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Showing posts from July 20, 2010


Hindu Woman Performs Her Father’s Funeral Rituals – We need more daughters to come forward and perform the last rites of their parents

No idea who created this rule that only male members can perform the last rites in Hinduism. Daughters are forbidden from performing the funeral rituals even when there is no male member in the family to do it. But some daughters are showing the courage to change the social norm – it is not easy they have to battle relatives, neighbors, friends, onlookers and all those that have an opinion on this highly personal matter. Times of India writes about B G Indiramma from Mysore who had the courage to perform the last rites of her father and also got herself tonsured (the practice of shaving the head during funeral ritual.) Indiramma, an accounts officer with the Mysore Urban Development Authority, has four sisters. When her father Govindegowda died a fortnight ago, unmindful of all criticism, she lit the pyre after completing all rituals. Many were stunned when she asked the barber to tonsure her head just before the rituals. Indiramma told TOI she had no qualms about losing he