In our country the right to do the last rites of a person is given to the sons, if any case the deceased does not have any, then men of the house do that. Women are not supposed to do the last rites, such is the age old practice that still prevails.
Breaking this practice a daughter the last rites of her deceased father in Gujrat. Breaking away from tradition, a 55-year-old transgender woman,Puja Masi, performed the last rites of her father, Samantsinh B Gohil, at a village in Gujarat’s Panchmahals district.
Puja Masi’s father was a carpenter as well as a farmer, at Dhanol village under Godhra taluka of the neighbouring Panchmahals district yesterday. “My father was 100 years old. He had two wives,” she told PTI over phone today.
Gohil is survived by Puja and her elder brother. Puja claimed that her father had earlier instructed all the family members to allow her to perform his last rites. She led the funeral procession and lit the pyre after reaching the crematorium.
Puja is a priestess at a temple of Goddess Meldi Mata located in Godhra.