Family performs funeral rites of parrot in Sundargarh

When human beings are fighting with each other in today’s materialistic world, a family’s love towards a pet parrot has become the topic of discussion in Sundargarh.

Generally, the last rites of a person are performed after his death in a Hindu family as per the custom. However, in an unusual incident, a family in Sundargarh performed the funeral rites of a parrot after the bird’s death.

Biswajit Pujari is a priest in the Jagannath temple in the town. The parrot, lovingly called as Kunu, had once visited Biswanath’s house 28 years ago. However, it stayed after eating food there. The bird roamed freely in the house and all the family members showered their love on Kunu.

However, after staying in 28 years in Biswajit’s house, the parrot passed away on September 15. Following the incident, a pal of gloom descended on the family.

Considering the parrot as one of their family members, Biswajit performed the funeral rites of the bird as per the Hindu rituals. Later the family members immersed the bird’s bone in Vedvyas in Rourkela. The family members informed that the eleventh-day ritual of the bird will be performed on September 26.

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“We kept the bird as one of our family members. After living for 28 years with us, Kunu passed away on September 15. We performed Kunu’s funeral rites as per Hindu rituals and immersed the bird’s bone in Vedvyas. We will give a feast to local people in Kunu’s memory on the eleventh day,” said Biswajit.