Talk:Non-Typical Funeral Practices in the Hindu Society

By Vishal Agarwal

The following are not accorded cremation:

1. Children younger than the age of two years are buried or cast away in water.
2. Victims of epidemics are cast away in the water.
3. Pregnant women.
4. Ascetics are buried in soil, or their bodies are tied with weights and immersed in holy rivers like the Ganga. They are not cremated because their body is already purified with the light/fire of spiritual wisdom and knowledge, and therefore there is no need to purify it with physical fire to help transfer the soul to the next world.
5. In some cases, a person went missing and was presumed dead. If his body was not traced, an effigy was made, the departed ātmā was ceremoniously summoned and the effigy was cremated as if it were the corpse.

Little children are not cremated because it is assumed that they have lived too short a time to develop an attachment to their body or their surroundings.

A child younger than two (2) years shall be buried, and no water shall be offered to his or her departed soul. Yājnavalkya Smriti 3.2a

Historically, certain Hindu ascetics, particularly those from the Nātha Shaivite tradition, practiced burial instead of cremation. This was especially prevalent in Northwestern India, where large-scale conversions to Islam took place. Over time, the graves of Nātha Yogis were often reinterpreted as the tombs of Sufi saints or Muslim mystics by newly converted populations.

A notable example is Jhulelal, the revered Sindhi Hindu saint, whose resting place is now claimed by local Sindhi Muslims in Pakistan as that of an Islamic figure. Similarly, during Islamic rule in India, the burial of prominent Muslim leaders within Hindu sacred sites facilitated the conversion of temples into Islamic shrines. Hindus, traditionally considering gravesites impure, often refrained from reclaiming such places.

This practice was instrumental in the transformation of major Hindu temples into Islamic religious sites. Shah Hamdan, the Islamic preacher credited with mass conversions in Kashmir, was buried within the revered Kali Mandir in Srinagar, effectively converting it into a Muslim place of worship. Likewise, in Sehwan, Sindh, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s mausoleum now stands where an ancient Shiva temple once existed, and is today a prominent Sufi pilgrimage site. Numerous such instances illustrate how burial practices were leveraged to assert dominance over Hindu sacred spaces, leaving a lasting impact on the religious landscape of the subcontinent.

Additionally, members of some Hindu communities do not practice cremation, or at least did not practice cremation in the past. For example, the Bishnoi community of arid Rajasthan observed the practice of burial. This was consistent with their emphasis on environmental conservation. Firewood was scarce in arid Rajasthan, and the dry soil or sand was ideal for burial and saved trees from being cut.

There are other local customs like some Hindu communities simply burying their dead on the banks of holy rivers like the Ganga during certain periods and covering the grave with a saffron cloth, as was seen during early 2021.