandan ki lakdi' or sandalwood is one of the most expensive ones. Then there are clothes in which the dead body is wrapped. The pyre is decorated with a range of things like garlands, ghee etc., which are all available here in the shops adjoining the ghat. Multiple pyres are often burnt together. Since each body takes time to burn completely, the family usually appoints a person from the community to take care of it. Later the family can collect the ashes and put them in the holy water of the Ganges as a part of the tradition.

These Dom community people work according to shifts and live nearby. For the majority of them, it is their ancestral tradition which is going on to date as the younger generation keeps on joining the legacy. I was hesitant to ask if all of this is disturbing for them and makes a difference in their lives? They simply answered that it is their work. They believe that the body has to be submerged in the soil one or other day and that is why they do this with all their heart because they know that death is inevitable. They have been doing this for years and it has now become a part of their life.

I was numb and had no further questions because I could not simply make peace with whatever was happening around me.

I finally went to meet the 'Dom raja', the head of the community and the one who coordinates and supervises everything and everybody at the ghat. The Dom Raja was reluctant to talk and I had to wait for a long time to speak to him and click his photograph. He talked about how this process is continuing for ages and will continue further. People sat around him and a 'baithak' was happening, including the 'hisab-kitab' as they mentioned. 

Money is a very important factor in the whole process. There are no charges to cremate a body at Manikarnika but the government has set prices for the wood. The most interesting aspect, which is also a mystery, is that the fire has to be given by someone from the Dom community itself otherwise the body will not be able to catch fire.

End Note

There is this belief that a superpower has created the world, the almighty, the divine source whatever one may call it. But while I was having a conversation with the dom people they said that if a dead person has no one to offer fire to the pyre they themselves do it.

They do the cremation process irrespective of the fact that they know nothing about the person.

If creation can be divine then why not the culmination?

These people are the mediators through which an individual reaches from this world to another.

So what they do is not divine?

Is it not as respectable and as recognisable as other professions in the world?

Some questions to ponder upon.

Written by: Prabhveet Kaur

Edited by: Nidhi Jha