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The dead body floating thing happened in 1 or 2 states. My understanding is that dumping the body in Ganges is a cultural thing in some towns in those states. S

The dead body floating thing happened in 1 or 2 states. My understanding is that dumping the body in Ganges is a cultural thing in some towns in those states. Someone from there told me that the older generation wants their body to be thrown in Ganges or buried on the shore so that they can get 'moksha'.

statguy 5y ago
> The dead body floating thing happened in 1 or 2 states. Those were the worst hit states - UP and Bihar. What was observed during the second wave was not normal, something like that last happened in 1918 after the Spanish flu: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57068503 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57068503 "This is not the first time bodies have floated up in rivers in India during a pandemic. "The River Ganga was swollen with dead bodies", the famous Hindi language writer and poet, Suryakant Tripathi, better known as Nirala, wrote about the 1918 outbreak of Spanish flu in his village in a province which is now India's Uttar Pradesh state."
- nonamechicken 5y ago
  While I agree that we shouldn't be seeing bodies in rivers, I am not entirely convinced if Covid and Spanish flu in India are comparable. The below links say bodies were found in many rivers, not just Ganga. "A report released by the sanitary commissioner in 1918 later documented that it was not just Ganga that was clogged up with bodies, but all rivers across India." https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/an-unwanted-shipment-the-indian-experience-of-the-1918-spanish-flu/articleshow/74963051.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic_in_India I don't think if scenarios such as below are happening in India, the leftist Indian media would stay silent. “India perhaps never saw such hard times before. There is wailing on all sides. … There is neither village nor town throughout the length and breadth of the country which has not paid a heavy toll. Elsewhere, the Sanitary Commissioner of the Punjab noted, “the streets and lanes of cities were littered with dead and dying people … nearly every household was lamenting a death, and everywhere terror and confusion reigned.” https://theconversation.com/1918-flu-pandemic-killed-12-million-indians-and-british-overlords-indifference-strengthened-the-anti-colonial-movement-133605 https://theconversation.com/1918-flu-pandemic-killed-12-mill...
- nonamechicken 5y ago
  Just found out that there was a similar incident back in 2015 where they found more than 100 dead bodies in Ganges in the same region. It was also reported by BBC. Now I am wondering if BBC conveniently forgot that and went far back to 1918, just so that they can compare India's current situation to Spanish flu? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30808745 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30808745 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnao_dead_bodies_row https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnao_dead_bodies_row
valarauko 5y ago
It is NOT a cultural practice in either of these states to simply "dump the body" in the Ganges. The tradition is to scatter the ashes in the river. Wood burnig open air cremations along the river bank is the norm, which takes several hours to reduce a body to ashes & bone fragments. Under usual conditions, a family member would remain with the pyre till the end, and would collect the bone fragments, mostly the next day. A lot of the leftover material is wood ash, which would be deposited in the river directly by the crematorium workers. Historically when resources have been tight & crematoriums overwhelmed by epidemics in the past, a family member would not be present, and unscrupulous crematorium workers would overturn partly cremated bodies in the river to ensure fast turnover, which is what seems to have happened in 2020. Desperate families might also inter the bodies directly in the river.
- nonamechicken 5y ago
  Unless I misunderstood, someone I know from one of these 2 states recently told me their grandparent wanted to be disposed of like that. They said their generation or their parents don't believe in such practices. According to the below article, some communities do practice dumping body in Ganges. "He further informed that the practise of dead body being disposed in the rivers is prevalent in two particular stretches in central/eastern U.P. and the epicentre of which is in Kanpur Unnao region in central U.P and Banaras-Ghazipur area in eastern U.P" https://indianexpress.com/article/india/practice-of-bodies-being-dumped-in-rivers-prevalent-in-up-state-official-tells-centre-7334881/ https://indianexpress.com/article/india/practice-of-bodies-b... There was also another incident in 2015 from the same Unnao region where they found more than 100 bodies in Ganges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnao_dead_bodies_row https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnao_dead_bodies_row
  - srean 5y ago
    From the link that you pointed to Police officials of Unnao have offered an explanation that the bodies were of "people who were dumped in the river or buried on the banks after their families could not afford a proper cremation." You are trying hard to give the story a spin that dead bodies in the river in such numbers is nothing notable. Government contractors pressed into removing commemorative burial markers less they be counted by drones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLzIuMsnW0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLzIuMsnW0 Let me find something in English to give context on these shallow graves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q6hYu3EsC0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q6hYu3EsC0 (will give viewers an idea of the mindboggling scale of the phenomenon) The following videos are not in English but you should be able to get a sense of the numbers by looking at them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALO0VjfxXDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALO0VjfxXDA (pardon the annoying and unnecessary dramatization music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DWWeOt4jWM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DWWeOt4jWM

statguy 5y ago

> The dead body floating thing happened in 1 or 2 states. Those were the worst hit states - UP and Bihar. What was observed during the second wave was not normal, something like that last happened in 1918 after the Spanish flu: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57068503 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57068503 "This is not the first time bodies have floated up in rivers in India during a pandemic. "The River Ganga was swollen with dead bodies", the famous Hindi language writer and poet, Suryakant Tripathi, better known as Nirala, wrote about the 1918 outbreak of Spanish flu in his village in a province which is now India's Uttar Pradesh state."

nonamechicken 5y ago
While I agree that we shouldn't be seeing bodies in rivers, I am not entirely convinced if Covid and Spanish flu in India are comparable. The below links say bodies were found in many rivers, not just Ganga. "A report released by the sanitary commissioner in 1918 later documented that it was not just Ganga that was clogged up with bodies, but all rivers across India." https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/an-unwanted-shipment-the-indian-experience-of-the-1918-spanish-flu/articleshow/74963051.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic_in_India I don't think if scenarios such as below are happening in India, the leftist Indian media would stay silent. “India perhaps never saw such hard times before. There is wailing on all sides. … There is neither village nor town throughout the length and breadth of the country which has not paid a heavy toll. Elsewhere, the Sanitary Commissioner of the Punjab noted, “the streets and lanes of cities were littered with dead and dying people … nearly every household was lamenting a death, and everywhere terror and confusion reigned.” https://theconversation.com/1918-flu-pandemic-killed-12-million-indians-and-british-overlords-indifference-strengthened-the-anti-colonial-movement-133605 https://theconversation.com/1918-flu-pandemic-killed-12-mill...
nonamechicken 5y ago
Just found out that there was a similar incident back in 2015 where they found more than 100 dead bodies in Ganges in the same region. It was also reported by BBC. Now I am wondering if BBC conveniently forgot that and went far back to 1918, just so that they can compare India's current situation to Spanish flu? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30808745 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30808745 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnao_dead_bodies_row https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnao_dead_bodies_row

valarauko 5y ago

It is NOT a cultural practice in either of these states to simply "dump the body" in the Ganges. The tradition is to scatter the ashes in the river. Wood burnig open air cremations along the river bank is the norm, which takes several hours to reduce a body to ashes & bone fragments. Under usual conditions, a family member would remain with the pyre till the end, and would collect the bone fragments, mostly the next day. A lot of the leftover material is wood ash, which would be deposited in the river directly by the crematorium workers. Historically when resources have been tight & crematoriums overwhelmed by epidemics in the past, a family member would not be present, and unscrupulous crematorium workers would overturn partly cremated bodies in the river to ensure fast turnover, which is what seems to have happened in 2020. Desperate families might also inter the bodies directly in the river.

nonamechicken 5y ago
Unless I misunderstood, someone I know from one of these 2 states recently told me their grandparent wanted to be disposed of like that. They said their generation or their parents don't believe in such practices. According to the below article, some communities do practice dumping body in Ganges. "He further informed that the practise of dead body being disposed in the rivers is prevalent in two particular stretches in central/eastern U.P. and the epicentre of which is in Kanpur Unnao region in central U.P and Banaras-Ghazipur area in eastern U.P" https://indianexpress.com/article/india/practice-of-bodies-being-dumped-in-rivers-prevalent-in-up-state-official-tells-centre-7334881/ https://indianexpress.com/article/india/practice-of-bodies-b... There was also another incident in 2015 from the same Unnao region where they found more than 100 bodies in Ganges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnao_dead_bodies_row https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnao_dead_bodies_row
- srean 5y ago
  From the link that you pointed to Police officials of Unnao have offered an explanation that the bodies were of "people who were dumped in the river or buried on the banks after their families could not afford a proper cremation." You are trying hard to give the story a spin that dead bodies in the river in such numbers is nothing notable. Government contractors pressed into removing commemorative burial markers less they be counted by drones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLzIuMsnW0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLzIuMsnW0 Let me find something in English to give context on these shallow graves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q6hYu3EsC0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q6hYu3EsC0 (will give viewers an idea of the mindboggling scale of the phenomenon) The following videos are not in English but you should be able to get a sense of the numbers by looking at them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALO0VjfxXDA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALO0VjfxXDA (pardon the annoying and unnecessary dramatization music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DWWeOt4jWM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DWWeOt4jWM