Steps from Death to Cremation

​Preparing the Body

Bathing, sprinkling the body with water. Chandanam, kumkum, vibhuti are placed and the body is covered with new clothes. Fresh flowers, Ganga Jal, Tulsi are offered. The body is placed on a frame made of bamboo sticks and laid to rest with head facing south.

​

Abhisinchanam - Speaking the Mantra in the Ear

Mantras are chanted in the right ear of the deceased, symbolically reminding the departed jiva that an individual’s life span, the life breath, prana, senses, mind, organs of action, earth, the universe and Ishwara are all interconnected. The idea in this message is that the jiva is not an isolated entity in the creation but has been an integral part of an infinite universe and continues to be so even after death of the physical body.

​

Karna  - Mantra

A ritual fire is kindled in which Agni is invoked. The final agnihotra is also performed at this time.

​

The ritual fire Pretagnisandhanam

This is performed if the death occurred at a time considered inauspicious.

​

Prayaschitta Karma - Journey to the Cremation Ground

The family and friends carry the body in a procession to the cremation site. The one who leads carries in a clay pot the ritual fire that has been kindled by the domestic fire which has been maintained by the departed during his lifetime. It is befitting that a person who maintained the agnihotra fire throughout his married life in order to perform daily karmas be cremated from the same sacred fire. The people chant Yama sukta or chant Jai Sri Ram, or Ram nam satya hai.

​

Purifying the Body - Ekoddistasraddha

This is a shraddha done to invoke the departed to make the body qualified to be an offering to Agni.

 

The Five Offerings - Panca-pindadanam

Offering are made to various presiding deities and ancestors. These are done five times to seek the blessings of various deities and thereby remove obstacles in the jiva’s journey. They are done by offering rice balls (pindas):

1. at the site where death occurred to the vastu devata

2. at the doorway to the gruha devata

3. during the procession at the crossroad or site of rest, to the bhuta-yonis and devataas to remove obstacles to the birth of the next form namely preta

4. at the site of cremation to sanctify the ground

5. at the time of collection of ashes.

​

Purifying the Site - Stalashuddhi

The site where the body is to be cremated is sanctified by mantras and water. The body is also sanctified. Agnideva is invoked in the pyre. Ghee is offered and then lighted by the eldest son. The son goes around the pyre three times before lighting it.

​

Cremation Dahana - Samskarah

The cremation of body is not merely a means of disposal of the corpse. It is returning of the body to the elements from which it was born. It is symbolically offered back to the infinite Ishwara who is non-separate from the manifest universe.

After the body of the deceased is placed on the pyre, the final ceremonies associated with cremation are performed. They include purification of the cremation site and the body, and invocation of Ishwara. Ghee is poured on the pyre as an offering to Agni.

​

The Journey Back Home

After cremation of the body the family and friends leave the cremation ground and take a bath before returning home. At this time the members of the immediate family offer water oblations to the departed by facing towards the south. They also offer prayers to Prajapati. They sit around for a while and talk about the departed and about the transitory nature of life and the world.

​

Resolve

When they return home before entering the house, it is customary to step on a stone seeking strength from Ishwara with the following prayer:

 

Ashmaniva Sthiro Bhuyasam

May I remain firm and unshaken as this stone.

​

Reproduced with permission:

Hindu Antyeshti Samskar (Practical Guidelines for Final Rites) for North America
Published Date: June 2009
Author: Antyeshti Samskar Committee
Hindu Mandir Executives' Conference, USA