Does India Still Dump Dead Bodies in the Ganges River? Do Indians still dump dead bodies in the Ganges River? How does this practice effect the environment of the river? Is the water contaminated, or is the water potable?

Isn%26#039;t this practice barbaric, and shouldn%26#039;t it be stopped if it still goes on?

Can you eat the fish that feed on the corpses? Would you?

Best Answer

This practice sure is barbaric! But ive definately heard its still going on, a friend of mine was over there recently and said shes seen it happen and it was horrific apparently! I would definately not eat the fish, or even fish in that river?? Would you ?

Asker's Rating:

maybe someday barbarians will join the modern world

Other Answers (14)

• The Ganges is a sacred river, held in high spiritual esteem by many Hindu faithful. It is a mark of the highest honor for one%26#039;s earthly remains to be set adrift in the Ganges after one%26#039;s soul is done with the body.
  
  Barbaric? Hmm. Well, if you consider that Christians may be honoring a zombie that rose from the crypt after three days, then perhaps.
  
  The Ganges is badly polluted, and not just from the bodies. Industrial effluents and agricultural runoffs make it a Very Bad Place to do your swimming.
  
  Can you eat the fish that feed on the corpses? Well, do you eat shark? They eat dead bodies, too. Catfish are bottom feeders, slurping up the feces and other schmutz of other fish that that fall to the bottom. We all know that crabs will cheerfully munch the dead of whatever species that make it to the sea floor, do you eat crabs? How many bits of people do you reckon you%26#039;ve eaten, disguised as something else? I almost guarantee you%26#039;ve eaten something that took a bite out of something else that was already dead.
  
  That something else could%26#039;ve been a human, could%26#039;ve been another fish, maybe it was a bloated elk. You never know.
  
  *cue Elton John* It%26#039;s the Ciiiiir-cle of Liiiiife!
• you can eat the fish they do its fine...if they still do it..i dont know but i wouldnt doubt it and no i dont see it as barbaric cause if you bury them they will be digged up or something else later on and who are we to stop something that has been going on for centuries and part of culture.....
• india is a bucket. they dump everything from bodies to cars to humanSHlT in the river. if no1 touches the river for 35 years, it would begin to clear a bit
• That would be sick, and I would like to think that the Indians have more morals then that.
  I hope that you didn%26#039;t ask this question with the intention of making people prejudiced of Indians.
• People of rural areas r doing that...the water is not potable it is contaminated.....yes! this practice should be stopped....
• I hope not. Your question reminds me of the film The Painted Veil and how the bodies caused cholera
• It%26#039;s a Hindu practice, it%26#039;s not that people who die on the streets are %26#039;thrown%26#039; into the river.
• I heard if you die on the streets of India people will just step over you.
• NO NOT ANYMORE. WELL, NOT LEGALLY
• Sad, but true; and no cement overshoes!
• Google it.
• sorry i wouldn%26#039;t know.