Travel  |  Business World  |  Women's World  |  Entertainment

Change Your Life!

Hindu priests chant for the dead of India's quake

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

February 8, 2001 

BHUJ-(AP) - At an altar fashioned from shipping crates, Hindu priests prayed Wednesday for the victims of India's quake, chanting Sanskrit verses and name after name into the dusty air, remembering those killed by the worst earthquake to hit India in 50 years.

The 12th day after a death has special significance for Hindus and is normally observed by prayers. But the ceremony was especially poignant as the confirmed death toll from the Jan. 26 quake reached 17,000. That number could go as high as 30,000 before the counting is over, Haren Pandya, Gujarat's home minister, said Wednesday.

U.N. disaster management officials said Tuesday they believed as many as 1 million people were left homeless by the quake.

The organizers of the prayer service, followers of Gujarati holy man Swami Narayan, used newspaper ads to encourage residents of western Gujarat state to phone in the names of the dead so they could be read at the prayer service.

Since many are not sure when their relatives died - or have even managed to recover bodies for cremation - the priests decided to hold the service Wednesday for everyone killed by the 7.7 magnitude quake, said Brahmaviharidutt, a Hindu priest who uses only one name.

The prayers will end the traditional mourning period and help survivors move on with their recovery efforts, he said. "After the 12th day, the soul goes on to the next life," he explained.

A painting of Vishnu, the Hindu god known as the preserver, and photographs of Pragat Brahmaswaprrop, believed to be the direct spiritual descendant of Swami Narayan, an 18th century Hindu ascetic, sat on the improvised altar surrounded by marigold petals. A dozen priests in saffron robes chanted into a microphone in Bhuj's main square.

As the mourning period drew to a close, Indian goverompletely," he said.

The state government estimates the damage at 208.75 billion rupees (dlrs 4.5 billion), including 110 billion rupees (dlrs 2.4 billion) in damage to houses and private belongings and 80 billion rupees (dlrs 1.7 billion) in damage to businesses, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said.