Cremating The Forgotten: Meet Odisha's Humanitarian Hero Badri Mishra Who Has Lit Over 1200 Pyres
He reaches when no one else does. Mishra not only serves Odisha, he went to Gujarat and Nepal to cremate people killed in the earthquakes.
Published : May 29, 2025 at 3:46 PM IST
By Shakti Mishra
Puri: Badri Mishra needs no invitation. He reaches places where he is most wanted. May be it was divinely pre-ordained or just a calling, Mishra steps in to conduct the funeral formalities of the dead, irrespective of whether the family members are present or it is unclaimed, lying uncared for in hospitals or mortuaries. For over five decades, Mishra has performed the last rites of 1,206 unclaimed, unidentified, and helpless souls, without asking for a single pie.
So next time when you see smoke rising slowly above Swargadwara (the crematorium in Puri considered sacred) across the banks of the holy Mahodadhi in Puri, be sure Mishra, would be standing silently, his face calm, with folded hands praying for the departed soul as the pyres keep burning.
At 67, Mishra wears many a hat. He is a writer, an environmentalist, a blood donor, and most importantly, a man whose service to the dead is unmatched. Mishra makes sure his bike always has white cloth and basic cremation requirement in the dickey, for, he never is sure, when he gets a call from someone in need.
"I have never charged any money for the work I do. I bear the expenses with the only motive that even the abandoned are laid to final rest with dignity. I have carried more bodies than some have carried responsibilities,” he says, matter-of-factly.
Mishra's tryst with cremation works began when, as a child, he lost his sister. “I was only three years old when my sister died. I watched her cremation at Swargadwara,” he recalls. That moment made a mark on him and he never got over it. In 1974, when one of his friends died none came forward to perform the rites, but Mishra did and since then he has never stopped.
Though he used to work as a government official, he left it to devote his entire time to social service. "I had to do some sacrifices at personal level. Even when I had a government job, I chose the evenings to devote to cremation works. But after I quit, I could do the work day and night. And my work area has never been limited. I do it in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri and at times outside the state.”
From the Supercyclone of 1999, to the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, the 2015 Nepal quake, Mishra made sure he was there to help people. He lit their pyres without expecting anything in return. Even when COVID-19 struck and most people refused go near the dead, Mishra and his small band of volunteers from the Odisha Yuva Chetana Organisation kept doing their work - wrapping bodies in PPE kits and setting them ablaze across crematoriums.
In any usual day, Mishra’s day starts before dawn and ends past midnight. “He comes back home only at 2 am and leaves again by 4 am.,” says his wife, Sulochana Mishra. “His motto is service to mankind. In all these years I have never seen him worrying about the weather or complaining of fatigue," she adds.
After quitting the job, the family has passed through difficult times but Sulochana has never stopped Mishra from doing what he feels is the real service. “If he is happy helping people, let him. His works take him to places and people recognise his efforts. That makes us proud,” she says quietly.
The couple has a son and daughter and the family stays in Puri.
After all the work he does, Mishra, in 2014, gas also pledged to donate his body and organs to SCB Medical College, Cuttack. He wishes his eyes to see even after he leaves the world, his kidneys bring someone’s world back to life. “As humans our body should be put to use. This I realised after watching bodies burn. No point reducing body to ashes if all the parts can give life to those in need. I want to be useful even in death,” he states assertively.
Inspired by him, more than 100 people, have pledged to donate their bodies too.
He has donated blood 110 times and he plants trees, writes columns, edits journals, and presides over religious, cultural, and social organisations in Puri. His write-ups have been published in books, essays, and editorials. Over the years, he’s been recognized with more than 100 awards including the Utkal Ratna, Dadhichi Award, Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Biju Patnaik Yuva Award.
Yet, he shrugs it off as if this is nothing worth talking about. “I have never done anything to get awards. I felt that the dead need to be cremated with dignity and must not be left alone during their last and final journey,” he adds.
In the present day, no one has time to stand by their near and dear ones, feels Mishra. “Unless you are closely associated with a family, you do not even go to neighbours when someone in their family passes. We must give shoulders to a neighbour’s dead body. Today, even in villages, no one steps forward to carry the dead and that is the most unfortunate things to happen to humanity,” says Mishra with disappointment in his voice.
Soumya Ranjan Patra, a social worker who has known Mishra for over 15 years, says “He is of a rare kind. He made us realise real service means being there when none else cares, particularly for people you don’t even know.”
Read More
