IMPHAL, June 23: With price rise affecting almost every commodity, coffins which are used after the death of a person for the `final journey` are selling for as much as Rs 6000 apiece with base prices starting at around Rs 2000.
During a brief chat with this IFP reporter, coffin makers based in Imphal West district said there are five kinds of coffins. The cheapest are the ones used by communities who cremate their dead.
There are several types of coffins available in the markets of Manipur, said one coffin maker.
The first type is the simple coffin made of wood enclosed with four planks and a plank an inch thick and two inches wide serves as the bottom of the coffin. Such type of coffins costs Rs. 1, 800 and is the cheapest one available at the market.
The second type costing ranging from Rs 2100 to Rs. 2200 is similar with the first type of coffin but comes with a white cloth wrapped around it.
The third type having a lid is made like a wooden box and mainly used by the hill people to carry their dead bodies to their far off villages, he said. White and black clothe are completely wrapped around such type of coffin which costs from Rs 5500 to Rs 5800, the coffin maker said.
While wrapping around the coffin, the clothes are folded for decoration to beautify the coffin, he said. Sometimes, such types of coffins are also fitted with a glass lid so that the face of the dead is visible for the mourners and it cost a little more at Rs 6000 he said.
Such glass fitted coffins are mostly available only on request, said the coffin maker who did not want to be identified.
Further elaborating on the construction of the coffin, he said that generally, coffins are six feet long and twenty and a half inches wide and are made a little large so as to accommodate the dead bodies which are known to expand after their death.
Most people of the state are under six feet tall, so the coffins are made to be six feet in length, he said.
And as for the death of someone taller than six feet, including sepoys of the security forces, the coffins are custom made according to their size, as per the request put in, he said.
When the wood is soft, one can make as many as 5/6 coffins a day as it is easier to saw it off and nailed it, however, when the wood is hard, one can hardly make 2/3 coffins.
The nature of their work is such that, people are hesitant to enter in the business, however after making a few coffins, it becomes normal like any other jobs, he said.
The fact that they are making new ones also helps them to settle with the profession, he signed off.