Editors Note:

The devastating earthquake in Nepal has taken away more than 7,000 lives. It is painful for survivors to part with their loved ones. Global Times reporter Bai Tiantian, who has been there covering relief efforts in the past week, presents her observations on how the residents of Katmandu draw strength from their culture in the face of tragedy.

A member (right) of Ramunion Rescue, a non-government rescue team from China, sprays disinfectant around a cremation platform while a local man takes care of the fire in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 30. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

"You know, we Hindus believe in reincarnation. All these people they don't just die. They return to where they came from and someday they will be born into this world again," Makunda Chaulagain, a young Nepalese man, told me on April 30 as we watched the smoke arising from the cremation ghats of Pashupatinath, stone stairs leading into the Bagmati River dotted with platforms for funeral pyres in Kathmandu.

Since the earthquake on April 25, more than 7,000 people have been found dead. Nepalese authorities estimate the total death toll will exceed 10,000.

Many of the bodies were sent to cremation ghats for a proper funeral. It is a local Hindu tradition to cremate the dead and throw the ashes into the river so that his or her soul can be freed and return to heaven.

Nepal is more than 80 percent Hindu, and cremation ghats across the country have become extremely busy. The allure of the sacred Hindu temple at Pashupatinath, where only believers are allowed to enter, has made the cremation ghats there even busier.

Locals have told me that after the earthquake, some 300 bodies are being cremated every day in Pashupatinath, six times more than before the quake.

Washing bad karma away

When our photographer and I arrived at Pashupatinath, the corpse of a little boy who died in the earthquake was being prepared.

His family carried his body to the banks of the Bigmati River, which was so tainted that swarms of flies can be seen flying around, and the water had turned almost black.

But the fact that the river is a tributary of the Ganges River has led the locals believe that the river is holy and that its water is capable of taking away the bad karma of one's past.

The family took off the boy's clothes and very slowly washed his little body, starting with his feet, using the river's water.

"The entire procedure is about purification. We Hindus believe that when one dies, his or her soul is still trapped in his body. In order to free it, we must cleanse the body of all impurities before the cremation," said Chaulagain, our local guide.

After washing, the body was wrapped with one layer of white cloth and another layer of orange cloth. The white cloth is said to be a symbol of peace and the orange cloth a symbol of reincarnation.

Family members sprayed the body with a type of red powder that locals believe is sacred and placed a garland and some money on top of the body.

"In Nepal, we treat our dead as living gods. The garland and the money are sacrifices to him to give him peace," Chaulagain said.

The family then carried the body on a stretcher to a cremation ghat.

The boy's mother sat on a nearby bench and watched, with deep sorrow, as her young son was being carried onto the funeral pyre.

According to local traditions, no female member is allowed to touch the body.

The boy's older brother, who was shaved bald to pay respect to the dead, lit the fire in the boy's mouth.

It was at this moment the mother began to scream as if someone had stabbed her in her chest. She screamed and screamed while the fire engulfed her beloved son's body.

Anger of Shiva

Despite all the scientific explanations, some locals provided me with a different interpretation of the cause of the earthquake.

They believe that the earthquake happened because a group of foreigners were let into the sacred Pashupatinath Temple with cameras a few days before the quake and touched the most holy object in the temple, an object that wasn't supposed to be touched by any human.

They call the earthquake "the anger of Shiva."

In Kathmandu I met a little girl who had just lost her grandfather in the earthquake. She told me that she was not sad, because it was the gods' will that her grandfather had left this world.

Another family I met continued to live after the earthquake in their old house, where cracks can be seen on the wall. I told them it was dangerous to live at home when aftershocks could easily topple their house and kill everyone who lives inside.

In reply, the husband said, "It is because of the protection of Shiva that my family was not hurt in the earthquake. If the god wants to take our lives, then so be it."

Cultural disconnection

In Pashupatinath, I also met a group of volunteers and doctors from Ramunion Rescue, a Chinese rescue team.

They heard of the cremation ghats and wanted to spray the river with medical disinfectant to prevent the spread of epidemics.

The locals stopped them.

One of the Chinese doctors told me that the river is full of bacteria from the corpses, so he worries about the consequences it will cause now that there was also an earthquake.

Chaulagain, who overheard our conversation, called the doctor's statement "total nonsense."

"The water is perfectly clean," he said. "You don't believe me? I will drink it right in front of your eyes."

In the end, the team only sprayed the roads and stairs on the riverbank.

I asked Chaulagain how the local people memorialize their loved ones since the ashes are thrown into and carried away by the river.

"Families can come back to Pashupatinath the same day every year to pray," he said. "Bodies perish, souls never die. We know in our heart that they are always with us."

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