The Grave Digger

The Telugu movie Geetanjali, released in 1989, had actors Nagarjuna and Girija play pranks dressed as ghosts and vampires in a cemetery only to fall in love. And why would they not? With Mani Ratnam directing the film and with music score by Illaiyaraja did they have an option, even when the location was a cemetery? The movie won several awards, including one for wholesome entertainment (?!)  and was later remade in Hindi in 1992 as Yaad Rakhegi Duniya. 

But real life is vastly different from reel life, and it glares starkly in the face, as one moves among the many graves to talk to Neelamma, the pit digger in Veerashiva Rudra Bhoomi, Vidyaranyapuram, Mysore. 

I did not see any ghost or vampire popping up from behind the graves, as was in the movie Geetanjali.  How can there be ghosts and/or spirits in this place exclaims Neelamma! This is Rudra (Shiva’s) Bhoomi. It is the abode of Lord Shiva, it is a place of worship, and it is a temple. It is with this reverence to the place and to her job that Neelamma has led her life.

Living in a house situated amongst thousands who are dead and gone, so to say, over the last 32 years, Neelamma is candid in her conversation. She is at ease and is used to being interviewed, she says in a matter-of-fact tone. Of late, an umpteen number of clips, interviews, TV programmes have captured her story and a film 'Badukena Butti'  has also been made. She does not know the total count of burials in the Rudra Bhoomi, which is her address proof in her Aadhar Card, as well as in the wedding invitation/s of her children (can you imagine anyone giving c/o cemetery as their address, spooky isn’t it?), she knows that the yard is a very old one, may be 80-90 years old.

Hand of Destiny

The first question that would crop in anyone’s mind is how did you land here? It is an unusual job for a woman to be pursuing. It was, as in most other cases, the dire economic need and lack of choice that compelled Neelamma to take up this job soon after her husband Basavaraj’s demise in 2005. She recalls the day vividly when she took him to the hospital and knew he was no more even before the doctors could pronounce him dead!  

Basavaraj changed jobs often, he worked at a clothes shop, was at a welding unit and many more. He did ‘Dashavatara,’ Neelamma laughingly says and it’s in his Kalki, the last aavatara (ಅವತಾರ) that he took up the job at the burial ground. This was by chance, and as destiny would have it, it was Neelamma who, in all naivety, said ‘ I will do this job’ to Siddalingadevaru, who was then manning the cemetery, in an informal conversation when he requested the couple to get him a successor as he was unable to perform his duties due to age-related factors. 

Three months after this conversation, Basavaraj took up the job as a helper to Siddalingadevaru. This was in 1990. In 1991, they started staying at the cemetery where Basavaraj worked. Life was cruising along, two sons came along and there was a semblance of normality. And when disaster struck in 2005, with the death of Basavaraj, came trying times for Neelamma. In 2005 Neellama took over. Over the last 18 years, she has dug, not less than 5000-6000 graves, but this is only an approximation. She has not kept count.  

The need to support herself and a family, her sons born in 1976 and 1979, were working in odd and sundry jobs and earned a meagre income, and the burden of repaying loans availed by Basavaraju compelled her to take up this job. She knew of no other occupation, she is 5th standard pass, and so she took to digging graves. She calls herself “a pit digger “(ಗುಂಡಿ ಹೊಡೆಯುವವಳು). She has perfected the art of digging a grave, so much so that she says, with pride, that no man can dig a grave as perfectly as she can! The pit of 3x3 is in perfect square making the family of the deceased feel that they have created a comfortable resting place to their dear departed ones. The size of all pits are the same, whether poor or rich, death is a great leveler. 

People were always skeptical whether a woman has the physical and mental energy to dig graves. Now they, especially men, say that she is equivalent to 4-6 men! Gender equality is probable, as per men, when women are at least four times better than men, not when they are equal! In the initial stages of taking up the job, men smirked that “she won’t last long” as the attrition rate was high.  People- men- stayed for two to three months on this job. Neelamma is happy that she has proved them wrong, she says she will spend the rest of her life- till it is her time to go to the grave- here, among the graves! 

Interestingly, Neelamma has donated her body to science. This may help save some lives she says, what is the use of it becoming earth ‘mannu’ (ಮಣ್ಣು). However, she wryly adds that after studying the body, it would be brought here. No one wants to keep a corpse other than her!?

Neelamma could dig two to three pits in a day’s time. Each would take about two hours. After the onslaught of Chikungunya, last August, she can dig one pit, she says. Her sons, if around, help her but they are not inclined to continue this job. She says it is their choice. This one will stop with me, she says. 

When she started this journey with a spade in her hand, she was paid Rs 150 for digging a pit. Now she gets Rs 1100. She says by ‘digging pits, I have bought a car’ gundi hodedu car thegedu kondedene'. Her empathy to lesser brethren- women in distress- makes her lend money and support them. She has not forgotten the harsh days that she faced- without any support, going hungry, digging pits under the glare of the hot scorching sun to get two square meals a day. She has dug pits for free, to help bury orphaned bodies, may be 10-15 in all these years, she says modestly. 

There are days and sometimes weeks when there is no need to dig a pit, there are days when more than three pits have been dug. There was a demand for 6 pits on one day and she could do 3.  Outside help was sought for digging the rest. On an average, in a month, there could be 10-20 burial pits. During the month of April 2021 she dug 41 pits. 

I asked her, if during her bad time, when she was in dire need of money, did she wish that there would be more deaths so that her kitty would fill? Such thoughts never occurred, she says, life and death are not in our hands. Her acceptance of the hand of destiny is absolutely unnerving!

After seeing so many deaths, and at such close quarters, what does she feel? Does she feel upset at any time or has it become a routine, I ask her. She says that she still feels upset when she sees young corpse/s- the ones who have ended their precious lives for sundry reasons. But she has learnt to console herself with the understanding that they were destined to live a short life. 

Since 2013 building of grave (ಸಮಾಧಿ) – a memorial commemorating the dead -has been banned in this Rudra Bhoomi by the Mysore City Corporation, as it takes a lot of space. The Corporation is also planning to refurbish the cemetery by removing the Samadhis’ that have been built. Neelamma considers this to be a good move. Instead of spending on building a grave, the money could be donated to build a house for the needy. This would at least bring a roof over their head. The one’s sitting inside the pit are least bothered if a Samadhi is built, pooja is offered, she states amusedly. 

In all of these years, she has seen only a few who come back to pay respect (to the grave) on a regular basis. Most of the times she has to direct and spot the resting place to the kith and kin who would have forgotten! Such is the memory of the living!

Appreciation and accolades have followed her. She is nonchalant at being recognized. It was in 2009 that a television person spotted her digging pits when he visited the Rudra Bhoomi to perform the last rites of a family member and said that he would film her life-story. With this followed awards. Initially she refused to receive any awards/receive recognition. Her sons say that most people pay money to buy awards, when people come looking for you, you must go. At such times, they support by being around in the cemetery and substituting for Neelamma. The graveyard cannot be left unattended. 

Societal acceptance, in terms of the work she does, has not been antagonistic. There is no stigma attached to this job as the customs that one follows in the Veerashiva community allows women and children to attend the last rites. Finding a woman in the graveyard does not come as a shock! This may not be the case in burial grounds where the dead are cremated and entrance of the weaker sex is a taboo. Neelamma says that ‘the burial ground is my house, my compound, I am working within my house.' 

Neelamma has noticed a drastic change in the psyche of the people who come to perform the last rites, especially over the last ten years. Very few people come with the funeral procession and the last rites are performed with modicum of emotion. Earlier the families would be inconsolable. This brings to the fore the question, if our tears have dried up? Have our feelings evaporated, emotions culled? 

Forget the dead, do we have any empathy for the likes of Neelamma, who have seen hard times in life. Do we recognize them adequately and treat them with the respect that they deserve? The dead cannot have a resting place unless she digs in, indeed she is doing a great service. Do we remember that- Yaad Rakhegi Duniya? We do not even know if Neelamma is the only women in Karnataka to be pursuing this job. Why do women remain invisible? 

Do we forget that it is with women life begins and Neelamma is an example that women are there even in the last frontier!