deathsuggesting that Jesus dies for us, and these are both merged by Paul in his
letters (2 Cor. 5.14). From the punishment imposed by sin, the death of
Christ redeems or ransoms all beings and gives them freedom from pun-
ishment, freedom from the guilt of sin, and freedom from sin and death.
Within the context of classical Hinduism, it is possible to find two
responses to death: ritual and renunciation of the world. The ritual
response to death involves a funeral procession led by the chief mourner
(e.g. eldest son). With the exception of burying young children, women
dying during child birth, or holy persons, the normal mode of disposal
of a cadaver is cremation. Prior to the cremation, the plot is purified, and
sacred mantras (repetitive utterances) are recited to scare away demons
and ghosts. The corpse is filled with ghee, (a product of the cow) to
purify it, the hair and nails are cut, and it is washed with water. The
widow lies down on the left, or inauspicious, side of the corpse, but she
is asked to leave by the younger brother of the deceased, a disciple, or
servant. Cremation is conceived as a sacrifice, a means of conducting the
corpse to heaven as a sacrificial gift. The fire is considered the means of
conveying the body to the gods. It is believed that the cremation releases
the soul from the body. Survivors are polluted by the death and need to
purify themselves after an appropriate time period. After the cremation,
the bones of the deceased are collected, washed, and deposited in an urn
or tied together in a black antelope skin, which can be burned again or
buried. Finally, a last rite – twelve days after cremation – unites the spirit
of the deceased with its ancestors. Cooked white rice is formed into a
ball, representing the spirit of the deceased, for ten days, with each day
representing the symbolic creation of a new body.
A second Hindu response to death is renunciation of the world, a means
for transcending the world by a symbolic death. The rationale is the fol-
lowing: if one is already dead, one cannot die again. The renouncer
(samÛnyāsin) wanders about homeless, without comforts or possessions,
begging for his subsistence, and devoid of social connections. The sym-
bolic death of the renouncer is accomplished by ascetic practices associ-
ated with tapas (literally heat), which serves as an inner funeral pyre that
symbolically consumes a renouncer’s body.
Within the teachings of the Buddha, death is directly connection with
his First Noble Truth: all life is suffering. Death is inevitable and affects
everyone without exception. The universality of death and its effects on
survivors is evident in the parable of the mustard seed, a tale which
relates the story of a grieving mother whose son suddenly died.
Approaching the Buddha because of his renowned miraculous powers to
heal, the distraught mother is instructed by the Buddha to go from house
to house in the city in search of a few grains of mustard seed which will