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| Cremation happens the same day a person dies. After a few hours at home, the body is transported on a slab accompanied by drums and tambourines making happy sounds to the Ganges river where it is dipped into the water. The family has to buy the wood for the pyre, which is carefully weighed. The oldest son walks around the pyre five times, then sets fire to the wood. Certain types cannot be cremated, but are thrown in the middle of the Ganges with stones tied to the bodies: Children under five (who know nothing of life, therefore are not worthy of cremation), pregnant women (they have a child inside them), lepers, snake bite victims or accident victims (non-natural death). Besides the dead bodies, sewage is dumped into the Ganges. Faecal coliform bacteria count is 1.5 million per 100 ml of water; the safe figure is less than 500. About 60,000 Indians bathe daily in a 7-kilometer stretch of this holy river. |