Shri Devo Uthan Sewa Samiti, Delhi, sets a record by immersing the ashes of about one lakh unclaimed dead bodies in Ganga
In Hinduism, the last rites of a person remains incomplete until his/her ashes are immersed into any holy river, like the Ganga. There are many departed souls, who due to various reasons do not get this opportunity after death and are believed to remain restless. The number of such souls is found more in metro cities than the small towns or villages. Shri Devo Uthan Sewa Samiti of Delhi took up the cause and has so far immersed the ashes of such 92,648 people into the Ganga. The Samiti is dedicated so deeply to the cause that it brought the ashes of hundreds of Hindus from various parts of Pakistan and immersed them into the Ganga following all rituals. Now it is working on collecting the ashes of 1965 Indo-Pak war Indian soldiers who died in different Pakistani jails and their ashes are kept there. A request to this effect has already been made to Kotlakhpat Jail Superintendent in Lahore. The Samiti has also now requested the Uttarakhand Government to handover the ashes of all those who were killed during the recent tragedy so that it can perform all the remaining rituals for them.
Pramod Kumar
Growing modernisation has adversely affected the human values, bond of relations and also the depth of sensitiveness on part of the human beings. The crematoriums are also not untouched from this deterioration, as the ashes of many people wait there for decades to be immersed into any river. Since there is no mourner or claimant for such bodies all the rituals to be performed after death remain incomplete. A recent study conducted by Delhi Police points out that the number of unclaimed bodies is steadily rising every year. On an average, 10 unclaimed bodies are found in Delhi every day and more than 70 per cent of them are found in main city areas.
Normally, the ashes of three kinds of people are found un-immersed in metro cities. First, those who are genuinely homeless, and second of those whose family members are extra modern and they do not have time to immerse them into the river. The third are of those people whose family members are very poor and do not have money for the rituals.
Shri Devo Uthan Sewa Samiti started this work in 2003 and during the last 10 years (up to October 5, 2012) it has immersed the ashes of 92,648 unclaimed bodies from different crematoriums of Delhi in Haridwar. It was done with full respect and according to Vedic traditions. In 2011, the Samiti activists brought the ashes of Hindus from the crematoriums of Pakistan where they were waiting for decades to be immersed into the Ganga. “We aim to grow our network in all the countries wherever the Hindus live and want to ensure that their ashes are immersed into the Ganga following all rituals. The Samiti is building network for it and in coming years a strong mechanism will be in place,” says Shri Vijay Sharma, general secretary of the Samiti and a Delhi based journalist working with Sandhya Veer Arjun. He basically conceptualised the task in 2002 while doing a news story on crematoriums of Delhi. Shri Anil Narendra, owner of Veer Arjun, is president of the Samiti. Mahant Surendranath Avadhoot of Kalkaji Temple and noted Yoga guru Baba Ramdev also have blessed the campaign.
First time on June 6, 2003, the ashes of 4,183 unclaimed bodies were immersed at Kushaghat of Haridwar. Those ashes were stored in different crematoriums since 1998. The first attempt received appreciation from one and all. Encouraged over it, the Samiti started collecting the ashes of unclaimed bodies from different crematoriums and immersed them into the Ganga every year during pitrapaksh. The Samiti workers perform all rituals including pindadaan, shradh, tarpan and havan for the mukti of the departed souls. Since the year 2011 the Samiti has also started performing dasva for permanent peace of the departed souls.
When asked how the ashes were collected from Pakistan, Shri Sharma points out, “In the year 2007 a news item was published in Hindi daily Amar Ujala referring to the ashes of Hindus kept in different crematoriums of Karachi. We established contact with some people there. After one and a half month we received a phone call from one Mahant Shri Ramnath Mishra of Panchmukhi Hanuman temple in Karachi who informed us that ashes of many dead bodies were kept in a library. Those were the ashes of 128 people. Forty two of them had description, while rest were nameless. Those ashes had been kept there for the last 40 years. With the tireless efforts of four years the Samiti got permission from Pakistan and Indian authorities to bring the ashes to India. Finally, the ashes were brought to New Delhi in 2011. In the year 2007, the number of those ashes was 128 but by the year 2011 it increased to 135. Mahant Ramnath Mishra, along with his 11 associates, visited India with those ashes.”
Encouraged over it, the Samiti has now decided to bring the ashes of Indian soldiers who were caught during the 1965 Indo-Pak war and later died in Pakistani jails. Their ashes have been kept in Kotlakhpat Jail of Lahore. “The Samiti wishes to bring those ashes to India and immerse them into the Ganga with full respect. A dialogue with the Indian and Pakistani authorities has already begun. We hope to get them shortly,” points out Shri Sharma. Apart from it, the Samiti has also started efforts to bring the so-called ashes of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose from Japan to respectfully immerse them into the Ganga. The Japanese authorities have informed the Samiti that some family members of Netaji were going to visit the place where the ashes have been kept and any decision will be taken only after consulting them.
The initative of the Samiti has now crossed Delhi border. The Samiti activists collect the ashes of unclaimed bodies from different crematoriums of NCR and after bringing them to Ghazipur crematorium, which has been developed as a collection centre, they collectively immerse them in Haridwar with full respect following all the rituals. This year such a function is scheduled to be held on September 20. Now in many crematoriums of different states specific signboards have been installed informing the people that if the ashes of their dead one were not collected from the crematorium within 60 days, they would be handed over to Shri Devo Uthan Sewa Samiti to be immersed into the Ganga.
With this unique initiative, the Samiti is trying to prove that it is the claimant of all those who are alone in this world.
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