Five women break tradition to pay tribute to their mother by performing her last rites

The thought of having women carry the corpse in a funeral procession and performing the lase rites had supporters and opposers in her community as it was a first, she said.

Five women in Maharashtra's Thane district paid tribute to their mother who worked selflessly to raise them amid adversity by carrying her corpse to the crematorium on their shoulders and performing the last rites.

Videos of the funeral procession led by the five sisters in Badlapur have gone viral on social media and has drawn praise from netizens.

Fifty-two year-old Aruna Ashok Pawar, who belonged to the nomadic Disadi tribe, had died on August 25, kin said.

"My mother gave us all support and raised us remarkably after the death of our father. She worked in a kiln and sold cutlery. He selfless work was unparalleled. We sisters had decided that as a tribute we would perform her last rites come what may," her daughter and social worker Deepa Pawar said.

The thought of having women carry the corpse in a funeral procession and performing the lase rites had supporters and opposers in her community as it was a first, she said.

"We set a precedent and we are happy that our community and society as a whole have supported our move. We did what we believed was right. Society is changing," Pawar asserted.