SPACES OF CREMATION – The invisible sacred landscapes in Indian cities PDF

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This Research Paper is undertaken by SANCHIT ARORA in Autumn Semester 2013 - 2014 Roll No.02116901610, studying in 4TH (A) year of Sushant School of Art and Architecture Gurgaon. INTRODUCTION SPACES OF CREMATION – The invisible sacred landscapes in Indian cities Death is a law, not a punishment. - J...

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This Re se a rc h Pa pe r is unde rta ke n b y SANCHITARORA in Autumn Se me ste r 2013 - 2014 Ro ll No .02116901610, stud ying in 4TH (A) ye a r o f Susha nt Sc ho o l o f Art a nd Arc hite c ture Gurg a o n.

INTRODUCTION

SPACES OFCREMATION – The invisible sacred landscapes in Indian cities

Deat h is a law , not a punishm ent. - Jean Dubos

Death is unknown and it is final. As humans, death is a destination we all share as it makes you realise the morality , that is acceptance and understanding. It is a cultural event through which societies reveal themselves in the treatment of the dead. And as these societies evolve, the customs and traditions surrounding the departure i.e. funerals also change ( burials , cremations etc). The intersection of life and death takes place when the living gazes upon what used to be and face the reality of morality. Wanting to go beyond the dullness of physical functions, there exists in architecture a special place devoted to the understanding and contemplation of this given condition. These places are constructed for both living and the dead, they are public and yet intimately private and personal as they bridge the gap of existence and become sacred spaces because they touch on the sublime of the absolute but paradoxic ally, remind us of the fragility of life. In India, a country where the rituals and beliefs are given importance, death holds an important position in the society. It has been said that in India death isn’t opposed, as it is in the west, to the idea of life but rather to birth. The phenomenon of death from the Indian point of view tends to be very interesting as one starts examining the contemporary scenario of Hinduism (in this dissertation) that has evolved over the centuries.

Cremation is the

use o f hig h-te mpe ra ture b urning , va p o riza tio n, a nd o xida tio n to re d uc e de a d a nima l

o r huma n b o die s to b a sic c he mic a l c o mpo und s, suc h a s g a se s a nd mine ra l fra g me nts re ta ining the a p pe a ra nc e o f d ry b o ne . Cre ma tio n ma y se rve a s a fune ra l o r po st-fune ra l rite tha t is a n a lte rna tive to the inte rme nt o f a n inta c t d e a d b o dy in a c o ffin o r c a ske t. (Wikip e dia ) Death is often studied by historians, philosophers, sociologists, semiologists, but from the view of architecture, it seems to be a forgotten part. But in India, where there is a culture where the dead are cremated, there never really has existed a tradition of building for that very purpose. These spaces reduce the act of cremation to a mere set of ‘tasks’ to be performed in a certain ritualistic order and offer no relevance to thee living accompanying the dead. “Not often does architecture have the power to communicate man’s tenuous existence on this ground” - Ken Worpole(The Last Landscapes)` But at the space time , “Sometimes an act of building comes along that makes us pause” - Anonymous The crematorium is a modestly scaled complex. It is a vehicle to explore the poetic , narrative and ritualistic aspect of architecture and landscape. Intensification of an unbuilt landscape seeking to celebrated as an entity in the urban sprawl. The crematoriums come along as a unique synthesis of landscape and architecture.

Re se a rc h Pa p e r C o o rd ina to r: RITU VERMA Re se a rc h Pa p e r G uid e : THOMAS OOMMEN

This Re se a rc h Pa pe r is unde rta ke n b y SANCHITARORA in Autumn Se me ste r 2013 - 2014 Ro ll No .02116901610, stud ying in 4TH (A) ye a r o f Susha nt Sc ho o l o f Art a nd Arc hite c ture Gurg a o n.

INTRODUCTION

“As pines keep the shape of the wind even when the wind has fled and is no longer there, so walls guard the shape of man even when the man has fled and is no longer there” “The walls we make are the culmination of choices” - George Seferis

The justification of the Hindu cremation grounds as an architectural entity in the urban scenario will always remain a big question. The question roots may be drawn back to the green landscapes being used as cremation grounds without any distinguished boundaries (seen in cases of “Ghats”). Still there is this kind of a social stigma that is associated with the crematoriums even though they have been featured in the merging landscapes of the city as seen in cases of the river side Ghats where the day to day activities would take place next to the funeral pyre , making the scenario very interesting and unique. “If death is undeniably a universal phenomenon, then why is it constantly exorcised and shunned in our daily experience” - Gian Giuseppe Filippi (Mrtyu – Concept of Death in Indian Traditions) Why are these Cremation Grounds seen as ‘Blind

Spots’

in the urban sprawl ,

the lost landscapes

of the Indian cities .

Sacred - Co nsid e re d wo rthy o f sp iritua l re sp e c t o r d e vo tio n; o r insp iring a we o r re ve re nc e a mo ng b e lie ve rs in a g ive n se t o f spiritua l id e a s. (Wikip e dia ) India is known to be land of Sacred Spaces, where after every km , one would find a sacred space(temples , religious institutions and etc) . Interesting fact that follows is the inclusion of crematoriums as sacred spaces and why invisibility is only seen in the later case. Sometimes in an unconscious manner, an act of building can overcome

the resonance of the

space, its spirit and its purpose. The touch of tradition (rituals and beliefs) in architecture makes a very unique interaction as seen in the crematoriums. Yama, the God of Death is a deity who inspires dread. Talking about Yama is still avoided in the contemporary scenario. Yama is the mysterious principle of transformation and the laws he governs are unknown. Yama makes the Indian society hold their breath and hence starts the avoidance of these places which is contrary to the beliefs of the Westerners , where the principle of ‘fatalism’ is the answer. But what stands out in India is the inability of death to cause the similar fear in the souls of the Indians. The investigation of these lost landscapes in the urban scenario force a study into redefining the image , opinions and the outlook of the Indian society towards the way they bid farewell to the departed soul. The study comes down to whether Architecture maybe the only tool in the box to fix the situation where a respectful platform is a

‘burning’ need.

The Indian society has been nurtured in a way that even though different tools would want to bring about a change which would remain a distant dream. The association of ‘appropriate

aesthetic’ with the

spaces of mourning to evolve a typology in contemporary architecture may end up turning these invisible

Re se a rc h Pa p e r C o o rd ina to r: RITU VERMA Re se a rc h Pa p e r G uid e : THOMAS OOMMEN

This Re se a rc h Pa pe r is unde rta ke n b y SANCHITARORA in Autumn Se me ste r 2013 - 2014 Ro ll No .02116901610, stud ying in 4TH (A) ye a r o f Susha nt Sc ho o l o f Art a nd Arc hite c ture Gurg a o n.

INTRODUCTION

landscapes to merge into the city as a potential site to become an important element in the city dweller’s consciousness.

“It is a sacred space, but secular” -

Suprio Bhattarjee, Domus, Indian Edition –September 2013 Issue, THE SPACE OFTHE ‘IN-BETWEEN’

The relation of these crematoriums to the city is trying to understand to pattern of the lost landscapes at the city scale. Births and deaths is a continuous loop and these cremation grounds are actively used on daily basis which takes us back to the same question that if these spaces are one of the most active

public

spaces , then still why is there a certain kind of ignorance . The whole ideology related to the Hindu Crematoriums gets simplified as one starts examining the Westernized examples. Is there the same ignorance that is present in case of the burial grounds or cemeteries in the West. Due to the conception of the cemetery being for the dead and not for the living ,

the absence of functionality enables the use of utopian volumes. Is it that the absence of traditional values and acceptance of death as a natural event be the reason for people to happily accept and celebrate such mourning spaces.

“Death is an abstract, philosophical subject to study, which is tackled from a speculative point of view, and to which no immediate efficacy is attributed”

- Gian Giuseppe Filippi (Mrtyu – Concept of Death in Indian Traditions)

Re se a rc h Pa p e r C o o rd ina to r: RITU VERMA Re se a rc h Pa p e r G uid e : THOMAS OOMMEN...