The graveyard of St Francis Xavier Church in Mangalore. Picture by Rakesh Konaje

Bangalore, Oct. 23: Permanent graves are dying out in southern Karnataka, where overcrowded cemeteries have driven up the cost for Christian burials and already forced a few parishes to switch to reusable graves.

In parishes where permanent graves are still on offer, one measuring about 18sqft can cost as much as Rs 50,000 — which matches the suburban real estate prices.

Non-permanent graves are available for around Rs 1,000 but they are dug up and reused every 10 years. Some parishes are offering to keep graves intact for at least 50 years at a premium price.

The Vatican Council has been allowing cremations since 1965 but the practice has not caught on among the Christians in Karnataka — mostly concentrated in the southern districts of Mangalore and Udupi — unlike their brethren in space-starved Mumbai.

Family graves on one’s own land may be getting increasingly popular in Kerala but not in Karnataka. So, the space crunch in the state’s cemeteries can only get worse in the coming years.

The 331-year-old Milagres Parish, one of the oldest in Mangalore, 350km from here, has come up with its own solution. It has declared that all graves will be dug up every 10 years and the mortal remains moved to a concrete pigeonhole vault.

The church authorities feel that 10 years is sufficient for a body to be reduced to bones, and that relocating them to vaults would ensure that their loved ones do not feel violated and have a fixed spot where they can offer the customary anniversary prayers. The vaults are to be maintained for 50 years before being reused.

“We cannot take any more permanent graves,” Fr Walter D’Mello of the Milagres Church told The Telegraph. Having presided over just two cremations in the past six years, he does not see this alternative to burials catching up either.

The Immaculate Conception Church, another old church in Mangalore, too has abolished permanent graves.

Mangalore’s Derebail Holy Redeemer Church allows burials in vaults straightaway. The vaults are bigger than the ones at Milagres Parish because they have to accommodate the entire body and come at Rs 20,000 each. The church leases vaults to families for 50 years, after which the remains are to be disposed of in a pit and the vault leased afresh.

A family can use the same vault for multiple burials within the 50-year lease period. However, there has to be a gap of about 10-12 years between any two burials so that the first body has been reduced to bones and can be disposed of. For any fresh burial sooner than that, the family needs to spend another Rs 20,000 on a new vault.

All churches, though, offer free burial facilities for the poor although in many such cases the community pitches in to foot the bill.

Fr William Menezes, an aide to the Mangalore Bishop, had a few suggestions. “The cemeteries in the city are crowded but parish members can use neighbouring ones on the outskirts,” he said.

However, though cemeteries in the suburbs and villages have sufficient space, most Christians want to bury their dead in their own parish.

Fr Menezes added: “Cremation is allowed by the Vatican but it’s yet to catch up in Karnataka unlike Mumbai.”

He said the Diocese of Mangalore would not have seen more than 30 cremations since the Vatican’s nod 46 years ago. “There is nothing wrong in cremating the dead as it has the sanction of the Church. But it is the people’s choice and we cannot enforce anything.”

Melwin D’Costa, a Mangalorean who lives here, believes the Church is doing the right thing by not pushing for cremations. He feels that the sensitive issue is best left to the discretion of the faithful. The idea, however, seems to be slowly sinking in among the urban educated.

Nearly half the state’s 11 lakh Christians live in Mangalore and Udupi. While they are just 2 per cent of the state’s population, a tenth of the people in these two districts are Christians, with 4.5 lakh being Roman Catholics.