Cremation, Caste, and Cosmogony in Karmic Traditions.

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Fig. 15.1. Gundestrup cauldron with yogic rituals, inferred from the poses of an antler-bearing man on the cauldron, which bear similarities to an ox-headed figure on a seal impress from the Indian city of Mohenjo-Daro. 234
“[…] If the amount of water at the moment of death exceeds the amount of fire, presumably the soul as a whole suffers the “death” of turning into water: but if the soul is predominantly “dry”, then it escapes the “death” of becoming water and joins the world-mass of fire” (Kirk 1949:390, op. cit. Wheelwright 1959:79). “One may wonder, however, how much cosmology and theology the inhabitants of a city are likely to absorb from sources surging at their gates”, M. L. West says, “What we have found in Heraclitus seems to presuppose a deeper intercourse with a more learned class of person” (West 1971:202). Thus, the question is to what extent the cultural exchange had a general impact beyond the esoteric philosophers. There have been considerable non-Greek and in particular Iranian influences upon the theological and cosmological systems of the later sixth and early fifth centuries, or more precisely from 550-480 BCE (ibid:203). The Persian wars, and in particular the attack launched by Xerxes in 480 BCE, marked a new phase in the Greeks’ conception both of themselves and of the outside world (Hall 1991:3). There is little evidence for a category of “barbarians” encompassing the entire population of non- Greeks until Asechylus’ Persae of 472 BCE (ibid:10). Asechylus (Kraggerud 1975) expresses an Orientalism which dichotomises the Greeks and the Others. The process of assimilation between Greeks and Iranians was largely completed by the sixth century BCE, “but however much the earlier Greek philosophers in Asia Minor may have been influenced by Zoroastrian concepts, the mainland Greeks, at least, understood little about them” (Hall 1991:86). The Greek writings about the barbarians are usually an exercise in self-definition and ethnic ascription (ibid:1). Ethnic differences are not identical with religious and cultural differences. There was a continuum in the exchange of ideas particularly in religious matters including both Hindu and Zoroastrian impulses. The consequences of Indian-Greek relations through Persia have to been taken seriously. Obeyesekere hesitated to posit Indian influences on both eschatological and soteriological levels regarding the Pyhagorean but not the Empedoclean case, although the interconnections were both possible and likely in other cases (but the 235 evidences are too scarce). Regarding Plotinus there are greater indications of Indian thoughts with respect to salvation, which broke with the Platonian apotheosis of Reason and contemplation on the beauty of Ideal Forms. Moreover, Indian ideas were abundant in the first centuries of the Christian area particularly in Gnostic thoughts, and according to his biographer Porphyry, Plotinus “became eager to investigate the Persian methods and the system adopted among the Indians” (Obeyesekere 2002:302). In India, despite the Greek influence particularly after Alexander’s conquest, “the conclusion then must be that from about the beginning of the first century BC, speaking very roughly, the Greeks, or many Greeks, in India became Indianised” (Tarn 1938:390). Whether they became Hindus, Buddhists, or Jains are uncertain, but “the Greeks in India may have ultimately vanished, not because they became Eurasians, but because they became Indians” (ibid:391). It seems therefore that the cultural impact of the Indians on the Greeks was stronger, more pervasive and enduring than vice-versa. Hence it seems that there was not only a cultural and religious exchange of ideas, but some kind of a shared horizon of worldviews and perceptions regarding mundane matters, but more importantly, ontological questions. If there existed such a shared horizon, then it could equal a kind of episteme in Foucault’s terminology; it would certainly not erase cultural differences, but it can explain why there is such a degree of similarity between Indian and Greek thoughts irrespective of who “invented” them first. It would also give an epistemological answer to the question why the same type of explanations originated and were accepted as truths at the same time regarding these matters. Although the rebirth eschatologies were working and operating in separate and distinctive traditions, which also explains why a karmic eschatology developed in the Indian tradition and not the Greek, it may also explain the flux and bricolage in the traditions which will be more evident in the discussion of the archaeological material in the ancient city of Taxila, now located in Punjab. The complexity of religious traditions at Taxila necessitates a brief introduction to Zoroastrianism in both the past and the present
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Death and Life-Giving Waters Cremat
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Preface Contents List of figures In
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The origin of Pashupatinath and the
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Fig. 5.1 Map of Bangladesh with Far
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In karmic traditions, death and lif
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constructions, it has often been ap
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Part 1: Cremating Death - Creating
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ethically conditioned (fig 1.2). Th
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The pervasiveness of karma linking
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Fig. 1.3. Pashupatinath temple and
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Fig. 1.5. Cremation priest lighting
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Fig. 1.7. Ghat management and servi
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theories of castes as an organisati
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Fig. 1.9. The sons collected the as
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highly polluted that the people wou
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24 Fig. 1.12. Durga Prasad Sapkota
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problematic (Levinson 1982:198), es
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(seeds, food). In life a person bec
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Fig. 2.1. Manikarnika Ghat, Varanas
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the dead, (they shall eat) their fo
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Fig. 2.6. The representation of cas
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degrees of purity and pollution. En
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Fig. 2.8. Caste structure according
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Nevertheless, it is preferable to b
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the sacrifier is the sacrifice. Thu
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partly a process by which the gods
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Chapter 3: Meditation upon death an
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Being a part of a religious elite i
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The dangers of social interaction S
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Third party observing and legitimat
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Fig. 3.4. Tyaginath sitting next to
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57 Top: Fig. 3.6. The grave of Nara
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the Mahabrahmans mostly consume the
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Religion and ritual Studies of deat
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purest in common sense is not alway
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Fig. 4.3. Modes of fleshly incarnat
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e reincarnated into regarding spiri
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Fig. 4.5. Hocart’s and Dumont’s
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impure and still treated as a Brahm
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Part 2: The Sisters Kali and Ganga
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Ganga Brahmaputra • Faridpur Bay
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Fig. 5.4. Ambikapur Shashan Ghat. F
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Fig. 5.6. Channel from the pyre whe
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The head is always supposed to be d
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Hinduism. She is employed as a care
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Only Hindus are cremated at the cem
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According to Hazera, Badol cremated
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Fig. 6.1. Statue of Jagadbandhu. 90
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Fig. 6.2. Rajani receives the bless
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His disciples are like missionaries
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In the Ashram all the expenses are
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Fig. 6.7. Burial in coffin. 98
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Fig. 6.8. Private Kali temple in Ba
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Fig. 6.9. Jagadbandhu temple in Ban
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The importance of the priest in rit
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the rituals, and they have differen
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108
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Fig. 7.1. The mighty Ganga. Fig. 7.
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Fig. 7.3. Tara. Fig. 7.4. Tripur-Su
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Fig. 7.11. Chinnamasta. 114
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immediate divine access and godly g
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Fig. 7.12. Pot-maker in front by th
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Fig. 7.14. The making of Durga. 120
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This image is the most important pa
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Fig. 7.17. Replacement of Shashan K
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Fig. 7.18. The Baishanti Durga puja
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tradition. The Bhaishanti Durga sta
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enlightenment and achieve liberatio
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132
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cloth. Although the Hindus in Farid
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Fig. 8.1. A combined Kali and Saras
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high-caste and priests as religious
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1979:115-118). As seen in Faridpur
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142
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144
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Fig. 9. 1. Map of Nepal. Kaligandak
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The opposite approach is the histor
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Fig. 9.2. Manang and Gangapurna gla
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Fig. 9.5. Bone grinding. 152
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Only 20-25 years ago air-burials we
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was completed by the end of the 18
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As a cultural construct water is al
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These sacrifices rebuild the deceas
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giving mother. A “spirit” is
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Gorakhnath promised the Nepalese th
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“Shiva, the god of eroticism, is
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Fig. 10. 3. Dagbatti - the lighting
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Fig. 10.4. Sexual engravings at the
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priori”, Jung argues; “The repr
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174
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are there in a quite objective sens
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Purana, “those who recite them wi
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forms of colour, 4) water with the
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Fig. 11.2. The spot where humans we
Page 196 and 197: Fig. 11.4. Bagmati originating from
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Page 200 and 201: Fig. 12.1. Sadhu fasting for Nepali
Page 202 and 203: If the river could not cleanse itse
Page 204 and 205: The trust is not directly involved
Page 206 and 207: Fig. 12.6. The outlet of treated wa
Page 208 and 209: As an example, once a complete drun
Page 210 and 211: Fig. 12.10. Bagmati River with clea
Page 212 and 213: positive or negative feedback upon
Page 214 and 215: this process happens slowly and pro
Page 216 and 217: Fig. 13.1. Decaying corpse at Nire
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Page 220 and 221: while unmarried girls and boys with
Page 222 and 223: Logic of sin and pollution Cosmogon
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Page 228 and 229: less “true”, unimportant, or in
Page 230 and 231: From the present to the past, urban
Page 232 and 233: Dating traditions - the development
Page 234 and 235: The Muluki Ain aimed to arrange all
Page 236 and 237: spiritual fold took them to the upp
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Page 240 and 241: esult of a variety of combinations
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Page 244 and 245: procured for the people. The import
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Page 250 and 251: took place, at some time in history
Page 252 and 253: Fig. 16.1. Maneckji Seti Agiary in
Page 254 and 255: stony desert. The polluted body was
Page 256 and 257: Fig. 16.3. Zoroastrian ossuary from
Page 258 and 259: Fig. 16.4. Zarathushtra and fire-te
Page 260 and 261: Fig. 16.6. Inside a Tower of Silenc
Page 262 and 263: Fig. 16.7. Zarathushtra. 250
Page 264 and 265: meaningfully constituted and situat
Page 266 and 267: creative act in world-history - unl
Page 268 and 269: Alexander there offered sacrifices
Page 270 and 271: therefore concentrate on his docume
Page 272 and 273: Marshall suggested that the height
Page 274 and 275: Fig. 17.5. Dharmarajika: plan of re
Page 276 and 277: Fig. 17.6. Buddha from Building L n
Page 278 and 279: Fig. 17.8. The “smaller” Buddha
Page 280 and 281: is always explaining, instructing,
Page 282 and 283: Pakistan Fig. 17.9. Mohenjo-daro an
Page 284 and 285: Fig. 17.10. The Great Bath. From Ma
Page 286 and 287: This is problematic for several rea
Page 288 and 289: As mentioned before, Schutz has mad
Page 290 and 291: 278
Page 292 and 293: of birth and death. The soul is ete
Page 294 and 295: constructions are applied and mater
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many possibilities such an approach
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follows her husband purifies the th
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improper performances of funerals.
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290
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292
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kept perpetually ablaze for over a
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Gange Farid million people. Muslim
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Manosha The patron saint of serpent
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Ratnasambhava The third dhyanibuddh
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Tirtha Spiritual ford, crossing pla
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304
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very nice. The last son (or husband
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y putting faces on people who other
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Hence, I have a feeling that I am o
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Fig. 18.3. Ram Mani Gyawali, author
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314
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When it again closes then Shiva bec
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or the opposite? Is the Aghori capa
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A man, after taking a bath in the P
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Vishnu said: Obeisance to you, O de
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The linga is pure, auspicious and i
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326
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Cambridge. Barth, F. 1990. The Guru
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Art, Religion & Culture: 184-191. M
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Priest. Cambridge University Press.
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Insoll, T. 1999b. Introduction. Res
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Lahiri, N. 2000. Archaeology and id
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Ahmedabad. Mirza, H. K. 2002. Liter
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Gandhi National Centre for the Arts
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(eds.). Representing Hinduism: 51-8
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Cremation, Caste, and Cosmogony in Karmic Traditions.

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