Hindu funerals[edit]

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this

section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged

and removed. (February 2014)

Hindu funeral

Main article: Antyesti

Antyesti or Hindu funeral rites, sometimes referred as Antim Sanskar, is an
important Sanskara, sacrament of Hindu society. Extensive texts of such rites are available,
particularly in the Garuda Purana. Hindus believe in reincarnation and view death as the soul moving
from one body to the next on its path to reach Nirvana, heaven. Death is a sad occasion, but Hindu
priests emphasise the route ahead for the departed soul and a funeral is as much a celebration as a
remembrance service.
Hindus cremate their dead, believing that the burning of a dead body signifies the release of the
spirit and that the flames represent Brahma, the creator.
Family members will pray around the body as soon as possible after death. People will try to avoid
touching the corpse as it is considered polluting. The corpse usually is bathed and dressed in white,
traditional Indian clothes. If a wife dies before her husband she is dressed in red bridal clothes. If a
woman is a widow she will be dressed in white or pale colours.
The funeral procession may pass places of significance to the deceased, such as a building or
street. Prayers are said here and at the entrance to the crematorium.
The body is decorated with sandalwood, flowers, and garlands. Scriptures are read from the Vedas
or Bhagavad Gita. The chief mourner, usually the eldest son or male of the family, will light some
kindling and circle the body, praying for the well being of the departing soul.
After the cremation, the family may have a meal and offer prayers in their home. Mourners wash and
change completely before re-entering the house after the funeral. A priest will visit and purify the

house with spices and incense. This is the beginning of the thirteen-day mourning period when
friends will visit and offer their condolences.
'Shradh' is practiced three year after the death of the person. This may be either an annual event or
a large one-time event. This is the Hindu practice of giving food to the poor in memory of the
deceased. A priest will say prayers for the deceased and during this time, usually lasting one month,
the family will not buy any new clothes or attend any parties. Sons are responsible for carrying out
Shradh.
1.As Death Approaches: Traditionally, a Hindu dies at home. Nowadays the dying are increasingly
kept in hospitals, even when recovery clearly is not possible. Knowing the merits of dying at home
among loved ones, Hindus bring the ill home. When death is imminent, kindred are notified. The
person is placed in his room or in the entryway of the house, with the head facing east. A lamp is lit
near the person's head and concentration on a personal mantra is urged. Kindred keep vigil until the
great departure, singing hymns, praying, and reading scripture. If the patient cannot go home, this
happens at the hospital, regardless of institutional objections.
2.The Moment of Death: If the dying person is unconscious at departure, a family member chants
the mantra softly in the right ear. If none is known, "Aum Namo Narayana" or "Aum Nama Sivaya" is
intoned. (This also is used in the case of sudden-death victims, such as on a battlefield or in a car
accident.) Holy ash or sandal paste is applied to the forehead, Vedic verses are chanted, and a few
drops of milk, Ganga, or other holy water are trickled into the mouth. After death, the body is laid in
the home's entryway, with the head facing south, on a cot or the groundreflecting a return to the
lap of Mother Earth. The lamp is kept lit near the head and incense burned. A cloth is tied under the
chin and over the top of the head. The thumbs are tied together, as are the big toes. In a hospital,
the family has the death certificate signed immediately and transports the body home. Under no
circumstances should the body be embalmed or organs removed for use by others. Religious
pictures are turned to the wall, and in some traditions mirrors are covered. Relatives are beckoned to
bid farewell and sing sacred songs at the side of the body.
3.The Homa Fire Ritual: If available, a special funeral priest is called. In a shelter built by the family,
a fire ritual (homa) is performed to bless nine brass kumbhas (water pots) and one clay pot. Lacking
the shelter, an appropriate fire is made in the home. The "chief mourner" leads the rites. He is the
eldest son in the case of the father's death and the youngest son in the case of the mother's. In
some traditions, the eldest son serves for both, or the wife, son-in-law, or nearest male relative.
4.Preparing the Body: The chief mourner now performs arati, passing an oil lamp over the remains,
then offering flowers. The same-gender relatives of the deceased carry the body to the back porch,
remove the clothes and drape it with a white cloth. (If there is no porch, the body may be given a
sponge bath and prepared where it is.) Each applies sesame oil to the head, and the body is bathed
with water from the nine kumbhas, dressed, placed in a coffin (or on a palanquin) and carried to the

homa shelter. The young children, holding small lighted sticks, encircle the body, singing hymns. The
women then walk around the body and offer puffed rice into the mouth to nourish the deceased for
the journey ahead. A widow will place her tali (wedding pendant) around her husband's neck,
signifying her enduring tie to him. The coffin is then closed. If unable to bring the body home, the
family arranges to clean and dress it at the mortuary, rather than leave these duties to strangers. The
ritual homa fire may be made at home or kindled at the crematorium.
5.Cremation: Only men go to the cremation site, led by the chief mourner. Two pots are carried: the
clay kumbha and another containing burning embers from the homa. The body is carried three times
counterclockwise around the pyre, then placed upon it. All circumambulating, and some arati, in the
rites is counterclockwise. If a coffin is used, the cover is now removed. The men offer puffed rice as
the women did earlier, cover the body with wood and offer incense and ghee. With the clay pot on
his left shoulder, the chief mourner circles the pyre while holding a fire brand behind his back. At
each turn around the pyre, a relative knocks a hole in the pot with a knife, letting water out, signifying
life's leaving its vessel. At the end of three turns, the chief mourner drops the pot. Then, without
turning to face the body, he lights the pyre and leaves the cremation grounds. The others follow. At a
gas-fueled crematorium, sacred wood and ghee are placed inside the coffin with the body. Where
permitted, the body is carried around the chamber, and a small fire is lit in the coffin before it is
consigned to the flames. The cremation switch then is engaged by the chief mourner.
6.Return Home, Ritual Impurity: Returning home, all bathe and share in cleaning the house. A
lamp and water pot are set where the body lay in state. The water is changed daily, and pictures
remain turned to the wall. The shrine room is closed, with white cloth draping all icons. During these
days of ritual impurity, family and close relatives do not visit the homes of others, although neighbors
and relatives bring daily meals to relieve the burdens during mourning. Neither do they attend
festivals and temples, visit swamis, nor take part in marriage arrangements. Some observe this
period up to one year. For the death of friends, teachers, or students, observances are optional.
While mourning never is suppressed or denied, scriptures admonish against excessive lamentation
and encourage joyous release. The departed soul is acutely conscious of emotional forces received
and prolonged grieving can hold the soul in earthly consciousness, inhibiting full transition to the
heavenly worlds. In Hindu Bali, it is shameful to cry for the dead.
7.Bone-Gathering Ceremony: About 12 hours after cremation, family men return to collect the
remains. Water is sprinkled on the ash; the remains are collected on a large tray. At crematoriums
the family may arrange to gather the remains personally: ashes and small pieces of white bone
called "flowers." In crematoriums these are ground to dust, and arrangements must be made to
preserve them. Ashes are carried or sent to India for deposition in the Ganges or to place them in an
auspicious river or the ocean, along with garlands and flowers.
8.First Memorial: On the 12th Day, relatives gather for a meal of the deceased's favorite foods. A
portion is offered before a photograph of the deceased and later ceremonially left at an abandoned

place, along with some lit camphor. Customs for this period are varied. Some offer pinda (rice balls)
daily for nine days. Others combine all these offerings with the following sapindikarana rituals for a
few days or one day of ceremonies.
9.31st-Day Memorial: On the thirty-first day, a memorial service is held. In some traditions it is a
repetition of the funeral rites. At home, all thoroughly clean the house. A priest purifies the home, and
performs the sapindikarana, making one large pinda (representing the deceased) and three small
pinda, representing the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. The large ball is cut in three
pieces and joined with the small pindas to unite the soul ritually with the ancestors in the next world.
The pindas are fed to the crows, to a cow, or thrown in a river for the fish. Some perform this rite on
the eleventh day after cremation. Others perform it twice: on the thirty-first day or (eleventh, fifteenth,
etc.) and after one year. Once the first sapindikarana is completed, the ritual impurity ends. Monthly
repetition also is common for one year.
10.Shradh: At the 3 yearly anniversary of the death (according to the moon calendar), a priest
conducts the shradh rites in the home, offering pinda to the ancestors. This ceremony is performed
yearly after completion of 3 years as long as the sons of the deceased are alive. It is now common in
India to observe Shradh for ancestors just prior to the yearly Navaratri festival. This time also is
appropriate for cases where the day of death is unknown.
Hindu funeral rites may be simple or exceedingly complex. These ten steps, devotedly completed
according to the customs, means, and ability of the family, will properly conclude one earthly sojourn
of any Hindu soul.

__________________________________________________________________________________

A detailed series of life-cycle rituals (samskara , or refinements) mark major transitions in

the life of the individual. Especially orthodox Hindu families may invite Brahman priests to
their homes to officiate at these rituals, complete with sacred fire and recitations of mantras.
Most of these rituals, however, do not occur in the presence of such priests, and among
many groups who do not revere
Ads
Atheism and Agnosticism
www.jesusandjews.com
Does God Exist? Atheism Resources
Save More with Nestle
nestle.com.my
Huge Savings When You Buy More Spend RM50 & Get 10% Off Now!
Free Bible Download

www.dailybibleguide.com
Find Daily Quotes, Choose Passages & More w/ Free Bible Toolbar!

Religious Ritual

About Religious

Caste

Beliefs and Religion

Hindu
the Vedas or respect Brahmans, there may be other officiants or variations in the rites.
Ceremonies may be performed during pregnancy to ensure the health of the mother and
growing child. The father may part the hair of the mother three times upward from the front
to the back, to assure the ripening of the embryo. Charms may serve to ward off the evil eye
andwitches or demons. At birth, before the umbilical cord is severed, the father may touch
the baby's lips with a gold spoon or ring dipped in honey, curds, and ghee. The
wordvak (speech) is whispered three times into the right ear, and mantras are chanted to
ensure a long life. A number of rituals for the infant include the first visit outside to a temple,
the first feeding with solid food (usually cooked rice), an ear-piercing ceremony, and the first
haircut (shaving the head) that often occurs at a temple or during a festival when the hair is
offered to a deity.
A crucial event in the life of the orthodox, upper-caste Hindu male is

Ads
Bible Trivia Questions
www.bibletriviatime.com
Challenge Yourself & Friends With Fun Bible Trivia. Get Free App!
Free PDF Converter
www.fromdoctopdf.com
Convert Any File to a PDF - Word, Jpeg, Gif - 100% Free Download!
an initiation (upanayana) ceremony, which takes place for some young males between the
ages of six and twelve to mark the transition to awareness and adult religious
responsibilities. At the ceremony itself, the family priest invests the boy with a sacred thread
to be worn always over the left shoulder, and the parents instruct him in pronouncing the
Gayatri Mantra. The initiation ceremony is seen as a new birth; those groups entitled to
wear the sacred thread are called the twice-born.
In the ancient categorization of society associated with the Vedas, only the three highest
groups - Brahman, warrior (Kshatriya), and commoner or merchant (Vaishya)--were allowed

to wear the thread, to make them distinct from the fourth group of servants (Shudra). Many
individuals and groups who are only hazily associated with the old "twice-born" elites
perform the upanayana ceremony and claim the higher status it bestows. For young Hindu
women in South India, a different ritual and celebration occurs at the first menses.
The next important transition in life is marriage. For most people in India, the betrothal of the
young couple and the exact date and time of the wedding are matters decided by the
parents in consultation with astrologers. At Hindu weddings, the bride and bridegroom
represent the god and the goddess, although there is a parallel tradition that sees the groom
as a prince coming to wed his princess.
The groom, decked in all his finery, often travels to the wedding site on a caparisoned white
horse or in an open limousine, accompanied by a procession of relatives, musicians, and
bearers of ornate electrified lamps. The actual ceremonies in many cases become
extremely elaborate, but orthodox Hindu marriages typically have at their center the
recitation of mantras by priests. In a crucial rite, the new couple take seven steps northward
from a sacred household fire, turn, and make offerings into the flames. Independent
traditions in regional languages and among different caste groups support wide variations in
ritual.
After the death of a family member, the relatives become involved in ceremonies for
preparation of the body and a procession to the burning or burial ground. For most Hindus,
cremation is the ideal method for dealing with the dead, although many groups practice
burial instead; infants are buried rather than cremated. At the funeral site, in the presence of
the male mourners, the closest relative of the deceased (usually the eldest son) takes
charge of the final rite and, if it is cremation, lights the funeral pyre. After a cremation, ashes
and fragments of bone are collected and eventually immersed in a holy river.
After a funeral, everyone undergoes a purifying bath. The immediate family remains in a
state of intense pollution for a set number of days (sometimes ten, eleven, or thirteen). At
the end of that period, close family members meet for a ceremonial meal and often give
gifts to the poor or to charities. A particular feature of the Hindu ritual is the preparation of
rice balls (pinda) offered to the spirit of the dead person during memorial services. In part
these ceremonies are seen as contributing to the merit of the deceased, but they also pacify
the soul so that it will not linger in this world as a ghost but will pass through the realm of
Yama, the god of death.