Brit Ganges for funerals

River Soar in Leicestershire has been anointed with the Ganges water brought from India and approved as an alternative site for funeral rites.

The Environmental Agency restrictions did not allow funeral pyres on riverbanks in Britain. Most who believed in the traditional cremations had to resort to electric crematoriums for the cremation of family members.

HT Image

Now, although the revered Ganga, Yamuna or Krishna can not be transported to this country, the River Soar in Leicestershire has been approved as an alternative site for funerals. It has been anointed with the sprinkling of the Ganges water brought from India. Thus this British river is now declared as sacred.

Similarly other sites near the Thames and Wye have also been approved. The immense pressure from the Indian communities has made the Environmental Agency approve that ashes of the dead Hindus or Sikhs can be scattered across the water. The population of those who believe in cremation is estimated to be nearly 300,000.

A boat company has also been approved to provide service for funerals. Priest Shastriji Prakasbhai Pandya, who conducts the funeral rite has accepted the River Soar as an alternative. "When I close my eyes this (river Soar) could be the Ganges," he told the Sunday Telegraph.

The ceremonies are allowed on a secluded river bend, where the Soar meets the River Wreake. Chanting and bells are also allowed. The boats are available for £55. The boat agency owner told the paper that he has been taking two booking a week.

A spokesman of the Environmental Agency informed that the water at the site is analysed every month but so far officers "have never found anything amiss".

The site at the river Soar is already becoming a major destination. A family which performed rites there said many old people who came for the funeral said that they would like to be brought there rather being taken to India.