Out of Sync: Maddy's Blog

Melanie wrote a post on a topic that is of great interest to me. Ever since I came to know that every one who is alive is going to die, I have had a big fascination (tempered by fear ) about after death status. 

Amongst Hindus, most tend to cremate the dead and strew the ashes in a Holy river (the Holiest is Ganga.  Even Holier is a place where 2 or more Holy rivers meet - a very symbolic/meaningful ritual, considering the dependence human culture had on rivers). The old religious texts say the best way to die (strange as it sounds, it is true) is to go to Kasi (Mark Twain wrote: "Benares (Kasi) is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." and die while taking a dip in the river.  The belief is that doing so "washes" away the sins. Since there was no formal resting place to remember the deceased and not every one can afford a portrait or statue, a different system was used.

In honour of the fore fathers, *it  was* quite common to name the next new born in the family after the deceased. Given the average life span of humans and marriage practices till a few decades ago, it was not uncommon for the new born to be named after its recently deceased great grandparent. So the popularity/importance of a person can be gauged from the number of youngsters bearing the same name.  However in the last few decades, given the level of exposure to the rest of the world, having the same name as your great/grand parent became less fashionable (Huh?).

The most different view is what I remember reading as native American tradition - they never talk about the deceased till the mourning period is complete. The belief is that to talk about the person means never to let go of him/her.  IIRC, there is a mention of that in the Kevin Costner movie, Dances with Wolves.

Since I learned the bitter truth before I was in double digit age, the initial reservations I had were reflective of the priorities at that age.  Will I get my favourite chocolate/dish/drink?  Will I go to heaven if I complete my home work?  Do I have to wear uniform in hell/heaven? My inquisitiveness became intolerable and people around devised a simple workaround - they told me I am not going to die if I do as they advice!  In the bliss that ignorance alone can bring,  I,  for a while thought,  am never going to die!