NHS doctor, Dr Karan, Rajan, went viral on social media last week after debunking the medical myths, including what cremated ashes are really made of. Dr Karan Rajan, who posts on TikTok said, "Basically a high-speed blender that processes bones to look like ashes." His video had over 698,000 times and over 64,000 likes.
It left many people disturbed by this morbid topic. The story was first reported by The Daily Star where the doctor explained in a video that incinerating a human body doesn't turn it into ashes like wood when it is burned.
Commenting on this story, Rajnish Kashyap, General Secretary/Director, Hindu Council UK (HCUK) told Asian Voice, "For Hindus, the Ashes are what remained after the cremation of the body. The ashes are called asthī (bones of the deceased). Hindus respectfully call these ashes Phool (flowers) to express respect and devotion to the departed soul. The asthi need to go into running water (the sea is permissible). This is to allow the spirit a smoother tradition to the next life. Scattering asthies in the river after the cremation is an important part of the rituals in the Hindu religion – this symbolizes the cycle of life. Water is associated with purity and purification. By immersing the asthies, the relatives are helping the dead person to purify sins. If Dr Karan Raj’s comments that the asthies after cremation are then crushed and blended to make ashes are correct then for Hindus it is against their rituals and totally unethical even to think about it.”
Harsha Shukla MBE, Vice President, North of Hindu Forum of Britain consulted the Lancaster crematorium to share her perspective on this subject. She told Asian Voice that the crematorium uses the deceased body and the coffin in the furnace. But before that, all the nails and screws get removed with the help of a magnet. The furnace decides how much time it takes to cremate bodies of different sizes. “Everything (the remains after cremation) goes back to the family. In India, we might have small bones left but in the UK, everything turns into ashes. We turn our bodies into Panch-Mahabhoot. So, what we get from nature, is returned to nature to maintain a balance,” she told the newsweekly.
