An Antediluvian Ritual.....?

An Antediluvian Ritual…..? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Today I am saddened with a curious pain Not of the flesh and not of the brain But of the heart broken at the hideous ritual That had taken place in the holy of holies That no fewer than hundred corpses of women and children Were seen floating on the surface of the Ganga basin The sight was horrifying, shocking and chilling And it's hard not to wonder why such things are happening Is human body nothing more than this fleshy, bony thing? That we just awaken to each morning Or is it just a skinbag of water And carbon, calcium and other materials worth of ten dollar Or is it God's wonderful creation Utterly marvelous, living assemblage of exquisite systems of organ Whose simultaneous and smooth functioning is a miracle Or we may call it a temple As biologists, chemists and physicists put it We are a play of light More akin to dreamlike no-things Than 'solid somethings' Then why into the river such bodies were dumped When cremation or burial could have been done by praxis civilized Is it deeprooted prejudice against unmarried women and children? Or superstition and ignorance, reminiscent of pre-Renaissance India then The two nooses are still tying the neck of civilization in 2015AD That we hypocrites pretend to be polished and civilised It's no less criminal than female infanticide of the 19th century And foeticide of India contemporary More painful it is in the aftermath of disgrace When so called priests call them 'holy river burials' It's more than obvious that Every socio-religious certitude is flouted on the dictates of priests Disposal of bodies can't be a matter of subjective preference As for every religion, funeral rituals are sanctioned by the scriptures It's more distressing than polluting The river Ganga, the holy of holies and entrancing