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It’s no fun working with the dead at Aryaghat
KATHMANDU, JAN 06 - With his tinged hair and trendy sunglasses, Govind Koirala, 30, would be taken for a dandy in a crowd. However, his fashionable appearance is limited only to his off-duty hours.
For Koirala has been working as a ghat attendant at the Pashupati Aryaghat for the last nine years.
"I grew up in the surroundings and was well accustomed to seeing dead bodies before I started the job," he said as he prepared to begin the day’s work on a recent afternoon, his eyes fixed on a body that lay on the Bagmati banks.Along the holy banks in he vicinity of Pashupatinath temple, one of Hinduism’s holiest shrines, cremation is a daily event. The bereaved ones attend the ceremony for a few hours and go their ways.However, for the ghat attendants, the wails of the bereaved, the desolate cremation ceremony and the not-too-pleasant job of adjusting the crackling logs further ignited by the issuing fat of the dead body are a part of everyday life.
Most of the cremation attendants are taciturn fellows with an unexplained distaste for media. Those who speak, after being thoroughly cajoled, do so with as little words as possible. It is difficult to say if this is any indication of their mental being because in all other terms they live a normal life.
There are 21 ghat attendants at the Pashupati Aryaghat. They work on a roster and cremate at least four bodies a week. Many outsiders wonder if everyday handling of dead bodies impairs their impression of death.
"No," said Koirala, "My hands tremble even today when I cremate young children."
Elderly ghat attendants seem less sentimental, though.
"I’ve seen life but I’ve also scrutinised death," said Kabi Prasad Satyal who, at 66, manifests more disgust for the world than death itself. "Death is not worth contemplation for it is only natural; what is worth considering is the greed that man can’t part with."His irritation at the mention of his family becomes more incomprehensible when he retorts with replies like "Nobody is yours, you are nobody’s!" While this could be viewed as the consequence of his 25-years-old career as a ghat attendant, it could also be explained by his hardships as a youth, which he just touches upon but does not elaborate.The social life of ghat attendants is similar to that of normal people. "We live a normal life as that of others," said Koirala. "There are no instances of our children being the victims of stigma and discrimination."
Being immune to the nauseating smoke, smell and sight of the dead is the quality one cannot pursue the job without. However, they grow not to notice it, according to another ghat attendant Ram Kumar Sapkota.
"The job is a full-fledged profession now, and all we care about is providing good service to those who approach us."
Most of the attendants come from neighbouring districts of the Kathmandu Valley.
There is no caste bar to become a ghat attendant but one has to be able to guide the mourners through the ritual of cremation as per Hindu creed, according to Raju Kumar Regmi of the Ghat Management Committee.
Some took up this job because they found it normal, while others did so after they couldn’t do well in their studies and had no other options."After my father ceased to work, this was the only profession that I could take up to provide for my family," says Ram Prasad Sapkota, another ghat attendant.
According to Regmi, most of the attendants also have tiny stalls selling flowers and offerings in the temple’s premises while others continue to pursue private businesses. They earn Rs. 450 for cremating a body; on this account, their monthly income sums to a modest Rs.7,200."It’s enough to meet our basic needs," said Sapkota.Posted on: 2004-01-07 04:25
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