For most Hindus cremation is the
approved method for disposing of a
dead body, although one finds burials in
certain circumstances and subcommunities. The body is usually cremated on
the day of death, often only a few hours
after the person has expired. Although
one could see this as a hygienic measure
in a hot climate, for many Hindus the
religious reasons are even more compelling. First, a corpse is considered to
be a source of violent impurity
(ashaucha) that is removed by destroying the body by fire. A second reason for
immediate cremation is to get rid of a
potential vehicle for wandering spirits,
who according to popular fears, can
reanimate a corpse.
The rites leading to cremation begin
immediately after death. As for all Hindu
rituals, there is great variation in different regions and communities, but the
following description gives a general
picture of these rites, at least in northern
India: The body is bathed, laid on a bier
(often made from bamboo, which is
cheap, strong, and readily available),
and covered with a cloth (white for a
man or a widow, a colored sari for a
married woman). In many cases the big
toes are tied together with a thread, due
to the belief that this prevents an alien
spirit from reanimating the body. The
mourners carry the bier to the cremation ground, chanting the traditional
dirge Ram Nam Satya Hai, Satya Boli
Gati Hai (“God’s name is Truth, Truth
spoken is Passage”). On the way, the
mourners will often halt several times,
not only to rest but also on the chance
that the deceased was merely unconscious. When they arrive at the cremation ground (which is often by a river or
source of water), the corpse is bathed
again and set on a pyre. The chief
mourner (traditionally the eldest son)
circles the pyre, pouring water from a
clay pot, which is then broken. Since
poetic images often compare the
ephemeral quality of human bodies to
that of clay pots, this action clearly
160
Cremation
Hindu cremation on the Ganges River. Although cremation is the religiously preferred way to
dispose of a corpse, the relatively high cost of wood makes this difficult for poorer families.
signifies the final destruction of the
body. The chief mourner then ignites the
pyre and remains there while the body
burns. If the skull does not crack from
the heat of the fire, he is given a long
bamboo stick to pierce the skull. This is
believed to release the vital winds
(prana) of the deceased, which have collected in the head. The chief mourner’s
final duty is to collect bones and ash
from the pyre (asthi-sanchayana), often
on the following day, and to immerse
these remains in the Ganges or some
other sacred river (asthi-visarjana).
The wooden pyre is the traditional
means for cremation and remains the
preferred method, despite the development of more efficient and cheaper electric crematoria. This has led to an
unusual ecological problem in modern
India, particularly in the big cities. Many
poor people cannot afford to buy
enough wood to cremate the body with
a pyre but, because of tradition, are
unwilling to use electric crematoria.
They will perform incomplete cremations in which part of the body is left
unburned. This is a bad state of affairs,
both from a religious and a public health
perspective, because the bodies are a
source of religious impurity and contribute to the contamination of the
rivers. For further information see
Pandurang Vaman Kane (trans.), A
History of Dharmasastra, 1968; and Raj
Bali Pandey, Hindu Samskaras, 1969. For
accounts of modern practice, see
Lawrence Babb, The Divine Hierarchy,
1975; and Ann Grodzins Gold, Fruitful
Journeys, 1988.