The living and the dead
Subtitle: social dimensions of death in South Asian religions
By: edited by Liz Wilson.
Contributors: Wilson, Liz.
Series: SUNY series in Hindu studies
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 212
Subjects: Death -- Religious aspects.; Funeral rites and ceremonies -- South Asia.; South Asia -- Religious life and customs.
Description: "This collection examines the social dimensions of death in South Asian religions, exploring the ritualized exchanges between the living and the dead performed by Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and other religious groups. Using ethnographic and historical tools associated with the comparative and historical study of religion, the contributors also record the voices and actions of marginalized groups - such as tribal peoples, women, and members of lower castes - who are often underrepresented in studies of South Asian deathways, which typically focus on the writings and practices of elite groups. For many religious people, death entails a journey leading to some new condition or place. As the ultimate experience of passage, it is highly ceremonial and ritualized, and those beliefs and practices associated with the moment of death itself - death-bed ceremonies, funerary rites, and rituals of mourning and of remembering - are examined here. The Living and the Dead offers historical depth, ethnographic detail, and conceptual clarity on a subject that is of immense importance in South Asian religious traditions."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.