What happens if the missing person is found alive after the funeral by making a statue of Kush?
Kush statue cremated, Pandit says, ‘Be patient’
Pramila Karki, Nepal News Bank
Kathmandu. At a time when the condition of the people who have been missing for a long time is yet to be ascertained, some families have been performing the last rites by making idols of Kush.
Families are moving towards this ritual as they are compelled to perform religious rites due to the lack of information about the condition of their relatives. However, astrologer and Pandit Balkrishna Acharya believes that there should be no hurry to cremate the funeral by making a statue of Kush while the search and rescue work is going on due to natural calamities.
Speaking to Nepal News Bank, Acharya said that although the scriptures mention the method of cremating the missing person by making an idol of Kush based on the condition of the missing person, the family should not take such a decision in panic in the current situation of natural disaster.
He said, “We should think differently about such natural calamities. We should not panic so soon. It seems that some people have panicked and hurried. There is no need to panic so soon.” According to him, according to the scriptural beliefs, if a person is missing or does not come in contact for a long time, then after a certain situation, an idol of Kush should be made and it is smeared with barley flour and given the form of a human body and the funeral is done. He said that in such a ritual, the ritual will be performed by invoking the name and gotra of the concerned person through the mantras and hymns of the Vedas.
However, he suggested that the missing person should wait a long time before declaring him dead as the search and rescue operation is currently underway.
He said the family should be patient until the government announces the end of the search.
Acharya said, “The government is using various resources to find the survivors. I think it is better to wait until the investigation is over.” He said that the families of the missing people should not give up hope immediately as there are examples of people surviving for a long time in difficult conditions even after the disaster.
Acharya said that there is a separate procedure in the scriptures regarding what to do if the concerned person is found alive after cremating the idol of Kush. According to him, in such a situation, the previous deeds should be stopped by ‘Gaudan’ as atonement and after the living person is found, additional rites should be performed according to the religious rites.
After that, it is mentioned that the method of ‘Ghritakumbh’ will be adopted after looking at the condition of the concerned person. Acharya said that there is a ritual to take out the person found alive by placing it up to the neck in a pot of ghee, bathing and performing a symbolic rite of reincarnation. After that, the necessary rites from Navaran to marriage will be repeated, he said.
According to Acharya, Kush is given special importance in religious rituals.
Though different mythological legends mention about the origin of Kush, there is a religious belief that Kush is related to Lord Vishnu, he said.
Kush is also taken as a means of connecting Kush with God in religious rituals. Therefore, it is customary to cremate Kush as a corpse, he said.
Similarly, if the families who have lost their homes and essential materials in the natural calamity have difficulty in performing the religious rites, they can perform the rituals through simple methods according to the available resources. He said that if the necessary materials are not available, alternative religious methods can be adopted.
Acharya said that the main priority for now should be to search for and identify the missing persons.
According to him, it may take time to complete the identification process through DNA and other means even after the body is found, so deciding to complete the religious rites in a hurry may lead to more complications later.
He said that even if the body of the concerned person is found after cremating the idol of Kush, there is a procedure in the scriptures for it. He said that in such a situation, the body should be cremated and if the rituals have already been done, a process of burning the leftovers for a certain period of time will be adopted. Acharya also stressed the need to consult the concerned pandits and gurus while taking a decision keeping in mind the pain of the disappeared families and religious sentiments. He said that according to the Scriptural beliefs, such an act should be done not only by personal decision but also by consulting the family, society and gurus and pandits. According to him, according to the Scriptures, when a person disappears, disappears, and is not searched for a very long time, one has to wait until he is one hundred years old.
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