Content Warning! This post talks about dead bodies and contains images of covered corpses. Though they are not explicitly shown or described in detail, click away if you’d rather not consume such content.
The Ganges River has been heavily polluted by industrial and urban waste as the country developed, as well as by decaying bodies, for decades. Ever since the proliferation of COVID-19 in India, news has been spreading of suspected COVID-19 victims’ bodies floating in the Ganges, and what this form of pollution means for communities for whom the river is a crucial water source.
In the city of Allahabad alone, an estimated 600 bodies have buried in mass shallow graves on the riverbank of the Ganges as seen in these pictures:
Indian news outlets have criticised international media for reporting the current situation as an unprecedented phenomenon. Bodies being dumped in the Ganges or buried on the riverbank is nothing new, but the surge in improperly disposed of bodies have stirred fears of the water being poisoned. Furthermore, monsoon floods have dislodged bodies buried in the sands of the riverside, bringing them into the river and contributing to its contamination.
The makeshift burial of bodies along the Ganges within the pandemic context sheds light on how COVID-19 has impacted India. The waves of COVID-19 infections over the past few years have been intense, putting a lot of pressure on Indian hospitals which have been experiencing a severe lack of capacity and insufficient healthcare workers. Many people have died because they could not receive timely and adequate medical attention. This includes the millions who have died from COVID-19 and those with other health issues.
Importantly, the hundreds of bodies found in/by the Ganges during the pandemic are there because their loves ones could not afford cremation or burial options. It has been a particularly trying time for the impoverished. Many people have been out of work and were already earning very little since before COVID-19, and thus have insufficient funds to conduct traditional rituals for the dead. Cremation costs have also increased during the pandemic, which according to this Al Jazeera article, includes the cost of firewood and other components essential to cremation rituals as per the different religious groups. In contrast to industrial pollution or littering by individuals, this type of water pollution by decomposing bodies is intimately linked to poverty. Families have no choice but to take the free option: bury the bodies on the riverbank or send them away along the river, thereby leaving the ultimate fate of the bodies to nature.
When reading news about the prevalence of bodies floating down the great Ganges and the mass graves which have been lining its banks, we may feel inclined to look down on the people directly responsible for this pollution. But it is crucial for us to understand that these individuals do not want to pollute the sacred river, nor would they leave the bodies of their loved ones in undignified positions by choice. Poverty indeed has implications for one’s fate even in death.
References:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/2/poverty-stigma-behind-bodies-floating-in-indias-ganges-river
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/indias-holy-ganges-river-gives-up-its-coronavirus-dead
