Malkangiri: Setting aside the age-old Hindu tradition of only male members being allowed to light the pyres of their parents, a girl in this district carried the bier of her father to cremation ground and lit the pyre.
Meet Sanjukta Nayak of Pradhaniguda village in the Malkangiri district headquarters for whom duty took precedence over tradition.
There are plenty of instances where families have been forced to face social boycott and wrath of fellow villagers for allowing girls to conduct rituals usually meant for the boys. However, Sanjukta has been praised for showing courage to break age-old traditions.
According to a source, Satyanarayan Nayak (55) met with a road accident Monday and died. He did not have a son so the family members and relatives were in a fix. Then Sanjukta came forward and expressed the desire to light her father’s pyre. Even though family members and local villagers were taken aback by her proposal, they accepted her request.
“If girls can fly aircraft, run trains and travel to space, what is wrong in allowing a girl to light her father’s pyre,” some villagers observed.
Notably, Satyanarayan was earning the livelihood for his family as an auto-rickshaw driver.
PNN