Kushinagar, Feb. 27 -- A cremation ground where the atmosphere is normally poignant and filled with smoke from burning pyres, a traditional glass ceiling was shattered as four sisters lifted the bamboo bier of their dead father onto their shoulders and performed his last rites.
In a male-dominated society, they had no brothers to perform the last rites of their father. But they proved they lacked nothing. They weren't just carrying a body; they were carrying the legacy of a father who raised them to be his strength, not just his daughters.
The sisters bore the weight of their father's final journey, shattering a bronze ceiling that had stood for decades if not centuries. Custom dictates that only a male heir can perform the last rites to ...