PATNA: Christians in densely populated parts of India are increasingly turning to the age-old Hindu tradition of cremation as their cemeteries get ever more crowded.

As younger Christians spruced up the graves of their ancestors recently for All Souls Day, many of them said they were willing to opt for cremation rather than burial when their time comes.

“Cremation is a viable and modern alternative,” said Deepak Simon, a minister in the Church of North India in the eastern state of Bihar.

India’s Hindu majority along with Sikhs traditionally cremate their dead. But with the billion-plus population converging on cities at an alarming rate, Christian cremations are also likely to become more commonplace.

Suresh P. Vergese, from the largely Christian southern state of Kerala, noted that the church has long discussed how to reconcile burial rites with the crunch for space.

In Bihar’s capital Patna, the main Christian cemetery at the Queen of Apostles Church is so congested that the community is on the lookout for new burial spots. But for some believers, cremation goes against Christianity’s basic tenets.

“Christians’ faith that bodies in the graves will rise to life on the Day of Resurrection prevents the notion of cremation of bodies,” said M. Joseph, an Indian Christian.

Others, however, welcome the eco-friendly way of disposing the dead that would put Christians closer in practice to most Indians.

But some Christians fear the land crunch could create discrimination at death, with wealthy Christians being buried in their ancestral cemeteries but the poor deprived.

Torn between ecological reality and religious tradition, some Indian church leaders have asked worshippers to adapt their burial practices, for example by using crypts rather than land.—AFP