COVID horror in Bihar: Priests refuse to perform last rites; dead bodies wash up at Ganga banks

Amid the lockdown imposed in Bihar to check coronavirus infections, the state government may have given permission for allowing marriages with certain restrictions but finding priests for solemnising marriages or conducting a 'shradh' and the last rites of a person is proving to be tough for many people.

The fear of Covid-19 has not spared even priests which is why they are avoiding performing marriages or last rites of people. People living in cities are desperate to find priests to conduct 'shradh'. They are willing to shell out higher dakshina (donation) so that the rituals can be completed and the dead person's soul finds peace.

Many people have moved to other states to find priests. Even if they find a priest, due to the markets remaining closed during the lockdown they are unable to arrange the materials for the last rites.

Satyadev Choubey, a resident of Bigha village, died three days ago but his family could not find a priest for conducting his last rites. They finally arranged a priest from Hariharganj in neighbouring Jharkhand who agreed to perform the last rites.

The priest performs the rituals on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th day after the death of a person for which they are now charging hefty sums of money.

One such case was reported from Bhagalpur where the family of Mukesh Kumar Singh, a resident of Sikanderpur, had to call a priest from Gonda after his demise from Covid-19.

Pandit Vindeshwar Pathak, who is famous for conducting last rites in Aurangabad, said, "Sanatan Dharma has a ritual observed for 13 days for attaining peace of the departed soul. After these 13-day rituals the soul of the deceased achieves peace. At present, a large number of people are dying every day from Covid-19. Earlier, during this time there used to be calls asking for conducting 'shradh' of one or two people which has now gone up to five to six people."

After the death of a person from Covid-19, priests are reluctant to perform the last rites of such people. They are frightened that their family would also get infected with Covid-19.

People are also finding quick-fix ways to complete the last rites of a deceased person in the shortest possible time.

Priests are also hard to find for marriages. People say that priests have started demanding more money for marriages, too.

Meanwhile, people in Buxar, Bihar were shocked to see dead bodies washed up on the banks of river Ganga. According to a report in NDTV, dozens of bodies were seen floating in the river in Chausa town which is a border town between Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. People were later horrified to see bodies piling up on the river bank. They alerted the local administration.

"Some 40-45 bodies were seen floating," said Chausa district official Ashok Kumar, was quoted as saying by NDTV. There is a strong fear amid people now of contracting the COVID infection from the bloated bodies and the river water. There was a talk of burying the bodies too.

But with these bodies, a blame-game between Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has also erupted. However, there is a stark sense of fear, anxiety and uncertainty amid people of both the state.

On Monday, India recorded 3. 66 lakh cases and 3,764 people succumbed to the deadly infection.

With IANS inputs