Where: Varanasi, India People: Indians Religion: Hinduism Ritual: Cremation
It can be discussed whether Hinduism is a religion or closer to a set of different complex ways of believing that have the same origin and share the same values and ideas. Hinduism may be the oldest of the five main religions.
Although local customs and traditions vary greatly, the basic idea of Hinduism is the rebirth. Your good deeds in life are reflected in your rebirth. If you have behaved properly, you will be reborn on a “higher level”. However, if you have behaved badly, you will be reborn as something low-grade, such as a worm. Life and death are aspects of the same existence until the spirit/soul is freed from the cycle and merges with the divine.
It usually takes many rebirths to achieve this release, which is the ultimate goal. But there is a shortcut. If you die and get cremated in Varanasi, you are almost sure to achieve moksha (the release). Therefore, Hindus from all over the world travel to Varanasi to die and get cremated there. Cremation is by many Hindus believed to be the best way to treat a body, as the spirit/soul is easier released if there is no trace of the body.
A traditional cremation ceremony begins with a ritual washing and dressing of the body, which is then decorated. The body is carried to the cremation grounds, while prayers to the god of death, Yama, are cahnted. The body is dipped in the Ganges River, whose water is sacred and cleans all sins away. After that, the dead is laid on a large bonfire, which is prepared by the workers at the cremation ground. It is usually the oldest son who carries out the rituals. With a burning twig of the holy kusha grass, he walks five times around the body (once for each of the five elements where the fifth element is the spirit/soul) towards the clock since everything goes backwards in death. Then he lights up the fire. The dead is now a victim of the god of fire, Agni, who brings the dead to heaven. During the cremation, the grandson walks around the fire and recites mantras to ensure that the spirit/soul of the dead is released. After the cremation, the ash is thrown into the river, preferably Ganges, and the mourners leaves from there without looking back.
A huge thanks to the family of Shakundtla Devi and all the other families at Manikarnika Ghat.
If a Hindu dies in Varanasi, the soul can escape the cycle of rebirth and reincarnation. That makes Varanasi the religious capital of Hinduism, and people go there to die. Funeral parties have to wait for their turn at the ghats, cremation grounds.A final, private farewell. The oldest daughter cares for the body of Shakundtla Devi, a 63 year old woman who died in hospital. The family mourns the departed prior to the public funeral rites.Shakuntla Devi was transported to the cremation grounds on top of a tuk tuk, which served as a hearse.Due to cultural tradition, the women of the family are not permitted to attend the cremation and must say their final goodbyes in the family’s yard instead.The holy city of Varanasi is accustomed to funeral parades. The colours signal the virtue of the deceased: Yellow is for knowledge and education, saffron is for innocence, and red represents purity.A body is waiting to be immersed in the Ganges River, a sacred act believed to purify the individual of all sins.Hindus consider the Ganges River to be a holy and sacred body of water. They believe that the water from the river has the power to purify individuals of all their sins.In the background, the ashes from daily cremations can be seen as a family performs purification rites on a deceased family member.If a person is sprinkled with the water from Ganes at the time of their death, they are believed to achieve absolute salvation.When the body is about to be consumed by fire the festive decorations are removed, and only the body dressed in white remains prior to the cremation.The eldest son is responsible for performing the necessary rituals and lighting the pyre on fire.The body is anointed with ghee – clarified butter – which will also help rise the temperature of the funeral pyre.So much wood is used in the fire that the area around Varanasi is heavily deforested. The government has encouraged the use of electrical ovens, but frequent black outs and a belief that a traditional fire is better has deflected the initiative.As the cremation takes place, the oldest son walks barefoot around the pyre reciting mantras to aid the soul of the deceased achieving Moksha – salvation.As the body is burned, the family keeps watch. The mourning is not excessive, as Hindus believe that the body is either reborn or ultimately released from the wheel of suffering, achieving Moksha, more or less the equivalent of the Buddhist Nirvana.A son is disposing of the remains of a parent, who has been cremated, by tossing them into the Ganges River.In a final symbolic gesture, the eldest son extinguishes the fire with water from the Ganges. The family then leaves without looking back, signaling the severing of the bond between the deceased and the living.
