Ganges in UK?

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Holy Act! Hindus get Ganges in UK

RASHMEE Z AHMED

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2004 10:37:52 PM ]

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo.cms?msid=882892

The Soar joins a section of the Thames and the Wye made famous by

Wordsworth when he wrote 'Tintern Abbey', as a Ganges substitute.

LONDON: There is only one Ganges east of the Suez Canal, but the

UK's over one-million-strong Hindu community has many to choose from

as yet another British river is designated holy and home to the last

rites.

 

The newest Ganges of Europe is the River Soar, a tributary of the

larger, fuller-flowing Trent in the English East Midlands where a

substantial slice of British Hindus live.

 

 

The Soar joins a section of the Thames and the Wye made famous by

Wordsworth when he wrote 'Tintern Abbey', as a Ganges substitute.

The three rivers may be used by British Hindus to scatter ashes,

offer flowers, coconuts and prayers for their departed loved ones.

 

But permission by Britain's Environment Agency for Hindus to see the

Soar as holy has set off a great stream of anguished debate about

what makes a river holy.

 

Sanjay Gadhvi, trustee of the Watford Temple famously funded by late

Beatle George Harrison, told TNN: Suddenly the Soar becomes holy. I

personally feel, on what grounds? The Ganga is holy because it has

its origins in the Vedas.

 

Argues Shyam Shukla, trustee of one of Britain's oldest Hindu

temples, which is based in the north-western town of Bradford: All

rivers flow into the same ocean.

 

 

Sans temples and funeral pyres, the gentle English rain falling like

a benediction and with a final destination that is the very un-

Indian North Sea, the River Soar is an unlikely Ganges.

 

But the Soars new holiness, complete with a specially-designated

boat-hire company to do the honours for grieving Hindus, comes after

a long and earnestly-argued campaign by 250,000 Hindus in the East

Midlands.

 

Its part of a campaign to turn every single British river into a

place where Hindus can perform the last rites, declares Venilal

Vaghela, director of the Hindu Council, which links 140 British

temples. There are already plans to demand separate crematoriums for

Hindus.

 

Vaghela, who just last year used the Thames to scatter his mothers

ashes, said it was pointless to debate whether or not a British

river could ever be the holy Ganges.

It is a practical step. British Hindus who cannot afford to travel

to India should have the option of scattering the ashes here, rather

than keeping them for years in a jar.

 

 

And priest Shastriji Prakashbhai Pandya, who officiates at the Soars

ceremonies, believes Britain's new Ganges is greener, cleaner and

quieter than the real thing, with the simple hymn song of quacking

ducks in the background.

 

"When I close my eyes, this could be the Ganges," he said.

 

But that may not be the last word on the subject.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/882888.cms