Today’s civilized human society is well aware of the word ‘funeral’ which literally means- ‘a ceremony, usually a religious one, for burying or cremating (= burning) a dead person’.
When the ancient people started to lead a social life, the necessity of proper disposal of the corpse considered and various customs of funerals developed. It may be due to respects for the beloved departed ones or the other reason must have been the intolerable odour and havocking sight of the decomposing dead body which could have left the remaining family members disgusting. The pattern of practices may differ due to the variation in the society in terms of ecological, economical, religious, political, cultural aspects.
Cremation was already known to the Europeans in the year 1000 BC and was believed to have been introduced to them by the Greeks. With the rise of Christianity, they found again the sentiments of their religion. A revival of interest in cremation in Europe, USA again took place in 1874, when the surgeon of Queen Victoria Sir Henry Thompson published his influential book” Cremation”: The treatment of the body after death.”
Kinds of Funeral:
- Immersion in running water (water burial).
- Exposing in open Place.
- Burial
- Cremation
Cremation:
For the Hindus it is the ceremony performed immediately after the death of the person. This is custom evolved not only to express sorrow or grief but also to comfort the living and honor the dead.
The practice of reducing a corpse to ashes by burning it down is called Cremation.
The last sacrament in the life of a Hindu is the Antyesti or the funeral with which s/he closes the concluding chapter of his worldly career.
The earliest literary mention of the funeral ceremonies is found in the Rigveda and Atharvaveda. The mode of the disposal of the dead depends on the Religious belief of the people concerned and their general culture.
According to Hindu philosophy the human body is a combination of five basic natural elements (Sanskrit — tattva), namely Agni (fire), Jala (water), Vayu (air), Prithivi (earth) and Akasha (space). When one dies fire (agni tattva) ceases and in order that living form is sent to its original state of creation, fire (in the form of cremation) is used to complete the fifth element.
Hindus have 16 rituals (Sanskars); i.e. A Hindu undergoes 16 rituals during his lifetime, like Naming ceremony, Thread ceremony: beginning of student life, Marriage, etc., the last being cremation. Cremation is referred to as antim-samskara, literally meaning “the last rites.” At the time of the cremation or “last rites,” a “Puja” (ritual worship) is performed. Hindus believe that the cremation ceremony is not just a disposal of the dead body, but the union of Atma (Soul) with the Paramatma (The Holy Spirit). The holy text of Rigveda, one of the oldest Hindu scriptures, has many Ruchas (small poems) related to cremation, which state that Lord Agni (God of Fire) will purify the dead body.
Role of a son in Hindu Funeral (Cremation)
A son is very important in Hindu culture not only economically and socially, but also from the point of view of his parents’ next lives and death. A son is not only important as insurance for the parents in their old age, but he is also necessary for conducting their funeral rites and important for taking the deceased across the land of preta, the ‘spirit of the dead’ to swarga, ’heaven’ –or to narka, ‘hell’. Without funeral rites the decedent is condemned to hover around in mid-air in the form of an evil spirit which causes trouble for the surviving folks.
The rituals that follows in cremation:
The culture is dynamic and is affected by the ecology, environment, social and political structure of the place. Thus, the patterned behavior might have been adapting changes in course of time.
When ever a death occurs in any Hindu family, all the members of that person’s guthi and all his relatives are immediately informed. Those few persons who do not have such guthis are joined only by their close friend and relatives. ‘Guthi’ a kind of social organization organized specifically for cremating the dead, conducting the funerals. The membership is drawn from several extended family units of common residence, or common descent. However, the salvation is guaranteed to those who die at Ghat of a sacred river is a common belief of Hindus. The ‘Ghats’ are the platform built on the banks of a holy river.
The dead body is covered by a yellow or red satin shroud which is removed at the time of burning.
A green bamboo bier is prepared and the corpse is transported on it to the burning ghat or the cremation place, usually on the bank of river. The Hindus do not use a coffin, but the dead body is wrapped up in linen, tied to a stretcher of bamboos. On the way periodic blowing of a conch shell (Sankha), which is sounded to warn others that a funeral procession is coming. Usually flowers and vermilion powder is placed over the corpse to pay the tributes. Traditionally, woman were not allowed to attend the funeral ceremonies and had to stay at home.
The site of cremation is prepared exactly the same way as in fire sacrifice (Yagya). An odd number of wood is used for the reasons of auspiciousness as it suggests incompleteness and a remainder. Ground selected for cremation is first purified with holy river water and then by cow dung. It is again purified after cremation.
The dead body is laid in North-south direction. Towards south lies the kingdom of yama, the god of death. All items of personal use matters, linen and clothes the dead was wearing, are all put-off. The dead body and it’s face is immediately covered with a piece of unbleached, unstitched white cloth. Then it is covered with yellow silk cloth.
Lighting fire (Daag batti) is prepared just before the cremation, near the pyre. And the corpse is carried thrice around the pyre by male relatives and placed over it along with his horoscope. The first fire is put on the mouth by the nearest relative of the deceased. The eldest son is considered the nearest relative for this purpose.
The kind of wood which is used for the pyre as mentioned in ritual books are sandalwood, mango or wood-apple which are not affordable for every one. Therefore only small piece of the expensive variety of wood are used, rest of less expensive wood is purified by the priest by changing mantras and adding Tulsi (Holy basil) on the pyre along with ghee (Clarified butter).
Mourning and pollution is observed by the next of kin for twelve days and for an entire year by the son.
Defilement and Mourning:
After the dead body is cremated or buried, the period of impurity and mourning begins. The ritual of this period is divided into two parts. The first part is performed during the first 13 days and the second part lasts for 1 year.
The first 13 days is called Kiriya period (defilement) and the ritual is known as ‘Kiriya’ ritual. During this period, the food, clothes, and other articles which the deceased liked the most is doled out to the needy which is believed to help the dead one to transcend himself from worldly wishes and would enable him to proceed to the other world.
The mourner has to get to the Ghat or to the bank of river for ten consecutive days after cremation. He has to take a ritual bath in the running water, then he has to offer water and puja material to the dead, which is represented by a small mound of sand or clay. Then pinda, a ball of boiled rice is prepared.
After the 10th day of the pinda offering, the mound of clay prepared earlier is ritually destroyed, this formally ends the Dasa Kriya Ritual. The next three days are full of ceremonies, which consist of rituals of purification of house, relatives and all other possible things thought to have been polluted by the death.
On each of the first ten days the mourners have to listen to the Garuda Purana in the afternoon. This should ideally take place at the spot of death or where the mourner stays for ten days.
13th day ceremony is the only part which is happy and auspicious. In this day, all the relatives, high ranking Brahmin boys and friends who have joined the funeral procession are invited for feast, which follows the completion of purifying rites (Shanti Karma).
It is believed that the messengers of yama come for the preta only after 13th day. The preta now has a matured subtle body, made from all the pindas (boiled rice) of the first 10 days. The rites is repeated on the 30th,45t h, 60th, 90th, 120th, 180th……330the day and finally again on the date of death, calculated according to the Hindu lunar calendar as worked out by the priest.
There are some restrictions imposed upon the mourner. The Nepalese people in general observe the following.
Pollution and Purity:
- Use of fresh and new white clothes
- Use of leather goods are avoided
- Red or other vividly colored materials and dressed are not preferred
- Festivals and feasts are not attended
- Meat, garlic, onion etc are not taken for the whole year
- The samskaras like Upanayana, Marriage and different kinds of Pujas are not organized at home and many more, depending upon the race, caste, locality, and family traditions.
Hindu Widow and Sati:
The happiest death for a Hindu woman is when her husband is still alive and they are staying together. Such a death is considered as a reward from the goddess and also the fruits of her karma (deeds) of last generation.
The early history of many Royal families are full of incidents where the widows burned themselves or were forced to get burned with the dead husband in the funeral pyre. This system was prevalent only among the two higher castes of Hindus.
This system was in practice among Hindus in India and Nepal in early days. Ruling British Government abolished In India. In Nepal, Then the Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana brought Muluki Ain (National Law) in 1853 AD, against sati system. But, on his death many of his wives chose to become sati. It has been completely abolished in Nepal from 1920 AD.
References:
- [Rajbali Pandey, 1969: Hindu Samskaras, Delhi]
- Dr. Ghimire Beena (Hindu Death Rites, 1998)
- Wikipedia.com
- Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary – 7th edition
