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Cultural-Environmental Tensions Within Hindu Death Practices and Rites

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Cultural-Environmental Tensions Within Hindu Death Practices and Rites Madeleine Boga Ecology and the Himalayas Georgina Drew Fall 2011 Cultural-Environmental Tensions Within Hindu Death Practices and Rites Introduction Hinduism holds many cyclical views—from seasonal changes to reincarnation.1 Human spirits are believed to temporarily occupy various physical bodies throughout different lifetimes.2 This fluid view of life and death, analogous with cyclic ecosystem processes, feeds Hindu nature reverence. However, by analyzing death practices and rites, Hinduism’s seemingly inherent environmentalism is brought into question. Ancient texts may be discordant in a world in the midst of large-scale environmental degradation. Thus, is it possible to develop more sustainable postmortem practices that are sensitive to Hindu religious constraints and appropriate within cultural boundaries? What, if anything, do sacred texts assert that might inspire Hindus to take action as the natural environmental deteriorates? The linear worldview, prevalent among Christian ideology, lends itself to fatalistic outlooks on the state of the planet.3 With only one life to live, in a single physical body, Christianity fosters a dominion over the natural world. Within the linear sequence 1 Sheth, Noel. "Hindu Avatāra and Christian Incarnation: A Comparison.” Philosophy East and West 52, no. 1 (2002): 106. 2 Thakrar, Diviash, and Vipin Aery. Caring for Hindu Patients. Oxon, United Kingdom: Radcliffe Publishing, 2008. 3 Sheth, Noel. "Hindu Avatāra and Christian Incarnation: A Comparison.” Philosophy East and West 52, no. 1 (2002): 111. 1 of life, there is a burden to achieve ultimate salvation—both personally and for the Earth. Hinduism is a way of life as it is a religion, with deep entanglements of culture and religion. Is Hinduism’s intrinsic sensitivity to nature so embedded, thereby preventing necessary tangible environmental action? The Hindu Spirit and Body In Hinduism, a human is defined by a spirit or soul that episodically inhabits physical bodies. The association of the soul with the body is not necessarily natural, and brought on by avidya, or ignorance. Weakness and suffering, such as hunger and thirst, are experienced because of spirit’s identification with a physical body.4 Since spirits temporarily inhabit a body made up of prakrti, or imperfect matter, the various avataras, “descents” from a deity, do not promise ultimate salvation.5 Such salvation cannot be achieved when the spirit is tether to the imperfect body. Instead, avantaras exist “to restore righteousness by destroying the wicked and protecting the good.”6 They incarnate on Earth in all species of life, as well as the abiotic, such as water. They are said to help maintain and restore the natural balances of life. Antyesti Hindus belief is that a spirit is reborn through the death of the physical body. Hindu death rites of cremation, or antyesti, free the spirit from its physical entrapment, fire acting as the 4 Sheth, Noel. "Hindu Avatāra and Christian Incarnation: A Comparison.” Philosophy East and West 52, no. 1 (2002): 110. 5 ibid, p.111. 6 ibid, p.99. 2 separator. The distribution of ashes is the final release and integration of the physical remains with the Earth. Beginning at conception, a Hindu moves through various samskaras, which highlight important junctures in his or her life, from naming to marriage.7 The final stage of life, antyeshti samskara, marks the passage from the current physical body onto the next. According to Sage Baudhayana, the Samskaras performed while alive help one conquer the earth and that performed at death helps one conquer heaven. Life and death constitute a continuous process. The burning of the corpse is not an end in itself; it is a means to help the departing soul to obtain a new body in the world of Yama and join the pitrus or ancestral gods.8 Vedic texts outline samskaras as: …one of a series of life-cycle rituals that gradually perfect or complete a person. Samskaras facilitate passages or changes of state. Cremation, the final samskara, aims at assuring the "third birth," through which the spirit of the deceased departs from its earthly body and journeys to a new domain, where it will subsequently receive a new body composed of descendants' shraddha [ancestral rituals] offerings. Cremation is, at the same time, conceived as a sacrificial offering.9 Death is seen as a transitional phase, or rebirth, into another physical body, rather than an expiry. Most Hindus are cremated upon death. The burning of the physical body marks a severance from the spirit. 7 JHA, J. C. 1976. The Hindu Sacrament (Rites de Passage) in Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Quarterly 22 (1, East Indians in the Caribbean) (March): pp. 40. 8 Ayer, V. A. K. Hindu Samskaras. In Hindu Sastras and Samskaras., ed. SAVECA Canada, 11. 9 Davis, Richard H. 1988. Cremation and liberation: The revision of a Hindu ritual. History of Religions 28 (1) (Aug.): pp. 45. 3 After death, a body is washed and adorned by kinsmen. By bathing in the rivers of India, “one is said to be morally cleansed of sins and to acquire merit or auspiciousness.”10 A Hindu’s postmortem bath may be the most cleansing of all, allowing a smooth transition into the next life. In preparation for the pyre, the officiant’s assistants bring sacrificial wood to the chosen pure and sacred site. The body is laid upon the pyre and lit by the officiant, usually the eldest son.11 Upon cremation of a body, a mantra is sung, such as: “May the organ of vision go to the Sun: may the prana [vital life] merge in the atmosphere; may you go to a virtuous place. May you rest there provided with food and endowed with a body.”12 Hindu reverence for nature is apparent here, as the physical body strives to amalgamate with Earth elements. It is believed that shedding excessive tears during funeral rites may prevent the spirit from a smooth transition into its next physical embodiment.13 When the fire has consumed the body, the officiant takes a jar on his left shoulder, circles the site three times in reverse direction while sprinkling it with water, breaks the jar near the spot where the corpse's head was, and leaves without looking back, followed by all the kinsmen. The participants proceed to a suitable tirtha [shallow water crossing], where they offer libations in the name of the deceased. From this point, they observe a period of death-impurity (savasauca) in accord with their status and degree of relationship to the one who has passed away. Close relatives begin to perform the shraddha rites that ritually constitute 10 Narayanan, Vasudha. "Water, Wood, and Wisdom: Ecological Perspectives from the Hindu Traditions." Daedalus 130, no. 4 (2001): 191. 11 JHA, J. C. 1976. The Hindu Sacrament (Rites de Passage) in Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean Quarterly 22 (1, East Indians in the Caribbean) (March): pp. 50. 12 Ayer, V. A. K. Hindu Samskaras. In Hindu Sastras and Samskaras., ed. SAVECA Canada, 11. 13 ibid. 4 the new body of the deceased in his new realm, replacing the old body which he lost in the fires of cremation.14 The myriad of nature references, particularly in antyesti, demonstrates Hinduism’s “bio- divinity.” Though this does not deem it religiously environmentalism, “which involves the conscious application of application of religious ideas to modern concerns about the global environment.”15 This imagery evokes perceptions of environmental stewardship that aren’t necessarily concurrent with modern practice. Environment Hindu text and ritual illuminate veneration for nature. Nature is sacred, and for some schools of thought, prakrti also translates directly to “nature," and sometimes all "cosmic matter.”16 It is the divine immanence, sustaining the universe. Prakrti comprises both human physical bodies and their natural surroundings. The variation in definitions of imperfect matter, nature, and cosmic matter, represents Hindu belief in human-Earth interconnectedness. If this matter that makes up human bodies is imperfect and is also nature, itself, subsequently nature is imperfect. Spirits, chiefly deities, are the highest form of perfection in Hinduism, therefore any physical iterations of spirits are less than, or imperfect.17 This reinforces the concept of the physical body’s burden on the pure spirit. 14 Davis, Richard H. 1988. Cremation and liberation: The revision of a Hindu ritual. History of Religions 28 (1) (Aug.): pp. 46. 15 Tomalin, Emma. 2004. Bio-divinity and biodiversity: Perspectives on religion and environmental conservation in India. Numen 51 (3): pp. 266. 16 Narayanan, Vasudha. "Water, Wood, and Wisdom: Ecological Perspectives from the Hindu Traditions." Daedalus 130, no. 4 (2001): 185. 17 ibid. 5 The connections between the physical and metaphysical been explored in a quest for indigenous paths to solving the environmental crisis. In a related way, the five elements of nature —earth, water, fire, ether/space, and air—are sacred.18 Rivers are particularly revered in Hindu ideology.19 The Ganga, which covers about two- thirds of the length of India, is a precious natural resource, for the region, both spiritually and for daily survival.20 The Ganga is the grand purifier. Regarded as a devi, goddess, she is the ultimate demonstration of Mother Nature as a nurturing provider. More than 400 million people live along the Ganga and an estimated 2,000,000 people flock to ritually bathe in the river each day.21 However tributary river flows are decreasing amid global climate change. Deforestation along Ganga shores cause erosion and increased silt deposition into the riverbed. Insufficient water and decline in quality put stress on the daily sustenance of those who depend on the river for water and bathing. Additionally, much of the region’s agriculture depends upon Ganga water for irrigation.22 18 Sheth, Noel.
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