The Crematorium

September 14, 2013

Where you check out.

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही।।

Just as a person casts off worn-out garments and puts on others that are new, even so does the embodied soul cast off worn-out bodies and take on others that are new.

Chapter 2, Shloka 22 of the Bhagavad Gita.
Translation from The Bhagavad Gita by S. Radhakrishnan (George Allen and Unwin, 1948).

The Hindu cremation grounds in India is known in Sanskrit as smashaana. Traditionally and to this day, the tasks associated with the dispatch of corpses are handled by men from the chandala varna.

I spent a morning observing Balappa Kholkar go about his work at the crematorium in the St. Inez area of Panjim. He has worked here for almost 30 years, and is today in the employ of the Corporation for the City of Panjim (CCP).

We have some music to go with this theme. Verse: Kabir, Voice: Lakshmi Shankar, Composer: Murli Manohar Swarup.