Ashish Kashyap voluntarily shovels the ashes of the unclaimed dead bodies from a large pile cremated at Nigam Bodh Ghat crematorium in New Delhi, where the bodies are burning round-a-clock because of the high number of deaths in the city.
The ashes of the burnt bodies are not collected by the family members, because maybe they are afraid of virus in crowded sites. Therefore Ashish Kashyap collects the ashes in a gunny bag and later immerses them in the Ganga river.
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As per Hindu methodology, Hindus cremate the dead bodies and the ashes are immersed in the holy river like Ganga in order to show respect and importance to the deceased. It is believed that this helps to attain ‘Moksha’ or salvation from the cycle of life and death.
Kashyap said, “During this pandemic, the relatives of these victims have abandoned them. However, our organization collects these remains from all the crematoriums in the capital city and performs the last rituals in Haridwar, so that they can achieve salvation.”
Ashish and his teammates from Shri Deodhan Sewa Samiti Volunteer Group collect the ashes and bone fragments after the cremation and later wash them with milk and water followed by the prayers. After this, they visit Haridwar, Uttarakhand, and perform religious ceremonies there.
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Vijay Sharma, Ashish’s teammate said that the group has been performing the last rites for two decades for the people whose bodies are not claimed by the relatives or those who are not financially capable to perform the last rites at Haridwar.
But now due to the high number of deaths and overflowing dead bodies in the cremation halls due to coronavirus their work has been increased. Last year, during the first wave of Covid-19 they have collected nearly 3,700 dead bodies and now during the second wave, the number has been increased by several times.