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RAJENDEA BHATTA

In a bold act of defying the superstitious belief that women should not touch corpses‚ and non-Dalits should not touch Dalit bodies‚ women from the shelter at Bankhet went to the hospital to collect Sunar’s body and carried out the funeral procession themselves to finally cremate him following all Hindu liturgies by the Mahakali River.

MAHENDRANAGAR: Going against deeply seated conventions that to this day influence Nepali society, a Dalit’s dead body was cremated at the Mahakali River by a group a women not belonging to the community. Dhan Bahadur Sunar, a Dalit, was staying at a shelter at Bankhet meant for women and Dalits.

Sunar passed away while undergoing an operation on Monday at Mahakali Zonal Hospital. In a bold act of defying the superstitious belief that women should not touch corpses, and non-Dalits should not touch Dalit bodies, women from the shelter at Bankhet went to the hospital to collect Sunar’s body and carried out the funeral procession themselves to finally cremate him following all Hindu liturgies by the Mahakali River, the shelter’s central committee member, Sharada Chand proudly shared. The funeral had an attendance of 30 women in total.

The shelter had found Sunar stranded at a local bus stop and was brought in three years ago. He reportedly suffered from severe body aches and had problems urinating while he was at the shelter.

  • See more at: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=+Non-Dalit+women+cremante+Dalit’s+body&NewsID=438146#sthash.3FcL4CZu.dpuf