Death in BanarasAs a place to die, to dispose of the physical remains of the deceased and to perform the rites that ensure that the departed attains a "good state" after death, the north Indian city of Banaras attracts pilgrims and mourners from all over the Hindu world. This book is primarily about the priests and other kinds of "sacred specialists" who serve them, about the way in which they organize their business, and about their representations of death and understandings of the rituals over which they preside. |
Contents
VIII | 11 |
IX | 15 |
X | 20 |
XI | 26 |
XII | 30 |
XIII | 33 |
XV | 38 |
XVI | 44 |
XXXVI | 172 |
XXXVII | 178 |
XXXVIII | 184 |
XXXIX | 188 |
XL | 191 |
XLI | 194 |
XLII | 199 |
XLIII | 203 |
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Common terms and phrases
affliction Aghori ancestors Anjaninandan ascetic ashes austerities Ayodhya bad death Banaras Banarasi Barber bargaining bathe body Brahman burning caste cent centre chapter chief mourner claim context corpse cosmos cremation cremation ground death pollution deceased deceased's deity district donor Dumont eleventh day example exorcist fact fire Funeral-priest Ganges Garuda Purana Gaya gift gods Harishchandra Harishchandra ghat hierarchy Hindu Hinduism household ideology immersed impurity inauspicious Indian informants jajman Jaunpur Kashi kind kusha Mahabrahman malevolent ghosts Manikarnika ghat Margaret Dickinson matter months mortuary rites mourning notion offerings pachchh panda pari performed pilgrimage pilgrimage-priest pilgrims pind Pishach Mochan practice pret priest priestly pyre raja rebirth relationship religious renunciation represented right-holder ritual river sacred sacrifice salvation Sanskrit sapindikaran Satya yuga Shiva shraddh shrine skull social soul specialists spirit suggest symbolic tank temple theory tirath-purohits tradition Untouchable Varanasi victim village Vishnu Vishvamitra women worship Yamraj