[Clewza313]

FWIW, even in normal times it's fairly common to "bury" dead people by putting them in Ganges. (Cremation is preferred, but can be prohibitively expensive for the poor.) Varanasi in particular is notorious for this.

For avoidance of doubt, it's clear that situation right now is much worse than usual, but it's also not quite as unusual as if we had bodies floating down (say) the Hudson or Thames.

[blackoil]

It is not common on this scale. 2 to 3 magnitude more bodies are floating in rivers. So while 1 body in 15 days is 'common' it is not same as 15 bodies a day.

[truth_]

No it is not.

Used to be true a century ago, to a lesser extent- half a century ago. Not anymore.

[Clewza313]

From the friendly article:

> But many communities follow what is known as "Jal Pravah" - the practice of floating in the river the bodies of children, unwed girls, or those who die from infectious diseases or snake bites.

> Many poor people also cannot afford cremation, and so they wrap the body in white muslin and push it into the water. Sometimes, the bodies are tied to stones to ensure they remain submerged, but as many are floated without weights. In normal times, corpses floating in the Ganges are not an uncommon sight.

You can also find plenty of gruesome footage of decomposing corpses in the Ganges near Varanasi, shot by recent tourists.

[throwaway894345]

> You can also find plenty of gruesome footage of decomposing corpses in the Ganges near Varanasi, shot by recent tourists.

To be clear, it’s the footage that had been shot by tourists, not the corpses, right?

[throwaway894345]

Per TFA:

> Traditionally, Hindus cremate their dead. But many communities follow what is known as "Jal Pravah" - the practice of floating in the river the bodies of children, unwed girls, or those who die from infectious diseases or snake bites.

> Many poor people also cannot afford cremation, and so they wrap the body in white muslin and push it into the water. Sometimes, the bodies are tied to stones to ensure they remain submerged, but as many are floated without weights. In normal times, corpses floating in the Ganges are not an uncommon sight.

[truth_]

For the non-Indians, the above is very very very uncommon. These are spread after the incidents to save face.

[nandhinianand]

Exactly, they were an ancient practice. while i wouldn't be surprised to see it practiced in remote and poor places, it would've been a negligible minority before COVID-19 times. This framing is just narrative mitigation/down-playing of the magnitude. (May be not deliberately, just misinformation from the sources, but nevertheless.)