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Online cremations unite Hindu world
By Nick Easen
(CNN) -- It may seem morbidly voyeuristic to some, but watching the cremations of loved ones on the Internet is proving popular with hi-tech Hindus worldwide. Sanjay Patel sat in his bedroom in Atlanta, Georgia to do just that. He watched his grandmother cremated -- via a Webcam -- in the little town of Sidhpur, India. "I was able to get a live feed to the funeral, I was really surprised, I thought it was impossible," Patel told CNN. "I am sitting here 10,000 kilometers away, it was amazing," he reiterated. Patel was unable to attend his grandmother's last rites at Muktidham crematorium in Gujarat state. So his father, who was there, gave him a number so he could dial in. And with the click of a mouse he could view the ceremony online. The process is facilitated by the Muktidham crematorium -- a fully computerized funeral charity that allows Indians overseas "to watch online [the] last ritual of their nearest and dearest," courtesy of Yahoo! Messenger. The charity is helping the Hindu religion go hi-tech, allowing Patel and a growing number of the vast Gujarati Diaspora across the globe, are turning to Webcasts to keep the faith. Since mid-May, Muktidham which sits on the banks of the holy Saraswati River about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Ahmedabad, has broadcast 15 to 20 funerals over the Internet. The Muktidham trust believes there is a growing need for the service. "It will be more popular in the future, even in five or six months," Dilet Kumar Pandi, Joint Manager Trustee told CNN. In Hindu traditions, it is normally customary for relatives and extended family to make the journey home to India for the all-important funeral ceremony. Yet costly travel and the immediacy of Hindu cremations after death mean that families are often either caught unawares or out of pocket, when considering their duty to the dead. Now a well-placed Webcam at Muktidham is proving to traverse any distance between mourners and the ceremony. "People in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and Germany, they all want to see the last moment," Gautam Dave, chairman of the Muktidham trust told CNN. Using Webcam technology, the ritual washing of the body, ceremonies and lighting of the funeral pyre can all be viewed on a remote TV screen. The service is normally accompanied with a donation to the trust. In a tradition dating more than 3,500 years, Hindus are cremated on riversides and their ashes immersed in holy waters. Hindus believe the ceremony releases the soul from the body for its heavenward journey and frees it from the cycle of reincarnation. The more people that see the ceremony the greater chance it has of breaking the cycle. "The soul looks at who is coming and who is not coming, if it is on the Internet, more people will see everything, and they (the dead) will have a better chance of getting to heaven," Pandi told CNN. The Webcast can also be educational to overseas Hindus. In India, where 83 percent of an estimated 900 million people are Hindu, the sight of a waterside cremation and bodies engulfed in flames is part of the daily cycle of life. But for many grief-stricken overseas families the sight is likely to be unfamiliar. "They [overseas Webcam users] can now see and learn more about the funeral procession," says Pandi. India is also using the Web for other religious ceremonies: Pujas -- a Hindu prayer service, marked by chanting of ancient verses and worship of fire are now available on the Internet. Web sites now offer to conduct prayer rituals for a fee at temples across India. It is an extension of a tradition in Hinduism that one person can perform a temple prayer for another. Family members also do it often for each other. With some of India's holy Hindu sites and holy people getting savvy with today's technology combined with a large overseas Indian community across the globe and surging Internet usage across the subcontinent, it is likely Hindu Web services will mushroom in the future.
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