AP PHOTOS: Scarf, comb show changes to Hindu cremation rites

A comb. A toothbrush. A bangle. A cotton scarf — protection from the summer heat now used as a face mask.

The personal belongings of cremated COVID-19 victims lie strewn around the grounds of the Ulubari cremation ground in Gauhati, the biggest city in India’s remote northeast.

It’s a fundamental change from the rites and traditions that surround death in the Hindu religion. And, perhaps, also reflects the grim fears grieving people — shaken by the deaths of their loved ones — have of the coronavirus in India, where more than 405,000 people have died. Hindus believe cremation of the body frees the soul so it can be reborn, and they often burn belongings that were with the body at the time of the death.

AP PHOTOS: Animals decorated and sacrificed in Hindu ritual

In this Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017 photo, a Hindu devotee carries a decorated goat to be sacrificed at a temple of Hindu goddess Durga at Rani village on the outskirts in Gauhati, Assam state, India. Participants in the five-day Durga Puja festival believe the sacrifices bring prosperity and good health. But in some parts of India, religious animal sacrifices are banned.

AP PHOTOS: Hindu holy men lead bath rituals in Indian river

Naked Hindu holy men wait to bath in the Godavari River during Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher Festival, at Trimbakeshwar in Nasik, India, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015. Hindus believe taking a dip in the waters of a holy river during the festival, will cleanse them of their sins. According to Hindu mythology, the Kumbh Mela celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a furious battle over a nectar that would give them immortality.  

AP PHOTOS: Thousands bathe at riverside festival in India

Hindu devotees take holy dip in the River Godavari on the first official day of bathing as part of Kumbh Mela celebrations in Nasik, India, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. Hindus believe that sins accumulated in past and current lives require them to continue the cycle of death and rebirth until they are cleansed. Bathing in sacred waters on the most auspicious day of the Kumbh festival, or Pitcher Festival, believers say rids them of their sins.