Between 2011 and 2012, the researchers measured emissions from marriage ceremonies, funeral cremations, incense sticks in temples and graveyards, and found mango bark, cow dung, camphor, leaves, vermillion, and cow urine being burned.
They identified fourteen "deadly" volatile organic compounds, including formaldehyde, benzene, styrene and butadiene, they told Nature magazine.
They discovered that funeral pyres emitted large amounts of 'brown carbon aerosol' gases, regarded as the second largest contributor to global warming, which absorb sunlight and give out heat.
