CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal lit the funeral pyre as his only son Prakash was cremated at the Pashupati Aryaghat Sunday afternoon.
Hindu tradition requires sons of a deceased person to lit the funeral pyre but the sons must have had upanayan (thread ceremony) to be eligible to light the pyre. A father rarely lights the funeral pyre of his daughter or son and the ritual is left to other men, whose father or mother is already dead, in the family if sons are not eligible. But former prime minister Dahal himself lit the pyre probably because Prakash’s two sons were very young and most likely had not had a thread ceremony.
Prakash, who had passed out at the Dahal residence in Lazimpat, was declared dead on arrival by the doctors at Norvic International Hospital where he was brought at 5:50 Sunday morning.
“His hands were cold, body stiff, pupils dilated and there was no pupillary light reflex when torchlight was shone at his eyes,” cardiologist at the hospital Dr JP Jaiswal told media persons. “His electrocardiogram returned a flatline and we declared him dead on arrival at around 6 in the morning,” he added.
“He may have suffered a sudden cardiac death due to sudden cardiac arrest. His body was allright and he didn’t seem to have taken any substance,” he revealed.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal had reached Kathmandu from Jhapa, where he was campaigning, with five family members including daughter and son-in-law.
Prakash’s body was been kept at the party office of CPN (Maoist Center) in Paris Danda for last respects before beiong taken to the Pashupati Aryaghat for cremation.
The only son of Pushpa Kamal Dahal had been working in his father's secretariat. He is survived by his two wives and two sons.
