The use of fire to burn the dead-body (Antima Sanskar) and then submerging burnt remains in water bodies, is being practiced for thousands of years in traditional Indian Hindu Culture. Which is totally Eco-friendly and nature safe method of cremation. But burial and other types of cremation methods emerged more popular in western culture.
The body of Archbishop Desmond Tutu was immersed in water, which is now a popular way of cremation being adopted in recent times and natural way than the usual burial method of cremation, using water.
By aquamation, or “alkaline hydrolysis”, the body of the deceased is immersed for three to four hours in a mixture of water and strong alkalis, such as potassium hydroxide, in a metal cylinder compressed and heated to about 150C.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed a gathering of Desmond Tutu at St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town.
Desmond Tutu has been laid to rest at a state funeral in Cape Town.
This process melts everything except the bones, which are then dried in the oven to white dust, put in a machine and given to relatives.
As in the case of human manure, the method of composting in bodies with layers of organisms such as leaves or wood chips, aquamation is still only approved in certain countries. In South Africa, where Tutu died last Sunday, there is absolutely no law governing this practice.
Originally developed in the early 1990’s as a dumping ground for experimental animals, the method was then used to dispose of cattle during the cattle epidemic, said US-based researcher Philip R Olson.
In the 2000s, US medical schools used aquamation to dispose of donated human cadaver, before the practice entered the funeral industry, Olson wrote in a 2014 paper.