When the recent Nepalese king died, a priest went through a ritual to “ride the ghost out of town”.
He ate a feast, which included some of the king’s ashes, then took some of his possessions and rode out on an elephant.
According to UPI, the custom in centuries past was for him to eat an actual bite of the king’s leg.
So, does eating ashes amount to the same cannibalism?
I suppose I’m also asking if cannibalism is not a universal tabu in the modern world.
**What does Nepal have to do with the modern world?
Well, according to my Nepalese Hindu husband, it is not cannibalism.
As to your other question, I believe that cannabalism is now frowned upon in not only the modern world but most remote places as well, the Fore having given up cannibalism after a nasty stretch of kuru deaths.
Well, since ritualistic cannibalism persists here in the West, in the form of Christianity (the wine and the wafer), I sure wouldn’t get too worked up about a ritual involving ingesting some ashes. Carbon and calcium, just like fortified bread, skipping the beverage.