plans for the first hindu crematorium

Over 100 years ago, an Indian lawyer named Mohandas Gandhi helped to facilitate the building of a brick crematorium to cater specifically to the Hindu population of Johannesburg, South Africa. Today, Kevin Smith, Director of Nottingham-based architects Marchini Curran Associates, is working with the Anoopam Mission to help realise a similar vision at the site of their temple in Denham, near Uxbridge. Planning permission for the development was granted on appeal in December 2021, the appellant’s team having successfully argued in qualitative and quantitative terms that the need meant the proposals met the high threshold to allow development on this auspicious site in the green belt.

Only a few years ago, the Government published a response to a review entitled “Crematoria Provision and Facilities”, for which the views of faith groups and industry providers were sought to consider whether crematoria in the UK are “fit for purpose and sensitive to the needs of all users and faiths”. This review had been announced in response to concerns that crematoria did not always have the capacity desired by nor address the cultural needs of different faiths, particularly those from the Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities for whom cremation is (in most cases) not a matter of choice.

However, whilst the review’s findings provided a context for improvements to be made to existing crematoria or to be considered in the design of new facilities, the framing of the questions has meant that most of the advice is of a practical nature and, whilst valuable, it misses a fundamental point. These crematoria are communal, “everyman” facilities. Older municipal crematoria often have a distinctly Christian iconography, and newer (and, increasingly, privately-operated) developments are less overtly “religious”, presenting a blank canvas to be filled in as needed. Sometimes the opportunity is offered to book a double slot (at additional cost) in order to accommodate a longer ceremony and the timing of the coffin being charged to the cremator. Some crematoria may have additional capacity for larger gatherings. However, the pungent scent of incense, the sound of drums, scattering of bright pigments, the placing of sacred woods in the coffin, or a lamp in the mouth of the deceased – these and other ritual elements can prove difficult to accommodate and are most often refused. What the UK’s Hindu, Jain and Sikh populations have always been without is any dedicated facility that they might call theirs, a space in which they might undertake the richly varied funereal rites and rituals that their culture, traditions, and beliefs dictate.

In 2009, a Hindu spiritual leader named Davender Ghai had challenged Newcastle City Council over its decision not to grant him permission for an open-pyre funeral in keeping with centuries of tradition; the pyres at India’s oldest city of Varanasi burn day and night, the bodies of the deceased being properly prepared and anointed with sacred herbs, oils and flowers, before being set ablaze leaving the mourners to await the cracking of the skull and the release of the ãtman, or spirit. The case ended up in the Court of Appeal, where the claimant won, albeit there would be a number of practical limitations imposed if carrying out such a ritual in the UK. Seemingly though, most “Western Hindus” do not wish to take things so far, but the case drew out a number of interesting and compelling supporting arguments, not least that written by the late anthropologist Roger Ballard, who provided the analogy of the “pinching shoe” to describe the way in which the community has stoically put up with compromise to their wishes – and infringement of their rights – for so long. There are now estimated to be in the region of 1 million Hindus in England alone, a significant part of our diverse multi-cultural population. Many are from families who settled either in the post-war years or in the forced expulsions from post-colonial African nations in the 1970s, and there continues to be positive migration of skilled workers from India and other countries. There are at least 200 places of worship, and over 400 community groups and organisations registered. Yet there is not yet a single Hindu crematorium.

The proposal at Denham is not simply for a “crematorium” per se – rather, it is for a facility that provides the same technical function, but within a faith-specific setting in which to properly observe the ritual and cultural traditions, unhurriedly and with meticulous care, in accordance with the customs and wishes of the bereaved family, whilst allowing the rich variety of individual beliefs to shape the ceremonies within a framework that is universal to all Hindus. It is perhaps helpful to consider the difference in the same way that one might consider a Hindu temple as being somewhat different to a Christian church. It would be wholly unacceptable to expect those of another faith to worship in a church, and one might feel that providing a “multi-faith centre” as a shared space for worship is a compromise for all.

The architecture itself is – despite the larger scale of the proposal – to be purposely restrained, designed simply as a container for the ritual, technical and administrative functions hosted inside, and to sit unobtrusively in its woodland setting. Each space within reveals itself quietly as the mourners progress through the building, allowing their focus to remain on the deceased, and their final journey. For death is the last samskãra, one of the sacred rites of passage that mark the milestones of this life. This journey starts with a private ceremonial space, where close family are given the opportunity to perform various rituals including the anointing of the deceased, and the circumambulation of the body by mourners reciting prayers, preparing the deceased for cremation. This ceremony may take up to an hour, usually concluding in the closing up of the coffin and its transport into the main ceremony hall, where the wider gathering of mourners can celebrate and pay their respects to the memory of the deceased, and prayers can be given. This ceremony will take approximately 45 minutes, after which the majority of mourners will depart.

At the conclusion of every ceremony, the body must be charged to the cremator, witnessed by the family. It is desirable that the lead mourner - often the eldest son of the deceased – play an active role, as the space housing the cremator effectively becomes the shmashãna - the Hindu cremation ground, and the oven a vessel for the fire god Agni to become manifest as Kravyãda, the eater of corpses, to devour the flesh of the dead in flame and return the earthly body to the 5 elements. The fire is then left to burn, and mourners depart, the ashes being collected later for dispersal in running water elsewhere.

It is the need to have a cremator ready for charging at the end of every ceremony that presents a challenge to most operators since this places a limit on the number of ceremonies that can be held each day – not necessarily a problem when there are few Hindu funerals to accommodate among the everyday bereaved content with their allocated 30 minutes and less concerned with what happens beyond the velvet curtain. But when every funeral is a Hindu – and projected mortality statistics indicate that an exponential rise in the death rate is coming – this needs to be built into the business plan.

Whilst customs vary, the development will also offer the possibility for those who have attended the funeral to cleanse themselves of the “impurity” of the cremation ground and partake in a simple meal of rice in a small pavilion before visiting the temple for darshan – viewing the deities – before returning home to observe the period of mourning and undertaking the daily rituals that help the disembodied spirit reach the heavenly realm of the ancestors where it will reside until reincarnated.

Last summer, the Mission’s spiritual leader Guruhari Sant Bhagwant Sahebji attended a special Bhumi Poojan Ceremony to bless the site of the proposed crematorium, and the community is actively fundraising with some significant donations having been pledged. Tender negotiations are progressing with building contractors, and the design team is underway with discharging pre-commencement conditions with a view to construction commencing later this year.

Kevin Smith Architect & Director, Marchini Curran Associates