Funerary Practices In Ancient India Essay

In ancient India, tribes from across India had to carry out lots of funerary practices. These practices varied from jumping into fires to hiring professional mourners. These practices were completely different to Western countries. Like in ancient Jewish culture when a family member dies, they can’t watch television for 1 whole year! In ancient India when the widow’s husband died, she would have to jump into the fire with her husband and burn to death. This was called Sati. Another practice was, when a family member died, their family had to cry (a lot).

Cremation is the burning of the human body until its soft parts are destroyed by fire. The skeletal remains and ash residue (cremains) often becomes the object of religious rites, one for the body and one for the bones. Cremation dates back to at least 20,000 years ago in the archaeological record, with the Mungo Lady. It is believed that cremation was a funerary practice in ancient India. Cremation was most likely performed because Archeologists have found urns. The cremation of bodies increasingly was associated with the ancient Indian Hindu belief system. The son or eldest male in the family had to light the funeral pyre; this was a very important role to play. Agni (the god of fire) was believed to
They especially didn’t like killing animals as ritual sacrifices. This is what turned some people away from ancient Indian Hindu and towards Buddhism. Buddhism was based on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Buddhists believed in reincarnation and if they followed the teachings from Buddha they could be born again. They also didn’t believe in sacrificing animals or people to Gods. In the ancient Buddhism culture, followers also carried out cremation and burial funeral practices just like the Hindu’s. Buddhists don’t mourn as much as Hindu’s and don’t believe in