MAKING A LIVING OUT OF DEAD PEOPLE…
We all travel for a variety of reasons mostly its business or pleasure. I embarked upon a journey since I was dejected with life, as my failures had surpassed my list of successes. I had become a recluse and solitude was the company I chose. The thought of seeking the purpose of my life, haunted my mind so I decided to head to the saintly City of Kashi, India, seeking solace in spirituality.
With nothing particular in my mind I landed at the holy Ganges or the river Ganga which flows from the Himalayas passing through different states of India before reaching the sea. One of the places it passes through during its long journey is Kashi, a holy city situated on the banks of Ganga in UttarPradesh.
As you enter the Ghats (a series of steps leading down to a body of water) Manikarnika ghats and Harishchandra ghats in Kashi you notice, dirty dogs fighting over a piece of flesh fallen from the pyre, the air filled with the fragrance of burning ghee (clarified butter) and incense and amidst this you spot, sweating individuals wearing white dhoti-kurta (an Indian style clothing), mouth stained with paan (betel leaf with cured tobacco for psychoactive stimulation) and sitting besides burning dead bodies. They are the kings of the Dom dynasty called Dom rajas.
Dom rajas are lean, thin and strong men who sit amidst the dead bodies that have been brought to the two ghats to be fed to the flames. These Dom rajas have existed since the Hindu laws of burning the dead had been written. They have been making a business out of selling piles of wood and cans of ghee, arranging pyres for all the dead who have been brought for moksha or salvation to these ghats. Traditionally it is always the youngest son of the family who becomes the Dom raja of the next generation. It is said that the heir to the throne waits for a divine sign from Lord Shiva before the coronation. The coronation involves a dawn to dusk ceremony to please Baba Shamshan Nath a variation of Shiva, the destroyer of life.
A conversation with a Dom Raja gave me an insight to their legend “According to the legend Godess Parvati, the wife of Shiva, lost the solitaire of her ear pendant while bathing at the Manikarnika ghat. She requested Shiva to ask the pandits (priests) conducting rituals on the ghats to search for it. Although the pandits found the solitaire, they debated over informing Shiva because telling Shiva would mean losing the opportunity of seeing Parvati. The pandits who did not want the find, revealed to Shiva. An infuriated Shiva cursed and condemned the pandits to becoming chandals (Chandal is a Sanskrit word for someone who deals with disposal of corpses) for the rest of their lives. Knowing nothing besides conducting rituals, the cursed pandits pleaded for mercy. Shiva obliged them by forgiving and granting, that besides being chandals they could also conduct rituals and would still be the guardians of the fire on the ghats. Ever since then the doms and their kings have been the guardians of an undying fire that still burns at the ghats and is used to set the pyre alight.
I started wondering about the purpose of the lives of these people and went into introspection about my own life. I belonged to a different social strata altogether and it was my ongoing comparison with others ‘successful’ in terms of societal values which made me feel depressed at the start of this journey. But only after seeing these Dom Rajas and their way of living for generations made me realize that life often has its own ways of teaching you things. The meaning of Life for me changed thereafter and if it hadn’t been for these insights that the City of Kashi offered, I wouldn’t have been more grateful about my life.
This experience made me feel strong and hopeful about my life. The first thing I did was offer gratitude for everything good that was bestowed upon me. This place changed my way of thinking about life. Little did I know that a clan of people would change my thinking forever, a clan who were Making a living out of Dead people.
Thank you for reading and commenting. Please enter the Gratitude Travel Writing competition and tell your story.
