Chitagni “The mobile crematorium” of SewaBharti

It was on March 6, 2021, when Rangarajan (name changed), an elderly man in the small village of Andorkonam in Kerala, lost the battle of life to Corona. But the misfortune did not end there, as his family has to fight for his last rite which was a bigger battle than even fighting the disease. Despite making all-out efforts the family members could not find a place in any cremation ground to cremate his dead body. Then they sought help from SevaBharati Kerala. As a result, within hours a mobile cremation unit in the form of a van was at their doorstep. Rangarajan's relatives performed his last rites with the help of SewaBharti workers using only two LPG cylinders. This Chitagni project of Kerala SewaBharati, which is being run with the help of Sewa International, has come as a boon for those families, who were forced to perform the last rites of their relatives in the backyard of their houses. Kerala SewaBharati's President Kiran Kumar ji explains that Chitagni is an eco-friendly unique project presently operated in 13 districts of Kerala, in which wood is not required for the last rites.

Death always brings suffering. Whenever someone from the family takes his last breath, the whole family drowns in the ocean of grief. However, it is the destiny of a human being to see off his deceased family member in a dignified manner and perform his last rituals. Unfortunately, sometimes one has to face the biggest irony of fate when even two yards of land is not available to perform the last rites of one's beloved. People living in small settlements in Kerala have been going through this heart-wrenching pain for many years. They do not get a place in the cremation ground for the last rites. In such a situation, they pay their last respects to their loved ones on their small piece of land; while some have to search deserted places may be many kilometers away, to perform the last rituals of the dead bodies.

This problem had become more acute during the Corona period. The death toll was so high that people were forced to retain the dead bodies in their homes for many days. To help such families Kerala SevaBharati started this Chittagni Project in 2019 with the help of Seva International. Kerala SevaBharati is now providing this unique 'mobile funeral unit' (crematorium) to needy families almost free of cost in 13 districts of Kerala. Shree Padmakumarji, the R.S.S. KshetraSewaPramukh southern region says, SevaBharati in Kerala is running a separate helpline for this purpose where people can call at any time of the day and night and ask for help to cremate their deceased. Whether it is a heavily crowded area or maybe a remote forest range, this mobile crematorium reaches without delay, he added.

Floating around history, Dr.P.Chidambaranath, who was the VibhagSanghchalak of the RashtriyaSwayamsevakSangh in KottayamVibhag, kept on trying to establish a 'Mobile Sanskar Unit' to solve this problem, for years. He could not accomplish this during his lifetime, but a year after his death; the R. S. S. volunteers started the first 'Mobile Sanskar Unit' and fulfilled his dream. Chitagni is a form of the electric crematorium, in which only one or one and a half L.P.G. cylinder is used to cremate the dead body. This means only 2000 to 2500 rupees are spent in performing the last rites and the process is comparatively environmentally friendly. It helps save forests too. A plan has been devised to extend this scheme of SevaBharati to 100 districts of South India in the future.