Last week I visited a place in the heart of the concrete city of Mumbai which deals with the grave matter of death, but is a peaceful oasis in this city of life. This is the Dashnami Goswami Akhada, or the Banganga Goswami cemetery, as it is more popularly known. This is no ordinary cemetery where all and sundry are cremated (as is the case with all Hindu deaths), but this is a special area reserved for those who have taken the vows of Sanyas (renunciation) � Sanyasis as we know them. Of course, the more popular Sanyasis are those who are the pontiffs of the various mutts in India, but there are others who have lived the life of normal householders, but have taken the path of renunciation later in life.

One such person was my husband�s great-grandfather. Known in this life as Ramanathapuram Sheshadri Iyer, born in 1881, he renounced the world, taking on the name of Swami Satchitananda, and attained nirvana in 1964. Traditionally, Sanyasis are not cremated, but are buried, seated in the lotus posture. The place is marked by a block of stone with either a Shiva Lingam or by a brindavanam (a Tulsi plant). Again, since they have renounced the world and their families, the shrardham ceremonies are not performed for them as is usual for all ancestors of the family, but the anniversary of their Nirvana is celebrated as the �Aradhana�. This ceremony is performed by one of my father-in-law�s cousins every year, and this year, we were fortunate enough to be able to attend it, thanks to the swine flu holidays.

Here are a few photos of the interesting place as well as the ceremony.

Here is the Samadhi of our great-grandfather...

A closer view......

Here's a look at the various samadhis in the cemetery......

Almost all the samadhis have a Shiva lingam with a Nandi opposite......Here are some interesting ones.......

This is the main samadhi which occupies pride of place. I have no idea of the name, but this is a Jeeva Samadhi - which means that the person underwent samadhi alive. He is believed to be alive inside the chamber.....There are few Jeeva samadhis, but all of them are serene and peaceful places which bring calmness to the hearts of all.....

This is certainly one of the most interesting things we saw there.. While most of the samadhis had lingams and Nandi,here is a statue of a dog! And life-like, isn't it? Especially with that green marble in the eye??