Girl performs last rites of dad , faces social backlash

Patna: A teenage girl in Bihar is facing socail backlash for breaking one of the many shackles of Hindu tradition by performing the last rites of her father by lighting his funeral pyre.

Ahalini Kumari, 17, says she was fully aware of the possible consequences of her decision to perform a task traditionally reserved for a dead man’s son.

“I was ready to face the music, and now I am facing it willingly, with the conviction of courage that empowers me as a daughter, a woman and a citizen,” said Ahalini, a resident of Maranga near Bihar’s eastern district town of Purnea.

When her father, Ajay Yadav, an alcoholic, died after prolonged illness on Saturday, Kumari brushed away objections from family members, relatives and neighbours to light the funeral pyre of her father, who had no sons. Even her mother, Mira Sinha and her elder sister Rohini Kumari had warned her against it. They and her neighbours did not visit the cremation ground when she lit the pyre.

Now, as she prepares to organise the remaining shraddh rituals for her departed father, her relatives and neighbours have prevented the local priest and barber from participating in the rituals as a measure to ostracise her.