Another archaic rite consigned to flames

KOCHI: The Namboothiri community is planning to stop the use of ritually prescribed wood pyre for its members' funerals and instead use electric crematoriums, a move that will amount to jettisoning one more vestige of its ultra-orthodox heritage.
Interestingly, the Yogakshema Sabha's Amritam Charitable Trust said that they have decided to shift to an electric crematorium because wood pyres increased carbon footprints and created air pollution in the neighbourhood.It will also be the first crematorium in the state that will be privately owned. P Sajeevan, chairman of State Pollution Control Board, confirmed this. "Only panchayats or municipal bodies have hitherto run electric crematoriums."
The Sabha has located land near Thripunithara for the electric crematorium and is now in talks with local bodies for getting permission for the project.
The proposed electric crematorium, which will provide helpline services like 24/7 ambulance, will also be open for other castes. "The Advaita Vedanta clearly says that once the soul leaves the body then mortal remains are insignificant," said Malathi Devi, secretary of Yogakshema Sabha.
The around 3.5 lakh Namboothiri population in the state, whose number has been steadily dwindling over the years thanks to large-scale migration and inter-caste marriage, has been finding it difficult to adhere to elaborate sanskritic rituals connected with traditional cremation.
With land reforms having taken an irreversible toll on most of the sprawling illams - traditional Namboothiri households - most families are forced to conduct funerals in their five-cent backyards which are objected to by their neighbours.
"Recently, one Namboothiri family based in Ernakulam was forced to take the body of their relatives all the way to Palakkad as they didn't have enough land to conduct the funeral in the traditional way. This kind of adherence to dogma is one reason that alienated us from other communities," said Malathi Devi.