There are funeral rituals in the world that seem creepy to us. However, where they are carried out, no one considers such "manipulations" with corpses sacrilegious. On the contrary, it is precisely such ways of saying goodbye to the dead that seem to be the most correct in those places.
Only horns and legs
An example from ancient times is the funeral traditions of the Zoroastrians. According to the canons of their religion, the bodies of the dead had to be destroyed without a trace, since demons inhabit them and desecrate everything and everyone, including the four sacred elements - earth, fire, air and water. It turns out that the deceased can neither be buried, nor drowned, nor burned, nor even suspended from tree branches. What to do? The Zoroastrians found a way out. They invented the clay burial towers-dakhmas (towers of silence). They were tall, round structures without a roof. Wide platforms ran along the perimeter of the wall. Below the platforms in the wall were niches for bones, and in the center of the tower circle there was a hollow space with water. The burial was carried out by the gravediggers-nasasalars. They laid the dead on platforms and left. And then the vultures flew in! Their feast lasted until thenuntil the bodies were nothing but gnawed bones. And then the nasasalars returned to lay these bones in the niches of the tower. Over time, the remains dried out, and rainwater washed them directly into the "pool" in the center of the tower. And from there the streams, which broke their way under the base of the wall, carried them away to the rivers and seas.
Barbaric custom, you say. However, imagine that something similar is practiced today. Moreover, such ceremonies are considered very honorable for the dead. For example, in Tibet, every believer dreams of a "heavenly burial." What it is? And this is when, like among the Zoroastrians, the body of a person after death is given to be eaten by birds! Let them feast on, and at the same time free the soul of the deceased from the carnal bonds.
Huge vultures await "almsgiving," as the rite is called in Tibetan, at one of the 1,100 special burial grounds high up in the mountains. The largest site is considered the space next to the Drigung Thil monastery.
The relatives of the deceased bring him to the site and hand him over to the people responsible for the ceremony. These are rogyapa monks. They release the body from the covering in which it is wrapped, lay it face down on the ground and tie it to a peg by the neck. Their further actions are reminiscent of the work of butchers … Armed with knives, the rogyapas begin to cut the skin of the corpse to expose the meat for the vultures. And as soon as people with knives step aside, a flock of feathered predators swoops down on the shredded dead man. The meal is stormy. Vultures push, "swear", hammer each other with their beaks - only feathers fly. Finally, only "horns and legs" remain from the body. But the ceremony is not over yet. Now the rogyapas, wrapped in cellophane cloaks, begin to work with the bloody bones. They carefully collect them, put them on stone slabs and begin to beat them with hammers. The task is to crush it all into fine dust. Even skulls go under the hammer! The dust is mixed with barley flour and yak butter and the resulting "gruel" is again left to feed the birds, now smaller. That's all. Having finished their work, the rogyapas return home to their yurts, where their family is waiting for them to have tea together.
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Burn out and cleanse
It is believed that every “faithful” Tibetan must at least once in his life witness this rite in order to comprehend the meaning of life. What about a simple tourist? He may faint and faint … Fortunately, the ceremony is intended only for “our own”. What if you still yearn to be admitted to some exotic funeral? Then you need to go to Kathmandu!
In the capital of Nepal, on the banks of the sacred river Bagmati, there is a temple complex of the god Shiva called Pasu-patinath. Here, from time immemorial, in front of the eyes of all the people, the dead have been burned. Adherents of Hinduism believe that 'fire purifies the karma of the deceased for the next life.
The sacred ceremony is held on the western bank of the Bagmati River, where ghats are arranged - embankments with special burial grounds and steps leading to the water. Firewood for funeral pyres was stored in a special order on the sites. The body, wrapped in a blanket, is brought on a stretcher by his relatives. They read prayers, irrigate the deceased with water and lay him on a wood bed. Special servants from the untouchable caste set fire to wood from the sacred fire, and a bonfire is kindled. Several such fires can blaze along the river at the same time, and the smoke from them rises high into the sky. And when the body is burned, the untouchables scatter the ashes over the riverbed. The course of the sacred river Bakhmati will deliver the ashes of the deceased into the waters of the even more sacred river Ganges.
Many Nepalese want to be buried in Kathmandu. True, it is expensive, and not everyone can afford such a luxury. The price of firewood is especially high. What to do? Some old people, having learned the date of their death from astrologers, come to Kathmandu themselves and settle in shelters for those awaiting death right on the territory of the temple complex. Then they are also cremated in a sacred place. After all, firewood that has not burned out on other people's fires is distributed to the poor for free.
The sight of funeral pyres in Kathmandu evokes emotions in Europeans - from curiosity to horror. Especially if their nostrils smell burnt meat. And how not to be horrified to see that here, in the waters of the sacred river, children are floundering, and their mothers wash their clothes! And yet there is still a long way to go to the real "horror". To experience real horror, a European should go to neighboring India - to the holy city of Varanasi.
On the way to moksha
It is here that all Hindus in the world dream of being buried, even those who live in Europe and the United States. Not to mention the vast India, whose citizens flock to the main city of the god Shiva to make a pilgrimage or deliver the bodies of loved ones for cremation. Varanasi also has shelters for old people who come here to die, often accompanied by relatives. It is believed that if a person meets death in this city, Moksha awaits him. What is Moksha? This is the end of rebirth, something that every Hindu aspires to. A kind of paradise where the soul will finally rest.
That is why the fires of Varanasi never go out. Cremation goes on during the day and at night, and in summer and winter. Even in the rainy season, when rivers of muddy water flow through the narrow city streets, people still bring their dead here to perform a rite so necessary for their karma.
The most important crematorium in India, the Manikarnika ghat, operates around the clock on the banks of the Ganges. There is always vanity on its steps. Here are relatives with a stretcher on which the deceased lie, and the servants of the ghat, casting spells over fire, and hermits of sadhus, sitting on the steps in the lotus position. The street leading to the ghat is filled to the brim with firewood - you can buy it. And in a special gallery a sacred fire burns, the "life" of which has been supported by the same family for centuries.
Not far from Manikarnika there is another funeral ghat - Harish Chandra. But it is less honorable, since it is also intended for those who died "unclean", that is, not by their own death. It also houses an electric crematorium - a modern invention, not at all loved by the people. So, in an amicable way, you need to be burned on the Ma-nikarnik.
Golden tooth for good luck
One cannot help but notice this ghat when you sail on a boat along the Ganges - smoke always swirls over it. And the closer you swim, the more noticeable the characteristic smell of burnt meat becomes. But this is not the worst thing. Your boat may suddenly stumble upon … a dead body! The "poor man" did not have enough firewood to be completely incinerated, and what the fire did not eat was thrown into the Ganges … Often, the remains, along with garbage floating in the water, washed ashore, and just to those ghats where Hindus take ablutions … But believers do not mind this! They enter their sacred backwater right in the midst of everything that has washed ashore, read prayers, pour water over their faces, and then brush their teeth in it and drink it. They are quite sure that the Ganges River is pristine. And the corpses floating in it … well, this phenomenon is quite everyday.
Those who are not supposed to be burned - children, pregnant women, monks - are also thrown into the Ganges. It is believed that they are sinless, and after death they do not need cremation - drowning in the Ganges is enough! Bloated bodies can be seen on the water. And on the banks there are remains thrown away by water, which crows peck recklessly. However, such uncontrolled swimming of the dead is still not entirely allowed. When bodies are nailed somewhere in the dams, the body collectors from the untouchable caste come into play. They pull them out of the water and load them into their boats. If necessary, they themselves will jump into the water to make it easier to grab the body.
Doing such useful work, the untouchables, probably, themselves hope to someday be burnt in the cleansing flame of the local fires. However, in their present life they have moments of happiness. For example, if on a body caught from water there is a decoration or just a gold tooth preserved in a decayed skull. Relatives cannot remove jewelry from their deceased. But you can be untouchable! They will sell everything they find to someone in the city. For the same tourists …
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №51. Author: Elena Galanova
