Death Ritual

All religious communities have rituals to honor the body and the spiritual presence of the departed and to facilitate the ascendance of their souls to the world beyond. In this essay, the focus will be on the rituals of Hindus in India and in Hindu diaspora communities around the world, since they illustrate the changing nature of death rituals in a global, multicultural context.

Hindus have elaborate rituals at death and mark the date periodically in later months and years. Most Hindus cremate the dead; however, young children and ascetics are interred, as are members of some communities such as the Lingayats. The ashes after cremation are frequently immersed in nearby rivers or oceans. Immersion of the ashes in the river Ganga is especially recommended. Death rituals for Hindus who reside outside the subcontinent have to be adapted to local laws and customs and modified to local surroundings.

Bodies are cremated soon after death in India, often within 24 hours, and seldom kept longer. In India, the body is washed by the women in the house, and the forehead is anointed with sacred marks. The family priest begins the rituals at home and concludes it at the cremation grounds. Family and friends garland the body and frequently bow down respectfully, facing south—the direction of death. At the cremation ground, the pyre is lit; the ashes are collected the next day and eventually immersed in the ocean or, later on, in the river Ganga.

Rituals overseas, especially in Europe and the Americas, have been adapted to local surroundings. The most important difference is that the dead body cannot be kept at home for the rituals to take place and has to be handed over to a funeral home. Coffins are generally not used by Hindus in India; the body is taken in a bier quickly to the cremation grounds. While family members carried the body in the past, vans are used today in urban areas in India. In most European and American countries, however, the funeral home keeps the body in a coffin and handles all the arrangements. Laws in many countries require that a body cannot be cremated until a certain number of days have passed, in part to ascertain that there will be no further inquiry into the case; thus, in America, the body is not disposed of for several days after the person has died. This is at variance with both text and custom in India.

Since the death rituals are done in the chambers of funeral homes in Western countries, they are minimal and done with family and friends sitting in the pews in front of the dead body. Unlike in India, eulogies have become common during the funeral rituals in the Americas. Soon after the quick rituals—lasting not more than an hour in most countries outside India—the body is taken to an electric crematorium. This is not very different from India; while firewood was traditionally used in the subcontinent, and still is in many parts, electric crematoria are becoming increasingly popular there. While most Hindus and Sikhs who die in the United Kingdom are cremated in gas crematoria, there are occasional legal cases pleading for open-air cremations so that one can adhere to the [Page 287]traditional practices of India. Open-air cremations are not allowed in most countries because they are considered to be a hazard to public health. After cremation, the ashes are sometimes taken for immersion in a body of water, but local laws may have strict rules preventing such rituals outside the subcontinent. Many people take the ashes back to India for immersion in the rivers there.

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