Hindu Funeral Rites Flashcards
Most Hindus will do this with their dead.
- Exceptions are small children and saints, whose bodies are considered pure, and therefore buried.
Cremation
In most parts of India, it’s the husband or wife, who if they are Hundu, almost always wear this color to the funeral of a spouse.
- Considered to be a holy color and wearing it can help a departed soul relinquish its attachment to the body it just left
- such attachment can make the soul earthbound which will delay reincarnation
White
The soul’s fate and duty. Only through this successively can a soul spirtually evolve until it no longer needs a body to work out its karma and is free from the cycles of death and rebirth.
Reincarnation
Burning enables the departed soul to abandon attachment for its previous body and move swiftly forward to the next chapter oflife.
- Funeral ceremonies should be performed asap- by dusk or by dawn, whichever occurs first.
- Funeral takes place within hours of death.
Why Cremation is Used
The body is laid in the home’s entryway with the head facing south, on a cot or on the ground- reflecting a return to the lap of Mother Earth.
- Lamp is lit near the head and inscense is burned.
The Moment of Death
- Washed by relatives
- Dressed in fresh cloth
- Bedecked with flowers
- A few drops of Ganges water are placed in the mouth
- Before cremation- flowers on the body, rice in the mouth (as nourishment for the departed soul), and coins in the hands.
- Women walk around the body and offer puffed rice into the mouth to nourish the deceasd for the journey ahead.
- A widow will place her tali (wedding pendant) around the husband’s neck, signifying her enduring tie to him.
Preparing the Body
- Cheif mourner leads the rites (eldest son in the case of the father’s death, youngest son in case of the mother’s)
- Only men go to the cremation site
- Two pots are carried: the clay kumbha and another containing burning embers from the home.
- Body is carried 3 times counterclockwise around the pyre, then placed upon it.
- Men offer puffed rice, cover the body with wood and offer inscense and ghee.
- Clay pot on his left shoulder, cheif mourner circles the pyre while holding a fire brand behind his back. At each turn, a relative knocks a hole in pot letting water out (life leaving its vessel).
- Without turning to face the body, lights the pyre and leaves the cremation grounds. The others follow
- At a gas-fueled crematorium, sacred wood and ghee are placed inside the casket with the body
- The body is carried around the chamber, and a small fire is lit in the coffin before it is consigned to the flames.
Cremation
- No cooking is done in the house until cremation takes place
- Friends bring food
- Mourners who touch a dead body are considered impure until they shower or bathe or regain their purity by touching a saint.
- Lamp and water pot are set where the body lay in state, water is changed daily.
- Family and close relatives do not visit each other’s homes, neighbors and relatives bring daily meals
- Do not attend festivals and temples, visit swamis, or take part in marriage arrangements.
Return Home; Ritual Impurity
- 12 hours after cremation, family men come back to collect the remains.
- Water is sprinkled on the ash; remains are collected in a large tray.
- Family can arrange personally to gather remains; ashes and small pieces of white bone called “flowers”. These are ground to dust at crematoriums and arrangements must be made to preserve them.
- Usually 3 days later, eldest son will collect the ashes and place them in the Ganges.
Bone Gathering Ceremony
- Extends 13 days after the funeral- period of mourning
- On the 3rd, 5th, 7th, or 9th day, relatives gather for a meal of the deceased’s favorite foods.
- A portion of food is offered before his photo and later ceremonially left at an abandoned place, along with some lit camphor.
First Memorial
At the yearly anniversary of the death (according to the moon calendar), a priest conducts the shraddha rites in the home, offering panda to the ancestors.
One Year Memorial
