signifies the final destruction of the
body. The chief mourner then ignites the
pyre and remains there while the body
burns. If the skull does not crack from
the heat of the fire, he is given a long
bamboo stick to pierce the skull. This is
believed to release the vital winds
(prana) of the deceased, which have col-
lected in the head. The chief mourner’s
final duty is to collect bones and ash
from the pyre (asthi-sanchayana), often
on the following day, and to immerse
these remains in the Gangesor some
other sacred river (asthi-visarjana).
The wooden pyre is the traditional
means for cremation and remains the
preferred method, despite the develop-
ment of more efficient and cheaper elec-
tric crematoria. This has led to an
unusual ecological problem in modern
India, particularly in the big cities. Many
poor people cannot afford to buy
enough wood to cremate the body with
a pyre but, because of tradition, are
unwilling to use electric crematoria.
They will perform incomplete crema-
tions in which part of the body is left
unburned. This is a bad state of affairs,
both from a religious and a public health
perspective, because the bodies are a
source of religious impurity and con-
tribute to the contamination of the
rivers. For further information see
Pandurang Vaman Kane (trans.), A
History of Dharmasastra, 1968; and Raj
Bali Pandey, Hindu Samskaras, 1969. For
accounts of modern practice, see
Lawrence Babb, The Divine Hierarchy,
1975; and Ann Grodzins Gold, Fruitful
Journeys, 1988.
Cremation Ground
Literally a place where bodies are cre-
mated, but in Hindu culture it also has a
significant symbolic meaning. The cre-
mation ground is pervaded by associa-
tions with death and impurity
(ashaucha), making it an intensely
inauspicious place that is often believed
to be inhabited by malevolent wander-
ing spirits. The cremation ground is usu-
ally located at the boundary of a
community, both to remove any contact
with this source of inauspiciousness
from everyday life and perhaps to sym-
bolically deny the reality of death by rel-
egating the cremation ground to the
margins of the “settled” world.
One well-known exception to this
rule occurs in Benares, where the cre-
mation ground at Manikarnika Ghatis
in the middle of the city. This promi-
nence symbolically forces the inhabi-
tants to confront the reality of death, but
since Benares is also the home of the
god Shiva, it also raises the hope that
death will bring final liberation of the
soul (moksha). Similarly, although most
people avoid the cremation ground as
inauspicious, certain religious adepts
voluntarily choose it as their place of
residence and religious practice. This
may include certain types of ascetics
who are simply emulating terrifying
forms of Shiva who are said to reside in
cremation grounds. Practitioners of the
esoteric ritual tradition known as tantra
may live in a cremation ground to assert
the radical unity of all reality and tran-
scend the concepts of purityand impu-
rity, which they consider artificial. See
also cremation.Cuckoo
(Cuculus melanoleucusor jacobinus)
Indian songbird intimately connected
with both love and the monsoonrains.
The cuckoo’s mating season comes dur-
ing the monsoon,when its piercing calls
are fancifully interpreted as piu, piu
(“beloved, beloved”). These cries are
said to excite the hearts of human
lovers—either to passion if they are
together or to bitter pain if the monsoon
is keeping them apart. The cuckoo’s
behavior in the rainy season is supposed
to reflect its love for the monsoon.
According to popular belief, the cuckoo
drinks only raindrops, which means that
for much of the year, it is tormented by
thirst. In devotional (bhakti) poetry, the
cuckoo is often used as a symbol for the
devotee (bhakta), who is tormented by
the deity’s absence but who waitsCuckoo