Young woman beautifying cadavers

Text and pic by A.W.A Nimal

It is said that the clothes corpses are dressed in do not have pockets. Such interesting trivia underpin the reality that financial and social status is immaterial when one is dead and gone. “I have embalmed so many bodies and there is nothing special about anyone, they are just lifeless bodies,” said 18-year-old Bhagya Weerasinghe. She is engaged in this trade together with her parents in the village of Paragoda, Galle.

KL Bhagya Weerasinghe, her 40-year-old mother, DL Nilanthi Weerasinghe, and 41-year-old father, Anusha Priyantha Weerasinghe, are experts in the trade, Priyantha’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather ran funeral parlours. According to Weerasinghe, it’s a legacy with a history of nearly 150 years.

Bhagya has no problem with handling dead bodies, going about her business dexterously. She is dauntless as hers is not a job typical for a young woman of her age. Only her family members attend to work in this funeral parlour. The wife and daughter, who came to help the husband, are now in the process of embalming bodies. “We follow my father’s lead,” said Bhagya. “It’s easier to deal with the dead than the living,” said Bhagya. Despite her young age and having completed schooling, Bhagya says she loves the family business.

Bhagya and her mother are tasked with bringing bodies to the funeral parlour. It takes a special talent to beautify a cadaver. “In some cases, we can make the body look even better,” said Bhagya. Preparing and making up a dead body takes three to four hours. According to Bhagya, gender differences blur, in her line of work. Age, financial and social status are also immaterial to the Weerasinghes. “We fulfil our duty to the fullest, irrespective of such differences. That’s why we have been able to continue this business for three generations.” Bhagya dismisses the general aversion to her vocation saying, “This is my job.”

In fact, not even an adult would willingly take on such a career, let alone a young woman. But for Bhagya, who has been exposed to this line of work since age 11, it comes naturally. “I used to watch my father work, as a child.” She, at times, skipped school so she could help her father make coffins. “He never discouraged me.”

According to Weerasinghe, Bhagya picked up tricks of the trade while hanging around, helping him. Bhagya embalmed her first body while she was still schooling. She was barely 11 years age at the time. “My father chose not to help me. I went through the whole process of embalming the first body on my own.” Bhagya dressed and prepped her first cadaver, which took two and a half hours.

When asked if she ever botched a job or felt uneasy, Bhagya said that the first order of the day was to medicate the cadaver. “For this you have to slit the thigh of the right leg and find the sinew to inject medication.” Bhagya reminisced how she was reprimanded for being unable to find the sinew. She had not botched a job since. “The embalming alone takes two and a half hours and my father has taught me that the secret of this trade is to be intensely focused so that nothing can go wrong.”

The body must first be laid flat and washed. Then formalin must be injected through the sinew of the right thigh. This would facilitate a quick spread of 5 the chemical throughout the body. Afterwards the abdomen is slit open. Some use a knife for the purpose, the Weerasinghes use a blade. The cadaver is then gutted, stuffed with cotton and cloth and dressed according to the wishes of the relatives of the deceased. Bhagya explained that only the visible part of the body is clothed. “If it’s a sarong it’s draped all the way, but if it’s a saree only the top, which is visible, is draped.” Watery bodies are specially problematic. “Some yield bucket loads of water and I used to consult my parents about what to do.” But now Bhagya is quite capable of managing such problems on her own.

“Since my wife is also trained in the trade, we provide services as a family corporation.” Weerasinghe said, adding that no external parties were involved in the process. “The transportation of the body and embalming are all done by us.” Weerasinghe said that if he was indisposed either his wife or Bhagya would fetch the body from. “They’ve never been frightened, why should they?”

Contrary to popular belief, one does not have to be drunk as a skunk to be able to embalm a body. Bhagya and her mother is a case in point. Nilanthi said: “I have never had a drink; nor will I. People say that you can’t cut up a body without being drunk. It’s an absolute myth.You can never let fear overwhelm you in this line of work.”

Weerasinghe believes that his wife and daughter can continue this line of work even without him. Nilanthi also approves of her daughter’s choice to continue the family business. “It’s not like we’re devoid of feelings. But I don’t let that get in the way of my work,” said Nilanthi. Nilanthi, for whom meeting deadlines takes precedence over everything else. “We are born alone and die alone and therefore I am determined to continue this service till the day I die.”

Bhagya, who has no regrets about her vocation of choice, said: “I took up this job because it is satisfying.”