cremation ghat calcutta open-air cremation soul burning bone fragments through flame heat human death fire burn kill feast scave
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The Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, mandate open-air cremation. In these religions, the body is seen as an instrument to carry the soul. As an example, the Bhagavad Gita states, "Just as old clothes are cast off and new ones taken, the soul leaves the body after the death to take a new one." Hence, the dead body is not considered sacred, since the soul has left the body and the cremation is regarded as ethical by the Eastern religions. In Sikhism, burial is not prohibited, although cremation is the preferred option for cultural reasons rather than religious. Since Sikhism has a lot of cultural similarity with Hinduism, Sikhs prefer cremation. They also scatter the ashes in holy rivers, like Hindus. According to Hindu traditions, the reasons for preferring to destroy the corpse by fire over burying it into ground is to induce a feeling of detachment into the freshly disembodied spirit, which will be helpful to encourage it into passing to "the other world" (the ultimate destination of the dead).[ Hindus have 16 rituals (Sanskars), like Name, Thread ceremony, beginning of student life, marriage, etc., the last being cremation. Cremation is referred to as antim-samskara, literally meaning "the last rites." At the time of the cremation or "last rites, " a "Puja" (ritual worship) is performed. The holy text of Rigveda, one of the oldest Hindu scriptures, has many Ruchas (small poems) related to cremation, which state that that Lord Agni (God of Fire) will purify the dead body, also known as the Parthiv. Therefore, the Parthiv is given over to him. Cremation dates to at least 20, 000 years ago in the archaeological record with the Mungo Lady, the remains of a partly cremated body found at Mungo Lake, Australia. Alternative death rituals emphasizing one method of disposal of a body—inhumation (burial), cremation, and exposure—have gone through periods of preference throughout history. In the Middle East and Europe, both burial and crematio