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Tag: India

India, with its rich cultural heritage and deep religious traditions, provides a profound setting for cremation practices and scattering ashes. This diverse country offers a variety of sacred and serene locations to honour your loved ones. From the holy waters...

What ashes mean - Arundhati Roy's Memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me

What Ashes Really Mean: A More Honest Way to Understand Grief

What Arundhati Roy’s Memoir says so brilliantly that allows the complex emotion of grief the space to breathe. I was walking our dog Mabel when Arundhati Roy stopped me in my tracks. I’d borrowed her memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me from my local library through BorrowBox — the kind of accidental discovery that reminds […]

Taking Ashes from the UK to India — The Full Low-Down

If a family wants to take cremated ashes from the UK to India (for scattering or immersion in a sacred river, or ritual in India), there are multiple layers of paperwork, airline/transport regulations, consular formalities and practical logistics. Let’s walk through it step-by-step. To be honest it is a bit of a headache – so […]

Hindu Celebrant – Sonal Dave – Ashes Puja Ceremony

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A compassionate, personalised farewell guided with care and understanding Losing a loved one is one of the hardest journeys we face in life. Alongside grief, there can be expectations, advice, traditions, and many voices telling you what should happen and how it should be done. At times, this can feel overwhelming — especially when you […]

Ashes Scattered in the Ganges: Hindu Asthi Visarjan Service in Varanasi

Ashes Scattered in the Ganges: Hindu Asthi Visarjan Service in Varanasi Many Hindu families build their lives far from India, yet their final wish — or the wish of their loved ones — may still be deeply rooted in tradition. One of the most sacred of these traditions is the desire to have a person’s […]

Taking The Ashes Back to the Ganges – Honour and Headache

Over the years, I’ve spoken to countless Hindu families from across the UK, and many have shared their stories of taking ashes back to India to be scattered on the holy River Ganges. Ordinarily, this sacred duty falls to the eldest son, if there is one — and it’s no small undertaking. It’s part spiritual […]

Scattering Cremation Ashes over the Holy Ganges

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Scattering Ashes over the Ganges: A Sacred Hindu Ceremony For Hindus, the River Ganges — or Mother Ganga — is far more than water. She is a goddess, a purifier, and a divine bridge between life and liberation. Cremation and the final scattering of ashes into her sacred waters are central to Hindu belief, symbolising […]

Where in the World is Cremation the Most Common Choice?

Where in the World is Cremation the Most Common Choice? Cremation is now the most common choice in much of the developed world — but where is it most popular, and why?The answers say as much about culture and belief as they do about land, law, and modernity. This comparison draws primarily on data from […]

Ashes, Bones, and Belief – When Ritual Crosses the Line

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I’ve written before about how different cultures treat ashes with reverence, symbolism, and sometimes surprising creativity. But every now and then, a story surfaces that’s both fascinating and troubling — where tradition and taboo meet at the cremation ground. Such was the case recently in Kathmandu, Nepal, where two men were arrested for allegedly stealing […]

Ashes on a Road Trip – Indian Movie

There has not been much in the way of films and film festivals this year, however Tokyo manged to have theirs and there was one entrant from India. Karkhanisanchi Waari – Ashes on a Road Trip Synopsis: The Karkhanis family is the last joint family in Pune. When the eldest patriarch in the family passes […]

Gandhi’s ashes urn stolen

Gandhi’s ashes urn stolen Gandhi’s ashes urn stolen. Mahatma Gandhi, considered by many Indians to be ‘the father of the Nation’, has had his 150th Birthday celebrations slightly marred. An urn containing a portion of his ashes was stolen from the Bapu Bhawan memorial in the state of Madhya Pradesh, and a poster of the […]

Flower Symbolism for Water Ceremonies

Flower Symbolism for Water Ceremonies Flower Symbolism for Water Ceremonies. Using flowers can add a very special element to your ceremony. You can add different flowers simply because you like them. Or you might like to add flowers because they mean something symbolic to you, your family or your beliefs. Flowers can be a central […]

Hindu Scattering Service on the Ganges in India

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The Hindu population of the UK increases year on year, in the last census in 2011 817,000 people in England and Wales identified themselves as Hindus which is 1.5% of the population. A proportion of these would loved to have their ashes placed in the Ganges in India after their death. For some time we have […]

Ashes stored in an Ashes Bank in Uttar Pradesh’s India

There is now a solution for a problem that a number of Hindus face. According to some certain traditions ashes of a cremated relative can’t be taking home for 14 days. So what do the families do with the ashes in between cremation and when they can take them home? So Yug Dadhichi Deh Dan […]

Aussie Cricketer in a Wonderful Act of Charity

I can’t say I haven’t always been that charitable towards the Australian cricket team, today I have been humbled by Steve Waugh the ex-captain of Australia for his wonderful act of kindness. Mr Waugh is often going to and from India from his wider charity work this time he had a special reason to visit. […]

A serene Kerala churchyard beside a traditional Mar Thoma Syrian Church

Mar Thoma Syrian Church – Cremation is now allowed

The various religions in the world is a constant source of wonder to me. The various sects seems never ending, here is a new one on me, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church – never heard of it? It has over a million followers. Although as religions go this fairly unique. It is a Syrian Christian […]

The mystery of the ashes of the Indian nationalist Netaji

Unresolved questions and legends about the final resting place of Netaji’s ashes Subhas Chandra Bose, known more commonly as just Netaji is a famous figure in the Indian nationalist movement. During the second world war he pursued a number of routes to try and get the British out of Indian, first courting the Germans and […]

The environmental cost of cremation in India

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How Traditional Funeral Pyres Impact Trees, Air Quality and Emissions I would argue that the environmental impact of cremation is less than burial, there is a need to compare two issues which are difficult to equate – Carbon versus land-take. I think the land-take is a more significant issue. The argument is even more in favour […]

A festival that involves throwing cremation ash at one another

Cultural context behind a controversial ash-throwing tradition Varanasi, India is famous and unique. A holy Hindu city whose principal business is death, many families take their loved ones to be cremated there, while western eyes may view it as macabre, the locals have a very different take. Reincarnation is a fundamental part of the Hindu […]

Crazy way to cure an illness: with cremation ashes!

Unusual Healing Ritual in India Involving Cremation Ashes I am not saying Western Medicine is the be-all and end-all, but some supposed cures and remains are just plain bonkers. In Salepur, situated in Odisha north east India, a self-styled godman has come up with an interesting approach to aliments. Pretend you are dead, the evil […]

Prominent Indian Hindu to have his ashes scattered in a number of holy rivers

The late Bal Thackeray, the revered Shiv Sena chief, who passed away last month, will have his ashes scattered in various sacred rivers across India, fulfilling his final wishes. Thackeray’s ashes are set to be immersed in a selection of spiritually significant rivers including Harihareshwar, Nashik, Haridwar, Kashi, and Kanyakumari among others, reflecting the profound […]

An Ashes Tour With a Difference

Travelling to Spread Ashes in Meaningful Places I do occasional get a stray cricket fan coming to the site in the mistaken belief I have some insight into the fabulous test series between England and Australia. Well hopefully if you are one of those very people you will like this post and raise a glass […]

Pakistani Hindus allowed visas to visit Haridwar to scatter ashes

A Long-Awaited Journey: Pakistani Hindu Families Finally Able to Scatter Ashes in the Ganges Pakistani Hindu families have finally been granted visas allowing them to travel to India and scatter the ashes of their loved ones in the sacred waters of the River Ganges — a moment they have been waiting for, in some cases, […]

Origins of Scattering Cremated Ashes – Part II: The Jat Tribe

The origins of scattering cremated ashes are, unsurprisingly, claimed by more than one culture and belief system. In an earlier piece, I explored whether the roots of the practice in Western thinking might be traced back to Norse mythology. Since then, several people have been in touch to suggest other, much older origins — particularly from South […]