By Dilip D’Souza –
We all have to go one day, and when our time comes, what will we take with us? Absolutely nothing!
Ancient Egyptians buried personal belongings along with the body, other tribes had various other accompaniments stored with the mortal remains. In our day, there are no personal belongings other than the clothes and a rosary, so we may believe that we are managing with the bare minimum, with the necessary addition of the coffin in which the body is buried.
But come to think of it, do we really need that coffin and is it really necessary? Coffins are expensive – and often the status of the family is shown by the quality of wood used for the coffin, good teak versus cheaper wood versus a melamine plating. Again, food for thought, is all this really essential at a time when we are all equal before not just God’s eyes but before all eyes on earth, as we are lowered into the earth to turn back into dust – for the rich man and the poor man meet the same equal end.
Back to the coffin: A good coffin is expensive, and adds to the expenses of a funeral. In many cases, the person had died after an illness, already straining the finances of the family. Secondly, our cemeteries are completely short of space, and undoubtedly, coffins take more space than burying ashes after cremation, which has been the other option evolved in Christian cemeteries across the country to deal with the space problem.
But there is a third option that most haven’t heard about – and that is shroud burial where the body is lowered into the grave wrapped only in a cloth, just as Jesus was covered with a shroud. I first heard of it through an article in the newspaper a few months ago, sharing how in Mumbai, Blaise Church in the western suburb of Amboli had at least 15 shroud burials with families volunteering to give up the coffin in favour of a cloth. The parish priest Fr Franklin Mathias was quoted as saying that space constraints, environmental benefits and pure economics prompted him to encourage shroud burial.
He further said, “Burial is an act of mercy and in the year of Mercy, we decided to go back to the old way of doing it. Jesus was buried in a shroud. It will also save wood and for the poor, bring down the cost of a burial significantly”. Besides being eco-friendly by saving precious wood, it also speeds decomposition so that the mortal remains reach the dust stage many years sooner, without the wood of a coffin to slow down the process.
So this idea of shroud burial immediately appealed to me. I had discussed it with others who visited, and in the presence of my father Alphy. Dad was a simple man who lived a simple life, and it was very appropriate that when he passed away on 30 December, his was the first shroud burial in Hosur cemetery in Bangalore. My brothers and I discussed this and we all felt it was a fitting way to bury him, with the minimalistic approach, but also because it is environment friendly. The grave was dug 7 ft feet deep, and lined with hollow cement block on the sides leaving the base with just earth. The body was removed from the hired coffin and lowered in the lowest part of the grave and then covered with mud and flowers half way to the top. A cement slab was then placed on the top over which a monument can be erected like any other grave. This grave can accommodate more such shroud burials in the family grave without having to wait for 5 years for decomposition of the body also solving the space constraint that most cemeteries are grappling with. Two weeks later Brig. Linus Kamath too was buried in a similar manner making it the second shroud burial in our cemetery.
Moving forward, I strongly feel that this is the way to go. I appeal all to opt for shroud burials as we are running out of space in the cemetery. Let us go as simply as we can.
DilipD’Souza is a Parish Council member of St Patrick’s Church, Bangalore. This article originally appeared in The Patrician.