Orange flames lit up the twilight scene as 50-year-old Savitri Devi was cremated.
She was among more than 120 people, mostly women, killed in a stampede last week at a religious festival in northern India, when worshippers rushed toward a preacher and chaos broke out among the crowd.
The event had been granted permission to accommodate just 80,000 people. It is unclear how many entered the giant tent set up in a muddy field in a village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state, but it was reported that it was about three times the permitted number.
“It was a matter of fate. What does it mean? [Bhole] “Does Baba have anything to do with this?” Vir Pal Singh said of his wife Savitri Devi’s death. Singh was a volunteer at the religious gathering. The couple had been followers of the Hindu guru, Bhole Baba, for more than 10 years.
Police are still investigating the cause of the stampede. State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters that a crowd rushed to touch the preacher as he left the stage and that volunteers had a hard time controlling them.
An initial police report suggested thousands of people crowded the exits and many slipped on the muddy ground, causing them to fall and be crushed.
The chaos appeared to continue outside the tent as people rushed toward the preacher as he drove away. His security guards pushed the crowd back, causing more people to fall, according to authorities.
Savitri Devi’s daughters, Bharti and Sonam, were heartbroken. “We are orphans now. Our mother has abandoned us. Who will take care of us?” they lamented. The women of the village hugged them and cried together.
“My parents believed that Babaji [the preacher] “It would take away all our burdens,” said Ajay Kumar, who went to the meeting because it was a family tradition.
Deadly stampedes are relatively common at India's religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with poor infrastructure and few security measures.
Savitri Devi's family will place her ashes in the Ganges River, in accordance with the Hindu belief that the deceased will attain salvation by doing so.
Asked whether he would volunteer for Baba's religious events in future, Singh simply said, “I will decide when the time comes.”
