The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-29
BODIES AS FERTILIZERS.
Hindoo's Odd Reason for Directing to
Cremation.

Owing to the crowded condition OF the
swarming population in many parts of
India, and the wretched circumstances
amid which so many millions Of them
live, it has been found difficult for the
British officials to check the progress
of plaques and pestilences by the exer-
else of the most stringent sanitary reg
ulations. In spite of, all that has been
done to improve the health of the coun-
try, disease germs Turk and propagate
almost everywhere. Much of the evil is
attributed to the methods employed by
the various races and sects in dealing
with the bodies of their dead. and some
time ago the government undertook to
induce the people to practice cremation.
1t is the belief of the government that
if all the diseased bodies were duly
burned the deadly germs would be
gradually destroyed and danger of pes
thence largely diminished.
When the proposal was submitted to
the Indian council 1t was well under
stood that it would meet with violent
opposition, and that it would be impos-
sible to enforce it by arbitrary act "A
campaign of education on the subject
was, therefore, begun with the hope
that it would eventually result in OBJ
tanning the assent of the leaders of the
natives to the reform. It was deemed
foregone conclusion that the opposi-
ton would be based upon religious
grounds, and accordingly the campaign
OF education was carefully outlined to
avoid that issue, and bring the whole
proposition within the domain of sci
ence.
To the establishment of the British
some of the leading Brahmins have de-
elared against cremation on the grounds
of the very science to which the gov
ernment appealed. The Westminster
Gazette quotes a Brahman member of
the staff Of the Indian Government Ed
vocational institution as saying: There
is no substance in the world which is
so rich in plant food as the carcass of
an animal. When it is burned and con-
verified into ashes all the work accom-
plished by nature in her laboratory is
wasted. The nitrogen is dispersed IN
the air. At Sd. a pound the nitrogen in
flesh and bones in each human carcass
| is worth about rupees. 1t Is worth
while storing it away at the roots of
plants instead of allowing 1t to dispense
/ in the air Cremation can do little
harm so long as it is practiced by few,
but universally adopted it will only
mean few million tons of food less
per annum, and a gradually diminish
| ing supply of food for the existing races
of animals. I would rather imag-
Inc my body slowly passing into the
substances of mangoes and gold
mohurs planted in cemeteries than that
it should be resolved into its native ele-
ments by sudden process in the course
of an hour.
While the argument is more remarka-
BILE for its ingenuity than its validity, II
is an interesting illustration of the ex-
| tent to which Great Britain has man
aged to inculcate western scientific ideas
among the leaders of one of the most
conservative castles in the world. It also
shows how difficult it is going to be to
get that conservatism to change its an
cient ways. The very lessons taught by
science are employed to forge weapons
against the innovations OF science. Evil
IDENTIFY it will be a long time before Gre
nation prevails in India.-San Francisco
Call