Checkout only in a coffin: how an unusual 'hotel of death' works in India

As the loud hum of the fans echoes through the room, 95-year-old Premwati Gupta periodically moves her bony limbs as her grandson feeds her holy water from the Ganges River. There are no medical devices or life-saving drugs to revive her from her deathbed in a nearly empty room at the Kashi Labh Mukti Bhawan hotel. Instead, her grandson prays that she will die here. Why is this quite normal, said the publication The national news.

Photo: IStock

“We are praying that she will die here,” said 45-year-old Rajneesh Gupta, Premwati’s grandson, with a smile.

Such outrageous desire is not unusual for the inhabitants of the unique "death hotel" located on the banks of the Ganges in Indian Varanasi. Hindus believe that the city is sacred and those who die here are freed from the cycle of birth and death.

“It would be better if she already found freedom from this pain. Premvati wanted to die here for the sake of salvation, and it may seem rude, but we want it,” he explained.

Gupta, a devout Hindu woman with three sons and four grandchildren, was brought to Mukti Dham almost two weeks ago from a village in central Madhya Pradesh, about 600 kilometers away, when doctors lost hope of any improvement in her states.

She stopped eating a few weeks ago after being bedridden for 15 years. Premvati whines from time to time and survives on a few spoonfuls of water every hour.

Her eyes are closed and her toothless mouth is open.

Varanasi, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, occupies a special place in Hinduism and is considered the abode of the deity Shiva - crowds of believers come to the city to take their last breath, or families bringing their dead relatives.

Hindus believe that after death the soul moves and reincarnates in a new body - depending on its actions or karma - and is reborn at best as humans or animals or plants at worst.

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But those who die in Varanasi are released from the cycle. The soul reaches fullness and enters into a state of eternal bliss.

Believers like Gupta spend weeks in the city for salvation and arrive at the door of Kashi Labh Mukti Bhavan, India's "death hotel".

Indian hotel of death

Tucked away in the winding streets of the bustling city, Kashi Labh Mukti Bhawan is a charitable home that offers sanctuary to the elderly or the terminally ill. He invites them to spend their last days in Varanasi and have their ashes scattered over the Ganges.

A two-story building with 10 large but not very well-equipped rooms was built in 1908. In 1958, Jaid Dayal Dalmia, a leading industrialist and philanthropist, converted it into an orphanage.

Since then, the house has hosted nearly 15 people, more than 000 percent of whom have died and "have been saved," said building manager Anurag Shukla.

Each "beneficiary" is allowed a two-week stay, with a one-week grace period on certain occasions, to take the opportunity to take one's last breath.

They pay a meager fee of 20 rupees ($0,24) a day to cover their electricity costs, and the rest is taken care of by the Dalmia Trust.

The shelter is open to people of all religious backgrounds, there are no advance bookings. He does not accept donations, although he bears the cost of all rituals and cremations.

“This is not a hotel. We get calls from people from all over the country, even foreigners who want to book a room in advance, but we are not here for money. Our doors are open,” Shukla explained.

The shelter welcomes about 300 people a year and has four employees, including a priest who takes care of the spiritual well-being of the clients.

No drugs or methods are used to catalyze death - people must wait for the end of their lives. If they do not die within the stipulated time, they are politely asked to leave, and some return home healthy and vigorous.

At least two family members must remain with each dying person.

The shelter provides them with basic amenities such as a bed, furniture, cooking gas and some utensils.

Prayers and hymns of verses from the Gita and the Ramayana (Hindu scriptures) are chanted at regular intervals for spiritual enlightenment by the priest Calicant Dubey, who claims to correctly predict the fate of the "beneficiaries" before granting them a room.

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“After meeting such people, I feel how bad the condition of a person is and how much he needs this place. I try to give them spiritual comfort by singing hymns and prayers to them,” said Dubey.

The whimsical concept may seem intimidating to many, but the homely atmosphere is far from bleak. Family members as well as home staff say they cherish their stay and are celebrating the "end" of their loved one's life.

Rohit Kumar Jha, 29, a lawyer from the eastern state of Bihar, brought his 97-year-old grandfather Chaturbhuj Jha to the hospice in June.

His father had died a few months earlier, leaving his grandfather in complete despair.

“My father died in front of him. And grandfather, heartbroken after his death, suffered a heart attack. He repeatedly asked us to take him there, as he wanted to get rid of the pain of human life, ”Jha shared his story.

“This place gave him a chance to die peacefully,” he said.

Shukla, whose father ran the orphanage for more than four decades before his death, sees the unusual home as a social service to help people "find salvation."

“We perceive death as a holiday. We are not sad if a person dies here, because we see in this only the end of human life and the salvation of the soul.

“There are times when the death of an elderly person in the hospice is even celebrated with music,” said Shukla.

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