Burnt corpse. Soul after cremation. Video of the crematorium

“As children, we ran to watch how the dead were burned in the crematorium. We sneaked to the small window and looked at the coffin engulfed in flames. After a couple of minutes, the domovina disintegrated, and a terrible thing happened: the corpse began to writhe, arms and legs moved, sometimes the deceased rose. that they were burning a living person. We ran away in horror. Then at night I was tormented by nightmares. But still we were drawn to the window like a magnet..." I remember this passage from my aunt’s childhood memories often. More often than I would like, because in recent years I have had to participate more than once in the ceremony of seeing off on my last journey. And often these farewells took place in the crematorium building.

There are many incredible, soul-chilling stories about crematoria, about what happens in the building itself, where access to relatives and friends of the deceased is denied. Where is the truth and where is fiction, we will try to figure it out.

In Europe, the Etruscans burned their dead, then the Greeks and Romans adopted this custom. Christianity declared cremation paganism. In 785, Charlemagne banned cremation under threat of death, and it was forgotten for about a thousand years. But in the XVI–XVII centuries. Cities in Europe began to gradually turn into metropolises, and a big problem arose with the organization of cemeteries. In some churchyards, the dead began to be buried in large common graves, which were open for many days. Often, cemeteries were located in human habitats, which caused the spread of diseases. The idea of ​​burning the bodies of the dead arose again. Since the 16th century. In Europe, funeral pyres began to be used for sanitary and hygienic purposes. However, the problem was creating a suitable burning method - fires were not suitable. This method was invented only at the end of the 19th century. On October 9, 1874, the first cremation was performed in a stream of hot air in a regenerative furnace designed by the German engineer Friedrich Siemens. And the first modern crematorium was built in 1876 in Milan. Currently, there are more than 14.3 thousand crematoria in the world

On the territory of Russia, the first crematorium was built not after the 17th year, as many people think, but even before the October revolution, in Vladivostok, using a Japanese-made oven. Probably for the cremation of citizens of the Land of the Rising Sun (at that time there were many people from Nagasaki living in Vladivostok). Today, a crematorium operates in this city again, this time for Russians.

The first crematorium in the RSFSR (Metallurg furnace) was opened in 1920 in the bathhouse building, house No. 95-97 on the 14th line of Vasilievsky Island in Petrograd. Even the act of the first cremation in the history of Soviet Russia, signed by the chairman of the Permanent Commission for the construction of the 1st State Crematorium and Mortuary, the manager of the management department of the Petrogubis Executive Committee, comrade, has been preserved. B.G. Kaplun and other persons present at this event. The act, in particular, states: “On December 14, 1920, we, the undersigned, carried out the first experimental burning of the corpse of Red Army soldier Malyshev, 19 years old, in a cremation oven in the building of the 1st State Crematorium - V.O., 14 line, no. 95/97. The body was pushed into the oven at 0 hours 30 minutes, and the temperature of the furnace at that moment was on average 800 C under the action of the left regenerator. The coffin burst into flames at the moment it was pushed into the burning chamber and fell apart 4 minutes after it was inserted there". The following are details that I decided to omit so as not to traumatize impressionable readers.

The furnace only worked for a short time, from December 14, 1920 to February 21, 1921, and was stopped “due to lack of firewood.” During this period of time, 379 bodies were burned there, most of which were burned administratively, and 16 at the request of relatives or according to a will.

Finally and irrevocably, fire funerals entered the life of Soviet people in 1927, when the “department of atheism” was opened in Moscow, in the Donskoy Monastery, as atheistic propaganda then called this crematorium. The monastery church of St. Seraphim of Sarov was converted into a crematorium. The first clients of the establishment were trusted comrades - “knights of the revolution”. In the columbarium located in the temple, on the cremation urns you can read inscriptions such as: “Bolshevik-Chekist”, “member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), staunch Bolshevik”, “one of the oldest figures of the Bolshevik Party”. In general, ardent revolutionaries were entitled to a flame even after death. After 45 years, another crematorium was built in the city - this time the largest in Europe - at the Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye cemetery, in 1985 - at Mitinskoye, and after another 3 years - at Khovanskoye. There are also crematoria in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, and Vladivostok; On July 7 last year, a crematorium opened in Novosibirsk.

Despite intensive propaganda, citizens of the USSR treated this type of burial with distrust and fear. This is partly (but only partly) explained by the negative attitude of traditional religions towards cremation, because in monotheistic religions cremation is prohibited or, at a minimum, not encouraged. Judaism strictly prohibits cremation of the body. Jewish tradition views cremation as an abusive custom, dating back to the pagan practice of burning the dead on funeral pyres. Burning a person's body is unacceptable in Islam. If this happens, the sin falls on those who committed the burning. The Orthodox Church views cremation as an “alien custom,” a “heretical method of burial.” The Greek Orthodox Church stubbornly resists the introduction of cremation. As stated by the official representative of the Holy Synod, Bishop of Alexandroupolis Anthimos, commenting on a bill introduced by seven members of parliament allowing this rite for members of non-Orthodox (!) congregations in Greece: “Cremation is an act of violence, an insult to humanity, an expression of nihilism...”. The overwhelming majority of Russian Orthodox priests are categorically against fire burial. “The burning of the dead may be a violation of the teachings of the Church on the veneration of the remains of holy martyrs and saints and deprive Orthodox Christians of holy relics,” says priest I. Ryabko. “And as for mere mortals, burning, among other things, deprives believers of that spiritual edification and reminder of death, which they receive when burying bodies in the ground. It follows that, from a purely Orthodox point of view, the burning of the dead is recognized as an alien and unacceptable innovation in the Christian faith." The official position of the Russian Orthodox Church was voiced by the deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin: “We have a negative attitude towards cremation. Of course, if relatives ask for a funeral service for the deceased before cremation, church ministers do not refuse them. But people who profess Orthodoxy must respect the dead and not to allow the destruction of the body created by God." However, there is a lobby in the Russian Orthodox Church that advocates not to anathematize crematoria. Moreover, they say that the crematorium opened last year in Novosibirsk has been consecrated. And in general, recently there have been persistent rumors (which representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church have not confirmed) that the construction of crematoria in all major cities has long been agreed upon with the church authorities and there is a blessing from the Russian Orthodox Church at the highest level. Probably, the rumors arose due to the fact that in all crematoria in Russia there are priests who perform funeral services for the deceased before cremation, and some crematoria have chapels.

Other branches of Christianity look at this method of burial somewhat differently. Lutherans and Protestants were the first to approve cremation. And in 1963, although with reservations, cremation was allowed by the Catholic Church.

But, I repeat, the reason for the cool (pardon the pun) attitude towards fiery funerals is not only the religious beliefs of our citizens. The main reason is the numerous horror stories that have been told by word of mouth for many years about the “horrors” happening in crematoria. I, like many other citizens, have repeatedly heard that the dead are undressed, gold teeth and crowns are taken out, coffins are rented, and clothes taken from the deceased are handed over to second-hand stores. At one time, Mikhail Weller’s story “The Crematorium” added fuel to the fire, which describes how the workers of this establishment in Leningrad undressed the dead before cremation, and handed over the clothes to a nearby thrift store. Let me briefly remind you what the essence of the story is: a man won a car in a cash and clothing lottery, drank to celebrate, and died. He was cremated (allegedly along with the ticket, which was in his suit pocket). A few days later, the widow of the deceased went to a second-hand store, where she saw her husband’s suit. In my pocket, of course, there was that same ticket... By the way, as my mother told me, she heard this story about a suit and a ticket (a bond with a big win) in childhood, when Weller still couldn’t hold a pen in his hands.

I managed to talk with an employee of one of the Moscow crematoria. Of course, I wanted to find out “the whole truth” about what was going on there. An attempt was even made to get Ivan drunk (his name was changed at his request, since employees in the funeral services industry generally prefer not to advertise their place of work). Ivan willingly drank with me, but did not tell any terrible secrets. And in response to a question about the clothes allegedly removed from corpses, he laughed: “Old man, how do you imagine this? In order to rite the deceased, the suits on the back are cut, and the shoes are also cut. In order to bring all this into marketable condition, a team is needed hire seamstresses, motorists and shoemakers. So, what? In general, this is complete nonsense." “What about the gold?” I continued. “Surely you take jewelry from the dead? Don’t let it go to waste...” But Ivan just waved his hand, saying, leave me alone.

And yet, where do the jewels go? In general, agents, when filling out documents for cremation, offer the customer to remove jewelry from the deceased. But if relatives leave everything as it is, then during cremation the following happens. There is such a thing in cremation equipment - a cremulator. It is designed to grind bone remains left after cremation. Using an electric magnet, all metallic inclusions are removed from the ashes: nails, coffin handles, metal prostheses, etc. When the first crematoria first appeared in the USSR, in order to prevent the operator of the cremation furnace from stealing gold from dentures, wedding rings, etc. from the machines, control was established over the delivery of all non-magnetic metals to the state. All metal that did not catch fire was required to be handed over to the state by a special commission (these rules still exist today). However, as it turned out, the temperature in the furnace is so high that gold, silver and other valuable metals melt and, combining with the remains, turn into dispersed dust, from which it is almost impossible to extract anything valuable. Of course, there is a possibility that the crematorium staff may seize valuables even before sending the deceased to the oven. However, until now, since the existence of crematoria, there has not been a single similar criminal case. In principle, this can be explained by the mutual responsibility of the crematorium workers, but somehow it’s hard to believe that information about the crimes did not leak to law enforcement agencies.

As for the coffins, which are supposedly allowed to go “to the left,” both my new acquaintance Ivan and quite official officials unanimously assure that the technological feature of modern ovens is such that they cannot work without a coffin. In general, the cremation process occurs as follows. After the coffin, which is boarded up or closed with latches, enters the storage unit, a metal plate with an engraved number is nailed onto the domino, and the coffin is sealed. If it is decorated with metal or plastic crosses or handles, they are removed so as not to pollute the atmosphere with harmful emissions, and also so that the stove nozzles last longer. After the cremation is completed, along with the remains, the number plate is removed from the ashes and the numbers are checked to eliminate confusion with the release of someone else's ashes (one of the common fears is that someone else's remains will be given away). By the way, some crematoria provide a glass-enclosed viewing room for relatives and friends, from where you can watch the coffin go into the oven. Only one deceased person can be cremated in the oven at a time; before loading the next one, it is thoroughly cleaned. Another interesting detail is that in modern crematoria, in order to turn on the oven, you need to have a key with a code and know a special code.

In general, rumors about outrages in crematoria are, as they say, greatly exaggerated. However, the crematorium, like the entire sphere of funeral services, is a good feeding trough for those who work there. You can always get extra money from the relatives and loved ones of the deceased who are poorly informed by grief. So, for example, the employees of the ritual hall of the crematorium - it seems they are called masters of ceremonies - often ask to give “for candles”, for a “memorial service”, for “remembering the deceased dearly”... And people, of course, give. By the way, one of my friends cherished the dream of getting a job at a crematorium, because she heard that they paid well there. But she failed. It turned out that getting into this institution without patronage is as difficult as it was once to get into MGIMO without bribes and cronyism. The amount she had to pay for employment turned out to be unaffordable for her.

Today, as at the dawn of Soviet power, there is again intensified propaganda for fire burial. Even historical examples are given in favor of crematoria, which show that committing the dead to fire was the norm among many peoples, including the ancient Slavs. Also used as an example are countries where cremation has become widespread: the USA, Japan, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Denmark... Cremation is presented as the most hygienic and environmentally friendly method of burial. But the point is not about ecology (at least, not only about it), but about the land. Cities are growing and demanding new territories. Cremation does not allow cemeteries to grow greatly and “seize” priceless land. But ordinary people, of course, are not concerned about all this, but about the costs of the funeral. Cremation is cheaper than a regular funeral. That is why, in the last ten years, the tradition of cremating the deceased among poor residents of large Russian cities (primarily Moscow and St. Petersburg) has been gaining popularity. Wealthier people can afford to pay for a traditional funeral and cemetery land, while those who are poorer have to resort to fiery burial.

November 26th, 2012

ATTENTION! There are shocking photos. Viewing is not recommended for the impressionable!

Our planet is full of wonderful surprises from nature and ancient civilizations, full of beauty and sights, and you can also find quite unusual, strange, dark traditions and rituals. Although it should be noted that for us they are strange and scary, but for some it is their everyday life, this is their culture.

Each of the billion Hindus dreams of dying in Varanasi or burning their body here. The open air crematorium smokes 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. Hundreds of bodies from all over India and abroad come here every day, fly in and burn. The Hindus came up with a good religion - that when we give up, we don’t die for good. Vladimir Vysotsky instilled in us this basic knowledge about Hinduism to the chords of his guitar. He sang and enlightened: “If you live correctly, you will be happy in your next life, and if you are stupid like a tree, you will be born a baobab.”

Varanasi is an important religious site in the world of Hinduism, a center of pilgrimage for Hindus from all over the world, as ancient as Babylon or Thebes. Here, more strongly than anywhere else, the contradictions of human existence are manifested: life and death, hope and suffering, youth and old age, joy and despair, splendor and poverty. This is a city in which there is so much death and life at the same time. This is a city in which eternity and existence coexist. This is the best place to understand what India is like, its religion and culture.

In the religious geography of Hinduism, Varanasi is the center of the universe. One of the most sacred cities for Hindus serves as a kind of border between physical reality and the eternity of life. Here the gods descend to earth, and a mere mortal achieves bliss. It is a holy place to live and a blessed place to die. This is the best place to achieve bliss.

Varanasi's prominence in Hindu mythology is unparalleled. According to legend, the city was founded by the Hindu God Shiva several thousand years ago, making it one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the country. It is one of the seven holy cities of the Hindus. In many ways, he embodies the best and worst aspects of India, sometimes horrifying to foreign tourists. However, the scenes of pilgrims saying prayers in the rays of the rising sun by the Ganges River, with Hindu temples in the background, is one of the most impressive sights in the world. When traveling through northern India, try not to miss this ancient city.

Founded a thousand years before Christ, Varanasi is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was called by many epithets - “city of temples”, “sacred city of India”, “religious capital of India”, “city of lights”, “city of enlightenment” - and only very recently its official name was restored, first mentioned in the Jataka - an ancient narrative Hindu literature. But many still continue to use the English name Benares, and pilgrims call it nothing more than Kashi - this is what the city was called for three thousand years.

The Hindu truly believes in the wanderings of the soul, which after death moves into other living beings. And he treats death in a kind of special way, but at the same time, in an ordinary way. For a Hindu, death is just one stage of samsara, or the endless game of birth and death. And an adherent of Hinduism also dreams of one day not being born. He strives for moksha - the completion of that very cycle of rebirth, along with which - for liberation and deliverance from the hardships of the material world. Moksha is practically synonymous with Buddhist nirvana: the highest state, the goal of human aspirations, a certain absolute.

For thousands of years, Varanasi has been a center of philosophy and theosophy, medicine and education. English writer Mark Twain, shocked by his visit to Varanasi, wrote: “Benares (the old name) is older than history, older than tradition, older even than the legends and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” Many famous and most revered Indian philosophers, poets, writers and musicians have resided in Varanasi. In this glorious city lived the classic of Hindi literature Kabir, the singer and writer Tulsidas wrote the epic poem Ramacharitamanas, which became one of the most famous works of literature in the Hindi language, and Buddha delivered his first sermon in Sarnath, just a few kilometers from Varanasi. Sung by myths and legends, sanctified by religion, it has always attracted a large number of pilgrims and believers since time immemorial.

Varanasi is located between Delhi and Kolkata on the western bank of the Ganges. Every Indian child who has listened to the stories of his parents knows that the Ganga is the largest and holiest of all the rivers in India. The main reason to visit Varanasi is, of course, to see the Ganges River. The significance of the river for Hindus is beyond description. It is one of the 20 largest rivers in the world. The Ganges River basin is the most densely populated in the world, with a population of over 400 million people. The Ganga is an important source of irrigation and communication for millions of Indians living along the riverbed. Since time immemorial she has been worshiped as the goddess Ganga. Historically, a number of capitals of former principalities were located on its banks.

The largest ghat in the city used for cremation is Manikarnika. About 200 bodies a day are cremated here, and funeral pyres burn day and night. Families bring here the dead who died of natural causes.

Hinduism has given those who practice it a method of guaranteed attainment of moksha. It is enough to die in sacred Varanasi (formerly Benares, Kashi - author's note) - and samsara ends. Moksha is coming. It is important to note that being cunning and throwing yourself under a car in this city is not an option. So you definitely won’t see moksha. Even if an Indian did not die in Varanasi, this city is still capable of influencing his further existence. If you cremate the body on the banks of the sacred Ganges River in this city, then the karma for the next life is cleared. So Hindus from all over India and the world come here to die and burn.

The Ganges embankment is the most party place in Varanasi. Here are hermit sadhus smeared in soot: real ones - praying and meditating, tourist ones - pestering with offers to be photographed for money. Disdainful European women are trying not to step into sewage, fat American women are filming themselves in front of everything, frightened Japanese are walking around with gauze bandages on their faces - they are saving themselves from infections. It's full of Rastafarians with dreadlocks, freaks, enlightened and pseudo-enlightened people, schizos and beggars, massage therapists and hashish dealers, artists and other people of every stripe in the world. The diversity of the crowd is incomparable.

Despite the abundance of visitors, it’s difficult to call this city a tourist city. Varanasi still has its own life, and tourists have absolutely nothing to do with it. Here is a corpse floating along the Ganges, a man nearby is washing and beating clothes on a stone, someone is brushing his teeth. Almost everyone swims with happy faces. “The Ganges is our mother. You tourists don’t understand. You laugh that we drink this water. But for us it is sacred,” the Hindus explain. And indeed, they drink and don’t get sick. Native microflora. Although the Discovery Channel, when making a film about Varanasi, submitted samples of this water for research. The laboratory's verdict is terrible - one drop will, if not kill a horse, then certainly cripple it. There is more nastiness in that drop than on the list of potentially dangerous infections in the country. But you forget about all this when you find yourself on the shore of burning people.

This is Manikarnika Ghat - the main crematorium of the city. There are bodies, bodies and more bodies everywhere. There are dozens of them waiting for their turn at the fire. Burning smoke, crackling firewood, a chorus of worried voices and the phrase endlessly ringing in the air: “Ram nam sagage.” A hand stuck out of the fire, a leg appeared, and now a head rolled. The workers, sweating and squinting from the heat, use bamboo sticks to turn over body parts emerging from the fire. I felt like I was on the set of some kind of horror movie. Reality disappears from under your feet.

Business on corpses

From the balconies of the “trump” hotels you can see the Ganges, and with it the smoke of funeral pyres. I didn’t want to smell this strange smell all day long, so I moved to a less fashionable area, and away from the corpses. “Friend, good camera! Do you want to film how people are burned?” - rarely, but you hear proposals from pesters. There is not a single law prohibiting the filming of funeral rites. But at the same time, there is not a single chance to take advantage of the absence of a ban. Selling pseudo-film permits is a business for the caste that controls cremation. Five to ten dollars for one click of the shutter, and a double is the same price.

It's impossible to cheat. I had to watch how tourists, out of ignorance, even just pointed the camera towards the fire and came under the most severe pressure of the crowd. These were no longer trades, but racketeering. There are special rates for journalists. The approach to everyone is individual, but for a permit to work “in the zone” - up to 2000 euros, and for one photo card - up to a hundred dollars. Street brokers always clarified my profession and only then started bidding. And who am I? Amateur photography student! Landscapes, flowers and butterflies. You say this - and the price is immediately divine, 200 bucks. But there is no guarantee that with a “filka certificate” they will not end up being sent to hell. I continue my search and soon find the main one. “B-i-i-g boss,” they call him on the embankment.

Name is Sures. With a big belly and a leather vest, he proudly walks between the fires - supervising the staff, the sale of wood, and the collection of proceeds. I also introduce myself to him as a novice amateur photographer. “Okay, you have 200 dollars, and rent for a week,” Sures was delighted, asked for 100 dollars in advance and showed a sample of the “permishin” - an A4 piece of paper with the inscription a la “I allow it. Boss.” I didn’t want to buy a piece of paper for two hundred greenbacks again. “To Varanasi City Hall,” I said to the tuk-tuk driver. The complex of two-story houses was very reminiscent of a Soviet-era sanatorium. People are fussing with papers and standing in lines.

And small officials of the city administration, like ours, are sluggish - they spend a long time fiddling with each leaf. I killed half a day, collected a collection of autographs from the big shots of Varanasi and went to the police headquarters. Law enforcement officers offered to wait for the boss and treated him to tea. Made from clay pots, as if from a Ukrainian souvenir shop. After drinking tea, the policeman smashes the ice cream on the floor. It turns out that plastic is expensive and not environmentally friendly. But there is a lot of clay in the Ganges and it is free. At a street eatery, such a glass along with tea even cost me 5 rupees. For an Indian it’s even cheaper. A few hours later, an audience was held with the city police chief. I decided to make the most of the meeting and asked him for a business card. "I only have it in Hindi!" - the man laughed. “I offer an exchange. You tell me in Hindi, I tell you in Ukrainian,” I come up with. Now I have in my hands a whole stack of permits and a trump card - the business card of the main man in uniform in Varanasi.

Last refuge

Visitors stare in fear at the fires from afar. Well-wishers approach them and supposedly unselfishly initiate them into the history of Indian funeral traditions. "It takes 400 kilograms of firewood to make a fire. One kilogram costs 400-500 rupees (1 US dollar - 50 Indian rupees - author's note). Help the family of the deceased, donate money for at least a couple of kilograms. People spend their entire lives collecting money for the last "bonfire" - the excursion ends as standard. It sounds convincing, foreigners take out their wallets. And, without suspecting it, they pay for half the fire. After all, the real price of wood is from 4 rupees per kilo. In the evening I come to Manikarnika. Literally a minute later a man comes running and demands to explain how I dare to expose my lens in a sacred place.

When he sees the documents, he respectfully folds his hands to his chest, bows his head and says: “Welcome! You are our friend. Ask for help.” This is 43-year-old Kashi Baba from the highest caste of Brahmins. He has been overseeing the cremation process here for 17 years. He says work gives him crazy energy. Hindus really love this place - in the evenings men sit on the steps and stare at the fires for hours. “We all dream of dying in Varanasi and having our bodies cremated here,” they say something like this. Kashi Baba and I also sit down next to each other. It turns out that bodies began to be burned in this very place 3,500 years ago. Since the fire of the god Shiva was not lit here. It burns even now, it is monitored around the clock, every ritual fire is set on fire from it. Today, between 200 and 400 bodies are reduced to ashes here every day. And not only from all over India. Burning in Varanasi is the last wish of many immigrant Hindus and even some foreigners. Recently, for example, an elderly American was cremated.

Contrary to tourist fables, cremation is not very expensive. To burn a body, it will take 300-400 kilograms of wood and up to four hours of time. A kilogram of firewood - from 4 rupees. The entire funeral ceremony can start from 3-4 thousand rupees, or 60-80 dollars. But there is no maximum bar. Richer people add sandalwood to the fire for scent, a kilogram of which reaches up to $160. When the Maharaja died in Varanasi, his son ordered a fire made entirely of sandalwood, and scattered emeralds and rubies around. All of them rightfully went to the workers of Manikarnika - people from the dom-raja caste.

These are the lower class of people, the so-called untouchables. Their fate is unclean types of work, which includes burning corpses. Unlike other untouchables, the Dom-Raja caste has money, as even the element “raja” in the name hints at.

Every day these people clean the area, sift and wash through a sieve ash, coals and burnt soil. The task is to find the jewelry. Relatives do not have the right to remove them from the deceased. On the contrary, the boys of the raja house are informed that the deceased has, say, a gold chain, a diamond ring and three gold teeth. The workers will find and sell all this. At night there is a glow from fires over the Ganges. The best way to view it is from the roof of the central building, Manikarnika Ghat. “If you fall, you’ll fall straight into the fire. It’s convenient,” Kashi argues, while I stand on the canopy and take a panorama. Inside this building there is emptiness, darkness and walls smoked for decades.

I'll be honest - it's creepy. A wizened granny sits right on the floor, in the corner on the second floor. This is Daya Mai. She doesn’t remember her exact age - she says about 103 years old. Daya spent the last 45 of them in this very corner, in a building near the cremation bank. Waiting for death. He wants to die in Varanasi. This woman from Bihar first came here when her husband died. And soon she lost her son and also decided to die. I was in Varanasi for ten days, almost every day of which I met Daya Mai. Leaning on a stick, in the morning she would go out into the street, walk between the stacks of firewood, approach the Ganges and return to her corner again. And so for the 46th year in a row.

To burn or not to burn? Manikarnika is not the only cremation place in the city. Here they burn those who die a natural death. And a kilometer earlier, on Hari Chandra Ghat, the dead, suicides, and accident victims are being set on fire. Nearby is an electric crematorium where beggars who have not raised money for firewood are burned. Although usually in Varanasi even the poorest have no problems with funerals. Wood that did not burn out in previous fires is given free of charge to families who do not have enough firewood. In Varanasi, you can always raise money among locals and tourists. After all, helping the family of the deceased is good for karma. But in poor villages there are problems with cremation. There is no one to help. And a body symbolically burned and thrown into the Ganges is not uncommon.

In places where dams form in the sacred river, there is even a profession - collecting corpses. The men sail the boat and collect the bodies, even diving into the water if necessary. Nearby, a body tied to a large stone slab is being loaded into a boat. It turns out that not all bodies can be burned. It is forbidden to cremate sadhus, because they abandoned work, family, sex and civilization, devoting their lives to meditation. Children under 13 are not burned, because it is believed that their bodies are like flowers. Accordingly, it is forbidden to set fire to pregnant women, because there are children inside. It is not possible to cremate a person with leprosy. All these categories of deceased are tied to a stone and drowned in the Ganges.

It is forbidden to cremate those killed by a cobra bite, which is not uncommon in India. It is believed that after the bite of this snake, not death occurs, but coma. Therefore, a boat is made from a banana tree, where the body wrapped in film is placed. A sign with your name and home address is attached to it. And they set sail on the Ganges. Sadhus meditating on the shore try to catch such bodies and try to bring them back to life through meditation.

They say successful outcomes are not uncommon. “Four years ago, 300 meters from Manikarnika, a hermit caught and revived the body. The family was so happy that they wanted to make the sadhu rich. But he refused, because if he took even one rupee, he would lose all his power,” Kashi Baba told me. Animals are not yet burned, because they are symbols of the gods. But what shocked me most of all was the terrible custom that existed until relatively recently - sati. Widow burning. When a husband dies, the wife must burn in the same fire. This is not a myth or a legend. According to Kashi Baba, this phenomenon was common some 90 years ago.

According to textbooks, widow burning was banned in 1929. But episodes of sati still happen today. Women cry a lot, so they are forbidden to be near the fire. But literally at the beginning of 2009, an exception was made for a widow from Agra. She wanted to say goodbye to her husband for the last time and asked to come to the fire. I jumped there, and when the fire was already burning with might and main. They rescued the woman, but she was badly burned and died before the doctors arrived. She was cremated in the same pyre as her betrothed.

The other side of the Ganges

On the other bank of the Ganges from the bustling Varanasi there are deserted expanses. Tourists are not recommended to appear there, because sometimes the village shantrap shows aggression. On the opposite side of the Ganges, villagers wash clothes, and pilgrims are brought there to bathe. Among the sands, a lonely hut made of branches and straw catches your eye. There lives a hermit sadhu with the divine name Ganesh. A man in his 50s moved here from the jungle 16 months ago to perform the puja ritual - burning food in a fire. Like a sacrifice to the gods. He likes to say, with or without reason: “I don’t need money - I need my puja.” In a year and four months, he burned 1,100,000 coconuts and an impressive amount of oil, fruit and other products.

He conducts meditation courses in his hut, which is how he earns money for his puja. For a man from a hut who drinks water from the Ganges, he speaks great English, is well acquainted with the products of the National Geographic Channel and invites me to write down his mobile number. Previously, Ganesh had a normal life; he still occasionally calls back with his adult daughter and ex-wife: “One day I realized that I no longer wanted to live in the city, and I didn’t need a family. Now I’m in the jungle, in the forest, in the mountains or on the river bank.

I don’t need money - I need my puja." Contrary to the recommendations for visitors, I often swam to the other side of the Ganges to take a break from the endless noise and annoying crowds. Ganesh recognized me from afar, waved his hand and shouted: “Dima!” But even here , on the deserted shore of the other side of the Ganges, one can suddenly shudder. For example, seeing dogs tearing apart a human body washed ashore by the waves. Seeing, shuddering and remembering is Varanasi, the “city of death.”

Chronology of the process

If a person died in Varanasi, he is burned 5-7 hours after death. The reason for the rush is the heat. The body is washed, massaged with a mixture of honey, yogurt and various oils and mantras are read. All this in order to open the 7 chakras. Then they wrap it in a large white sheet and decorative fabric. They are placed on a stretcher made of seven bamboo crossbars - also according to the number of chakras.

Family members carry the body to the Ganges and chant the mantra: “Ram nam sagage” - a call to ensure that everything is fine in the next life of this person. The stretcher is dipped into the Ganges. Then the face of the deceased is uncovered, and relatives pour water on it with their hands five times. One of the men of the family shaves his head and dresses in white clothes. If the father died, the eldest son does it, if the mother does it, the younger son does it, if the wife does it, the husband does it. He sets fire to the branches from the sacred fire and walks around the body with them five times. Therefore, the body goes into the five elements: water, earth, fire, air, heaven.

You can only light a fire naturally. If a woman has died, they do not completely burn her pelvis; if a man, they do not burn her rib. The shaved man lets this burnt part of his body into the Ganges and extinguishes the smoldering coals from a bucket over his left shoulder.

At one time, Varanasi was an academic center as well as a religious one. Many temples were built in the city, universities operated and magnificent libraries with texts from Vedic times were opened. However, much was destroyed by the Muslims. Hundreds of temples were destroyed, bonfires with priceless manuscripts burned day and night, and people, the bearers of priceless ancient culture and knowledge, were also destroyed. However, the spirit of the Eternal City could not be defeated. You can feel it even now by walking through the narrow streets of old Varanasi and going down to the ghats (stone steps) on the Ganges River. Ghats are one of the hallmarks of Varanasi (as well as any sacred city for Hindus), as well as an important sacred place for millions of believers. They serve both for ritual ablution and for burning the dead. In general, ghats are the most popular place for the residents of Varanasi - on these steps they burn corpses, laugh, pray, die, walk, make acquaintances, chat on the phone or just sit.

This city makes the strongest impression on travelers to India, despite the fact that Varanasi does not at all look like a “holiday for tourists”. Life in this sacred city is surprisingly tightly intertwined with death; It is believed that dying in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River, is very honorable. Therefore, thousands of sick and old Hindus flock to Varanasi from all over the country to meet their death here and be freed from the hustle and bustle of life.

Not far from Varanasi is Sarnath, the place where Buddha preached. It is said that the tree growing in this place was planted from the seeds of the Bodhi tree, the same one under which the Buddha received self-realization.

The river embankment itself is a kind of huge temple, the service in which never stops - some pray, others meditate, others do yoga. The corpses of the dead are burned here. It is noteworthy that only the bodies of those who require ritual purification by fire are burned; and therefore the bodies of sacred animals (cows), monks, pregnant women are considered to have already been purified by suffering and, without being cremated, they are thrown into the Ganges. This is the main purpose of the ancient city of Varanasi - to give people the opportunity to free themselves from everything corruptible.

And yet, despite the mission that is incomprehensible, and even more so sad for non-Hindus, this city is a very real city with a population of one million. In the cramped and narrow streets you can hear the voices of people, music sounds, and the cries of merchants can be heard. There are shops everywhere where you can buy souvenirs from ancient vessels to saris embroidered with silver and gold.

The city, although it cannot be called clean, does not suffer as much from dirt and overcrowding as other Indian large cities - Bombay or Calcutta. However, for Europeans and Americans, the street of any Indian city resembles a giant anthill - there is a cacophony of horns, bicycle bells and shouts all around, and even on a rickshaw it turns out to be very difficult to squeeze through the narrow, albeit central streets.

Dead children under the age of 10, the bodies of pregnant women and smallpox patients are not cremated. A stone is tied to their body and thrown from a boat into the middle of the Ganges River. The same fate awaits those whose relatives cannot afford to buy enough wood. Cremation at the stake costs a lot of money and not everyone can afford it. Sometimes the purchased wood is not always enough for cremation, and then the half-burnt remains of the body are thrown into the river. It is quite common to see the charred remains of dead bodies floating in the river. An estimated 45,000 uncremated bodies are buried in the river bed each year, adding to the toxicity of already heavily polluted water. What shocks visiting Western tourists seems quite natural for Indians. Unlike Europe where everything happens behind closed doors, in India every aspect of life is visible on the streets, be it cremation, washing clothes, bathing or cooking.

The Ganga River was somehow miraculously able to cleanse itself for many centuries. Until 100 years ago, germs such as cholera could not survive in its sacred waters. Unfortunately, today the Ganga is one of the five most polluted rivers in the world. First of all, due to toxic substances discharged by industrial enterprises along the river bed. The level of contamination by some microbes exceeds permissible levels by hundreds of times. Visiting tourists are struck by the complete lack of hygiene. Ashes of the dead, sewage effluent and offerings float past worshipers as they bathe and perform purification ceremonies in the water. From a medical perspective, bathing in water containing decomposing corpses carries the risk of infections with numerous diseases, including hepatitis. It's a miracle that so many people take a dip and drink the water every day without feeling any harm. Some tourists even join the pilgrims.

Numerous cities located on the Ganges also contribute to the pollution of the river. A report by the Central Pollution Control Board found that Indian cities recycle only about 30% of their sewage. Nowadays the Ganges, like many other rivers in India, is extremely clogged. It contains more sewage than fresh water. And industrial waste and the remains of cremated people accumulate along its banks.
corpses.

Thus, the First City on Earth (as Varanasi is called in India) produces a strange and incredibly strong, indelible impact on tourists - it is impossible to compare it with anything, just as it is impossible to compare religions, peoples and cultures.

In today's densely populated world, people are increasingly thinking about consigning their bodies to fire rather than to the ground. We will tell you in this article how the church views cremation and how wise it is to choose this method of burial.

Many people, regardless of religion, are increasingly choosing cremation today. This is not surprising, because this type of burial has its advantages:

• Rational use of land resources due to the small size of the urn.
• Environmental friendliness and aesthetics.
• Small funeral expenses.
• More affordable and easier transportation.

Different religions have different views on cremation. Many of them, such as Judaism and Islam, believe that the body and soul are one, therefore, when we destroy the body, we destroy the soul. Others, for example, Hinduism and Buddhism, on the contrary, believe that when burned, the soul quickly leaves the body in which it is locked. The Catholic Church for many years prohibited the cremation of the deceased, but since the 1960s this ban has been lifted. But the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards cremation still remains extremely negative. Despite the fact that the priests agree to perform funeral services for the bodies of the cremated deceased, they are confident that this is a pagan rite that harms the soul of the deceased.

You may ask: If it is only a matter of time before the body decomposes completely, then what difference does it make whether burial in the ground or cremation is chosen? The Church finds an answer to this too. The fact is that the fact of attitude towards the body remains important. If Eastern religions, which are the founders of this tradition, treat the body as the prison of the soul, then for Christians the body is a sacred temple. And it is not in a person’s power to decide what will happen to him even after death. The priests claim that by agreeing to cremation, people are insulting the Lord himself, the one who gave us this body and infused life into it.

However, despite the fact that the church’s attitude towards cremation is generally negative, there are many representatives of the Orthodox faith who allow the burning of a body under certain conditions. Such conditions may be the lack of funds to purchase a place in the cemetery, and subsequently to arrange the grave, purchase a monument and a fence. An exception is also the case when a loved one wants to be buried with his family, but due to sanitary standards this is not possible. The fact is that it is possible to bury the body with the deceased father, grandmother, husband or wife only when enough time has passed since the date of death. With an urn everything is much simpler. However, people must understand that it does not matter to a person’s soul whether he is buried in the same grave with a loved one or not. If this was a truly sincere relationship, if these people were connected by strong feelings and no less strong faith, then after death their souls will find their way to each other without problems, even if the bodies are buried in cemeteries of different countries. It’s another matter if during life one of the people was a fighter against God. Then burial in the same grave will not guarantee that souls will meet after death. Sometimes the church makes concessions and allows cremation to be carried out for convenience. Thus, it will probably be difficult both physically and financially for an older woman to get to one end of the city to visit her mother and father’s grave, to the other to her husband’s, and to the neighboring city to the cemetery where her sister is buried. It is much easier when you only need to tidy up one burial site.

Often relatives come to church with the will of the deceased, which states a request to cremate the body. In this case, relatives are interested in how the church views cremation and whether it is possible to violate the will of the deceased? The priests insist on going against the wishes of the deceased and burying the person according to all Christian traditions. In this case, you save the soul of the deceased from great sin. Also, you should not scatter ashes over any place, be it the sea or the home of the deceased.

If, for some reason, you cremated the body of your loved one, and now regret what you did, remember that nothing can be changed. Despite the fact that cremation and the Orthodox Church are incompatible concepts, the priests do not advise making a big tragedy out of what happened. What's done is done, and tears won't change anything. The main thing is to understand everything in time and repent. After all, God, placing people in paradise, is guided not by what happened to the body after death, but by what a person was like during life.

For information about funeral homes and funeral agents, please see the Funeral Homes section of our directory.

The question “how to cremate a person” has always worried people. And this is no coincidence: interest in death is inherent in our nature, and fire has fascinated people since ancient times. In this article we will explain in detail how human cremation occurs.

It is important to understand that cremation is only the first stage of burial. Depending on the will of the deceased/relatives, after cremation, the urn with ashes is placed in a niche of the columbarium, buried in a grave, or done in another way (for example, the ashes are scattered).

During cremation, as during burial in the ground, the process of transition of organic tissues into inorganic chemical compounds that make up the soil occurs. Cremation is essentially the same as burial, since the body goes into the ground. There is only one difference: mineralization of the body and its inclusion in the soil takes up to 20 years, and cremation of a person reduces this period to one and a half hours.

Residents of Russia increasingly prefer cremation to the usual method of burial. The share of cremation in Russia as a whole is low - 10%, but in large cities it is 30-40%, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg it is close to 70%. This happens for many reasons, the main ones being the lack of space in cemeteries, the simplicity of the process and low cost.

How people were cremated in the past. History of cremation.

The history of cremation goes back to ancient times. People have long realized that ashes are safe for health, and many religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, have included cremation in their rituals. In India, Japan, Indonesia and many other countries, just as people were cremated in the past - on a bonfire in the open air - they still do it today.

Along with the most ancient type of burial—deposition of corpses—cremation was already practiced in the Paleolithic, and in the Bronze Age and Iron Age, inhabitants of ancient civilizations began to cremate everywhere. Burning became the dominant burial rite in ancient Greece, from where the tradition passed to Ancient Rome, where they came up with the idea of ​​storing ashes in specially designated places - columbariums, where you can come and honor the memory of your ancestors.

Incinerators began to be used in Europe in the late 18th century due to the growth of cities and a shortage of cemeteries. Gradually, cremation began to spread in Europe, the USA and other countries.

How a person is cremated in a crematorium these days.

Human cremation takes place in crematoria - complex engineering structures designed for 100% combustion of the dead along with the coffin at ultra-high temperatures.

The crematorium complex consists of several industrial furnaces capable of generating temperatures of 900-1100°C, which ensures the complete disintegration of the body and its transformation into ashes. Cremation takes from one and a half to two hours, and after cremation of a person, ashes with a volume of 2-2.5 liters remain.

The coffin with the body is delivered to the crematorium and placed on a hearse in the hall for the farewell ceremony. At the end of the ritual, the coffin is transferred to a conveyor and moved to a transit room, from where after a certain time it enters the cremation oven. Imagining how people are cremated in a crematorium, we, especially at a young age, think that the body is sent to the fire immediately after the coffin disappears behind the curtains of the farewell hall. But this is not always the case: such technology is not provided in every crematorium.

After cremation, the ashes are placed in a metal capsule and sealed. Most often, the relatives of the deceased want to receive the ashes in an urn. Funeral urns come in a variety of designs and are chosen according to taste: purchased from a crematorium or funeral store and then given to the crematorium staff, who transfer the ashes from the capsule to the urn.

The urn is collected by the relative responsible for receiving it, after which the final stage of burial begins.

After cremation, the urn with ashes is stored in the crematorium until claimed by her relatives. The shelf life varies in different regions, but most often it is 1 year. If the ashes are not claimed, the urn will be buried in a common grave at the crematorium.

Human Cremation: How people are cremated.

The most common cremation oven has two chambers. In the first, the coffin with the body is burned in jets of hot air, and in the second, the afterburning chamber, 100% combustion of organic tissues and trapping of impurities takes place. An important element of crematorium equipment is the cremator, in which burnt remains are crushed into ashes, and metal objects are removed from them using a magnet.

Most often, stoves operate on gas, as it is economical and quickly sets the desired temperature in the chamber.

To prevent mixing of ashes after combustion, each body is registered, assigned an identifier, and a metal plate with a number is placed on the coffin. After cremation, a plate with a number is placed inside the remains, allowing the ashes to be identified.

What to do after cremation?

After cremation, when an urn with ashes is received, proceed in one of the following ways:

• Bury the urn in the grave. This could be either a new plot purchased at auction or a related grave;
• Place the urn in a niche in an open or closed columbarium;
• You can dispose of the ashes according to the will of the deceased, for example, scatter them. The legislation of the Russian Federation does not define special places for this, so the choice depends only on you.

The advantages of cremation compared to traditional burial in the ground:

• you can bury the urn at any time; there is no need to rush to a decision;
• there is no need to wait until the end of the sanitary period after the last burial in a related grave (15 years for Moscow).

What is uncertain in the human world? Taxes, economics, credit system, ? Yes, it’s always difficult to figure this out, but no one on this list can overcome death by the criterion of uncertainty and mystery. And if we talk about our interaction with society, we rarely have direct contact with death. Accidents, hospices and hospitals. We prefer not to notice this integral side of human life. But then the “old woman with a scythe” quickly turns in our direction, and there is no time for thinking.

There is a healthy interest in death in many cultures. During the 19th century, with the development of natural philosophy, anatomy and literature of decadence, this interest was also characteristic of European culture. But now we have become more sensitive, more closed, and those guys who look at corpses with interest are perhaps unfairly called creepy perverts, sick in the head. But each of us is destined to touch death, whether we like it or not.

1. Stages of death

Let's start with the basics, which will be your guiding stars in the world of decay and carrion (sounds kind of strange).

Clinical death

Your vital functions go to waste, your heartbeat and breathing stop. Brain activity is actually still active, which is why some people think that clinical death is some kind of border between life and death. Actually, there is a possibility that you will be brought back to life if they resuscitate you properly.

Biological death

Embalming fluid consists of formaldehyde, methanol and a couple of other ingredients. It usually contains water, but the most effective and expensive embalming methods are anhydrous. They preserve the body much better. The liquid may contain various dyes so that instead of deathly pallor we see a healthy blush. So it is always matched to the color of the skin.

The principle of operation is simple. A small incision is made in the neck, axilla, or groin to access the carotid, brachial, and femoral arteries. The embalming fluid is pumped into the machine and swapped with the blood. This process takes about an hour. While all this is happening, the corpse is given a wonderful massage to break up any blood clots and speed up the process. The fluid is then drained from the main cavity in the body and replaced with another to slow down decomposition. Depending on the religion, the outer shell is washed by the undertaker, Sikh, family or imam.

6. Embalming #2: Helping Hand

We love our dead. We even say: “A dead person is either good or not at all.” And when preparing the body for “leaving,” we prepare it more carefully than when preparing ourselves for the first job interview.

The nose and mouth have to be filled with cotton wool to prevent moisture from seeping through. The mouth is also sewn or sealed. If there are any wounds on the skin, then the body is wrapped in plastic, and only then in a suit. Small plastic cups are inserted under the eyelids to prevent the possibility of open or hollow eyes. In addition, the latter is done in order to avoid the “cry of the dead man.” And this is not only creepy, but also sad for the family. In general, everything is done in order to maintain the illusion of “normality”, the familiar appearance of a person.

7. Decomposition #1: Self-digestion

No matter how much embalming fluid you pour into a dead body, it will still begin to decompose, especially if the death occurred in the open air. Decomposition begins within minutes of death. After blood stops flowing through the body, oxygen starvation makes itself felt. Enzymes begin to digest cell membranes. This meanwhile causes discoloration.

Next comes rigor mortis, nucleic acids break down proteins in muscle fibers. As soon as the muscles begin to break down more intensely, rigor mortis goes away and the body becomes elastic again. Trillions of bacteria that live in the human body throughout life will be free again. Cell membranes begin to degrade, giving rise to their own decomposition process.

8. Decay #2: Rotting

The next stage of decomposition, when the bacteria are slightly carried away.
The initial stage of self-digestion produces many sugars, salts, liquids and anaerobic bacteria that have recently been released from the prison-guts. In general, bacteria feed, ferment sugars, and produce all sorts of unclean gases such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. As bacteria begin to break down hemoglobin in the blood, they turn the skin a mottled dark green color.

All these gas-generating processes cause the body to inflate like a balloon of horror. This is called “bombing”. As a result, pressure will accumulate in the body, and gases and liquids will begin to flow out of every hole (every one, yes). But it might “fortune” and then the whole thing will explode. It is at these moments that the skin begins to loosen, and black spots appear on the body.

9. Decay #3: Colonization

At some certain point, the organism becomes simply irresistible to any creature that is looking for the ideal place to lay eggs. Flies lay hundreds of eggs, which hatch into hundreds of maggots. The giant, writhing mass of larvae can raise body temperature by 10 degrees Celsius. This means that the larvae have to constantly change their location so as not to cook in the body.

Subsequently, they grow into flies, which, in turn, lay eggs again. This process is repeated until all the flesh and skin is consumed. However, the larvae will attract their own antagonists, all kinds of predators such as birds, ants, wasps and spiders. An entire ecosystem is created around the decomposing body. Larger scavengers, of course, can stop all this disgrace in just a couple of hours, for example, if we are talking about a flock of vultures.

You should also remember about the corpse's skull, which is saturated with nitrogen. It is so rich in it that it kills surrounding plants nearby. But after a while, the soil, on the contrary, becomes extremely fertile, which helps the growth of mushrooms, plants and the like.

In the end, all human energy returns to nature, to where it found its birth. It's even beautiful if you can bear the image of horribly rotting corpses.

10. Burial

However, in most cases we do not leave bodies on the street. We come up with fancy religious buildings and burial methods for them.

When you cremate a body, you think you're making your life easier. But this is easier said than done. Because the body burns at an incredibly high temperature, over 1000 degrees Celsius. To burn a normal-sized person, it will take you about 90 minutes, and if we are talking about a person with a lot of fat deposits, then this procedure will take several hours. The ash is then crushed to remove large bone fragments and any metal implants.

What type of soil should I choose? It directly depends on how you decompose. Heavy clay soils will help protect against oxygen and therefore slow down the decomposition process. Loose soils, on the contrary, will speed up this process. It usually takes 10-15 years.

In very hot, dry conditions, bacteria cannot destroy body tissue; they simply dehydrate it. When the ancient Egyptians buried their dead in the hot desert sand, the bodies were preserved much more effectively than in the cold darkness of the pyramid tombs. This is why, as many believe, embalming was invented.

Ultimately, all organs are destroyed, decompose and return their energy to nature. You borrowed all this from her initially, and therefore you have no other choice.