Nepal floods: No bodies to cremate, kin burn kusha effigies as hopes fade for missing
Families in flood-ravaged Nepal are performing symbolic cremations using kusha grass effigies because they cannot locate the bodies of their missing relatives. The ritual allows grieving families to seek closure and perform traditional rites despite the lack of physical remains.
Why it matters
This highlights the profound human tragedy and the breakdown of traditional funeral infrastructure in the wake of a massive natural disaster.
TRISHULI BAZAAR (NUWAKOT): Families in flood-ravaged Nuwakot and Rasuwa who could not find missing relatives — or their bodies — began performing symbolic cremations with human-shaped effigies made from kusha, a sacred grass used in Hindu rituals.After days of searching hospitals, morgues, riverbanks and recovery lists, relatives lit the effigies on pyres at cremation sites so they could begin mourning.In Nuwakot, families gathered along Trishuli river for the rites as priests shaped bundles of kusha to represent the missing person, placed them on wooden pyres and guided relatives through the same rituals normally performed over a body.Families from Rasuwa, one of the worst-hit districts, also began holding such funerals or travelling to cremation grounds after repeated searches failed to locate their kin.Rozel Shrestha, 12, performed the rites for his father, Krishna Shrestha, 37, who disappeared in Rasuwa.Krishna’s brother Jeevan Shrestha said the family had searched widely before accepting that they…
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