Cremation, Caste, and Cosmogony in Karmic Traditions.

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degrees of purity and pollution. Environments of enclosures are especially important in this context because some people are allowed to perform actions at a certain place, others are denied (Deluze 1997:309). Discrimination is a process by which identity is created through an emphasis on differences and exclusion (ibid:55). Space is lived, and cremations and the use of sacred space reveal such interrelatedness between different practices. The world is constructed and constituted by cremations. Cosmogony takes place in the real world, and hence, the spatially and the interrelatedness of the various locales where it takes place reveal the structuring principles and social hierarchies. The ritual space at Pashupatinath The origin of the caste system is still not thoroughly explained, but the basis of it is twofold: descent and sacrifice, where decent is just a qualification for performing the sacrifice. Hocart concludes “we can therefore confidently accept the ancient classification of castes as based on actual practice. We see it not only in the ritual but in the planning of the city. The four groups are placed at different points of the compass within the square or circular city: royal to the east, mercantile to the south, servile to the west, priestly to the north. Heretics and outcasts live outside the city near the cremation ground, the place of corruption” (Hocart 1950:27). This is the ideal location in a neutral space, or in an area without a river. If we move to Pashupatinath and Bagmati River, which are connected through the sacrifice of water upon Shiva’s head, then the organisation takes another spatial patterning. The perfect cosmic and karmic location on a line differs from the same structural principles within a square or circle. The closeness to the Pashupatinath lingam is of the uttermost importance because it is close to the holiest spot in Nepal; Shiva’s head, by which the world was created and is re-created through sacrifices and funerals. Thus, the locations of ghats have to be seen in the light of what death rituals aim to accomplish, and the subsequent roles each group in the society once had. The caste system seen as a ritual organisation means centrality and specialisation, implying that different people are selected, based on skills in performing different tasks. This notion can be transferred to cosmos as a whole by which skills or potential capacities are acquired and restricted by birth (Hocart 1970a:39). At Pashupatinath the centrality is the linga – the head of Shiva. If the caste system is basically a ritual organisation, then the hierarchy should be manifested spatially around the linga. The linga is the purest, and according to notions of purity and pollution the most polluted castes should be cremated far away from the linga whereas the purest caste closest to the temple. 36 At Pashupatinath there are three distinctive areas (fig. 2.7). At Arya Ghat there are two cremation platforms. The one closest to the temple and the linga is for royal cremations only. The second platform is for those who today are called wealthy people, but traditionally this has been the ghat for Brahmans. The six cremation platforms at Ram Ghat are basically for the common people or the third caste. 2 Low caste people have traditionally been cremated on the banks below these ghats. This ritual space follows the ideal orientation. The kings are located to the east, the cremation platform to the Brahmans is the northernmost of the platforms for non-royal people, and successively, the further south the more impure the castes, and finally the sudras at the very south who have no platforms at all. The ritual space at Pashupatinath is hierarchically structured around the Shiva-linga and lined along Bagmati River, and the proximity reveals a hierarchical scheme close to Hocart’s interpretation of caste (fig. 2.8) (Hocart 1950:26). Even though the caste system is abolished today, the spatial restrictions and the actual use of the ghats manifest, restructure, and reincorporate caste principles in society. The materiality of space directs and prescribes actions. Taboos concerning purity and pollution deny and restrict access to the pure ghats for impure people. The locale where the deceased is cremated has to be in accordance with the caste status. This is especially seen among the low castes today. The taboos have structured their practices – practices which have become their traditions. Thus, the structures of history enable and constrain the present. Tradition is actively transferred by transformative actions, which involve prescribed values, norms, and practices. Although these practices are representing and referring to various time-scales and contexts, the material space is a constitutive source of stability, which restricts the actual achievable transformations. The materiality is cementing social structures and hierarchies. Space and monuments restrict and prescribe actions. Some trajectories of the past are continually re-negotiated and given cultural importance in the present, whereas others are ignored, forgotten, or perceived as unimportant in the structuring of society. The past is not only justified, but it is educated. Thus, it is a medium for strengthening the purpose of those who possessed power, and equally important, for reconciling those who lacked it (Plumb 1969:45). It is in this process materiality plays a fundamental role. 2 A seventh cremation platform was constructed in 2002 to meet the increasing number of people who died and became cremated at Pashupatinath.
Ram Ghat – “Common” people Arya Ghat – “Wealthy” people Arya Ghat – Royal platform Fig. 2.7. Pashupatinath with the different ghat-areas. The royal platform is the northernmost followed by the cremation platform for the “wealthy” ones and finally the southernmost platforms for the “common” people. 37 House of the Dying Brahmanal
Page 3: Death and Life-Giving Waters Cremat
Page 7 and 8: Preface Contents List of figures In
Page 9 and 10: The origin of Pashupatinath and the
Page 11 and 12: Fig. 5.1 Map of Bangladesh with Far
Page 13 and 14: In karmic traditions, death and lif
Page 15 and 16: constructions, it has often been ap
Page 17: Part 1: Cremating Death - Creating
Page 20 and 21: ethically conditioned (fig 1.2). Th
Page 22 and 23: The pervasiveness of karma linking
Page 24 and 25: Fig. 1.3. Pashupatinath temple and
Page 26 and 27: Fig. 1.5. Cremation priest lighting
Page 28 and 29: Fig. 1.7. Ghat management and servi
Page 30 and 31: theories of castes as an organisati
Page 32 and 33: Fig. 1.9. The sons collected the as
Page 34 and 35: highly polluted that the people wou
Page 36 and 37: 24 Fig. 1.12. Durga Prasad Sapkota
Page 38 and 39: problematic (Levinson 1982:198), es
Page 40 and 41: (seeds, food). In life a person bec
Page 42 and 43: Fig. 2.1. Manikarnika Ghat, Varanas
Page 44 and 45: the dead, (they shall eat) their fo
Page 46 and 47: Fig. 2.6. The representation of cas
Page 50 and 51: Fig. 2.8. Caste structure according
Page 52 and 53: Nevertheless, it is preferable to b
Page 54 and 55: the sacrifier is the sacrifice. Thu
Page 56 and 57: partly a process by which the gods
Page 59 and 60: Chapter 3: Meditation upon death an
Page 61 and 62: Being a part of a religious elite i
Page 63 and 64: The dangers of social interaction S
Page 65 and 66: Third party observing and legitimat
Page 67 and 68: Fig. 3.4. Tyaginath sitting next to
Page 69 and 70: 57 Top: Fig. 3.6. The grave of Nara
Page 71 and 72: the Mahabrahmans mostly consume the
Page 73 and 74: Religion and ritual Studies of deat
Page 75 and 76: purest in common sense is not alway
Page 77 and 78: Fig. 4.3. Modes of fleshly incarnat
Page 79 and 80: e reincarnated into regarding spiri
Page 81 and 82: Fig. 4.5. Hocart’s and Dumont’s
Page 83 and 84: impure and still treated as a Brahm
Page 85: Part 2: The Sisters Kali and Ganga
Page 88 and 89: Ganga Brahmaputra • Faridpur Bay
Page 90 and 91: Fig. 5.4. Ambikapur Shashan Ghat. F
Page 92 and 93: Fig. 5.6. Channel from the pyre whe
Page 94 and 95: The head is always supposed to be d
Page 96 and 97: 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
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Fig. 11.4. Bagmati originating from
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186
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Fig. 12.1. Sadhu fasting for Nepali
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If the river could not cleanse itse
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The trust is not directly involved
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Fig. 12.6. The outlet of treated wa
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As an example, once a complete drun
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Fig. 12.10. Bagmati River with clea
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positive or negative feedback upon
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this process happens slowly and pro
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Fig. 13.1. Decaying corpse at Nire
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achievement of a wanted state or co
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while unmarried girls and boys with
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Logic of sin and pollution Cosmogon
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212
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214
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less “true”, unimportant, or in
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From the present to the past, urban
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Dating traditions - the development
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The Muluki Ain aimed to arrange all
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spiritual fold took them to the upp
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choose one’s own path because onl
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esult of a variety of combinations
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practice, common people are ignoran
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procured for the people. The import
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Fig. 15.1. Gundestrup cauldron with
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236
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took place, at some time in history
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Fig. 16.1. Maneckji Seti Agiary in
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stony desert. The polluted body was
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Fig. 16.3. Zoroastrian ossuary from
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Fig. 16.4. Zarathushtra and fire-te
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Fig. 16.6. Inside a Tower of Silenc
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Fig. 16.7. Zarathushtra. 250
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meaningfully constituted and situat
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creative act in world-history - unl
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Alexander there offered sacrifices
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therefore concentrate on his docume
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Marshall suggested that the height
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Fig. 17.5. Dharmarajika: plan of re
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Fig. 17.6. Buddha from Building L n
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Fig. 17.8. The “smaller” Buddha
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is always explaining, instructing,
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Pakistan Fig. 17.9. Mohenjo-daro an
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Fig. 17.10. The Great Bath. From Ma
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This is problematic for several rea
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As mentioned before, Schutz has mad
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278
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of birth and death. The soul is ete
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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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