Khandwa: Sorrowful news has come from Omkareshwar in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. In the week of the Sarvapitra Moksha Amavasya, it became known that two women were killed by getting into the water for a ritual bath in the Narmada River. One woman body was recovered while effort is still being made as at the time of filling this report to look for the other.
It is alleged that 40 years ago, Renubai, wife of Sanjay Patidar and 18-year-old Niharika, daughter of Omprakash Patidar of Shajapur district, drowned in deeper water at Bilora Bujurg Ghat. The women are said to have been obviously revived and swimming vigorously in the water with their clothes on boots and that stirred the onlookers to stand and swim to rescue them. Although the actress was rescued from the river alive, she could not make it to the hospital, which could be blamed for a lack of proper first aid.
The search operation for Niharika is being initiated by Ramesh Gawle, the officer in charge of the Mortakka police station, who has hired a team of divers. The two women visiting the Narmada River had gone there to offer special rituals linked with Sarvapitra Moksha Amavasya, a day identified with honouring the dead. This day is celebrated for offering tarpan to those ancestors whose ‘death ceremony’ has not been done by the Hindu calendar. It is considered that observance blesses the spirit of ancestors and delivers them out of suffering, so it is a day when one must thank their ancestors and do good to one’s relatives.
The event is, therefore, an excellent lesson in how dangerous endearing cultural practices may be, thus putting into consideration safety when involved in such activities in water bodies. Today, people and officials of the settlement, focusing on the importance of the given heathen celebrations, are stressing the need to increase consciousness and caution during such rituals to avoid repeating such a catastrophe in the future.
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