Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (The Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices)

by Julius Lipner

  In the village context, child-marriage is still common (though the couple come together only after puberty). A number of reasons for this practice may be in force: local custom, the parental need to earmark, in an unpredictable market, a suitable spouse for their child within the constraints of caste-boundaries, advance notice of economic security or liability (e.g. with reference to the receipt or promise of a dowry), and so on. This may give rise to child-widowhood too, with all the prejudice and prohibitions that this implies.

  Among the more Westernized in the urban context, though love-marriages are not unknown in the sense described above, the more common arranged marriage is often adapted to modern circumstances. Here is what is likely to happen in an average Bengali, urban (Hindu), middle-class household. Girls tend not to be married off before they have completed an undergraduate degree and boys before they have found a job. In addition, girls are often encouraged to learn to sing classical or semi-classical music (e.g. the songs of Rabindranath Tagore), or to play a traditional instrument and/or to acquire some ‘useful skill’, for example, in the fields of computers or painting, so as to make themselves more ‘marriageable’. College friendships, provided that they do not infringe acceptable jāti boundaries, may well be the basis for parents to agree to a match, though this is not that common. Living together, or even openly courting in public, is not acceptable.

  If there is no earlier friendship to consider positively, nowadays at a slightly later age than in the past for girl or boy (from the mid-20s for girls and a few years later for boys), parents start seeking out a suitable match for their child. Sometimes the services of a marriage-broker are used;often, senior family members are on the look-out, actively enquiring about suitable matches from friends and relatives. It is common for an advertisement to be placed in some English and/or Bengali newspaper(s), in the ‘Matrimonials’ section (which can run to 5–6 pages);increasingly, computer websites are used, with photographs of the prospective bride/groom. Here are some examples of newspaper advertisements taken from over the last few years (my observations or clarifications are in square brackets):

  (i) ‘For a bright Young Boy (32 [age], 5’5” [height]) M[aster of] Com[merce], C[alcutta] U[niversity], MBA First Class, J[adavpur] U[niversity] with bright future. Belongs to a very well known respectable Kayastha family having own house and car in South Calcutta. Invites alliance from a similar respectable family. The Bride must be educated, qualified (25–28), good looking, smart, very modest and beautiful. Please reply in confidence preferably with a photograph to ...’

  (ii) ‘Alliance invited for convent-educated, slim, bright, fair-complexioned girl, 5’2”/22, B.Sc. (Hons.) first class, doing M.Sc., Parents doctors in service. Caste no bar ...’ [Within certain limits, that is;see our comments above].

  (iii) ‘Govt. employed bride, graduate in science, W[est] B[engali family], Ugrakshatriya [caste] 27+, 5’2”. Govt. employee groom wanted. Other caste acceptable. Contact ...’.

  (iv) ‘Bengali Brahmin boy, 29 plus, 5’11”, M.Sc. (Electronic), MBA (F & Mktg), wrkg as Sales Manager. V.fair, H'some. Seeks b'ful, prof. qlfd. homely [viz. not particularly career-minded] girl 24/25, 5’4”. Send biodata to ...’.

  In general, these advertisements can appear under various headings: ‘Grooms wanted’, ‘Brides wanted’;specifications of region/language, e.g. ‘Sindhi’, ‘Tamil’, ‘Bengali’; ‘Community’/caste, e.g. ‘Agarwal’, ‘Jat’, ‘Marwari’, ‘Arora’ etc.; ‘religion’: Christian (e.g. ‘RC match for good-looking convented girl 28/155 [cm]/MSc. From well-settled qlfd boy’; ‘28, born again, north Indian boy, Architect, homely, active participant in Church ...’), or Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, etc.; profession (engineer, lawyer, doctor, teacher ...), and so on.

  Meetings will be arranged once an advertisement has been followed up and soundings adjudged to be satisfactory so that families and individuals can check each other out. Because skulduggery can take place at this point by some keen to put out unfavourable rumours about one side or the other, such meetings tend to be kept confidential. Both boy and girl often have much latitude at this stage as to whether their elders should proceed in the matter. Once satisfaction is expressed by both sides that family and personal background, appearance, the natal horoscope,13 financial situation, health and so on, of each partner are acceptable, negotiations take place in earnest between both sets of parents about wedding arrangements. In this context, the distinction between dowry and trousseau is often blurred. If the negotiations are satisfactorily concluded, an auspicious day is set for the wedding, which can take place only during certain periods of the year, dictated by religious tradition for the community as a whole (hence people often speak of the ‘marriage season(s)’).

  In the present social climate, such arranged marriages, which often turn out well for both husband and wife, usually last for life, though divorce is becoming more common. A major reason for marriage breakdown is increasing economic independence of the wife. It is fair to say that middle-class Hindu society, in general, still views with dismay the divorce statistics and broken homes of ‘the West’, which are regarded as an expected outcome of the precipitateness of ‘love-marriage’ and the culture of permissive sexuality.

  Local customs apart, there are certain basic features of a traditional Hindu wedding. We need not describe them all. Before the ceremony, various purificatory and auspicious rites, e.g. a ritual bath, smearing the body, or parts of it, with turmeric paste (to ward off evil influences and induce good health), are performed by the prospective bride and/or groom. On the wedding-day, the groom and his party go to the wife's home or wedding-hall (as arranged by the bride's side). The groom is finely dressed and travels in style, either on a horse or by some other means of horse-power – a car or other vehicle;if he travels by horse, the wedding party is often accompanied, especially among the lower socio-economic groups, by a vigorous if raucous band, colourfully kitted out and playing Western-style instruments. Generally, the bride's wedding sari, which is resplendent, must be some shade of red. This colour is associated with the Goddess Lakṣmī, who bestows success, fertility and prosperity. Though the groom is feted, no doubt, this is specifically the bride's day – the day, traditionally, that she acquires status as wife and potential mother; it is quite simply the most important day of her life.

  During the wedding ceremony, which may take several hours, there are various rites, some supported by Vedic utterances, which are meant to symbolize and bring about fertility, bonding, fidelity, long life, steadfastness and other features of a happy marital union. These rites include the knotting together of a garment of the bride and of the groom, the exchange of wedding garlands, the pāṇi-grahaṇa or grasping of the bride's hand by the groom, a circling of the fire during which the groom traditionally leads the bride (though today this rite is sometimes done in more egalitarian fashion, with both partners walking side by side), various fire-rituals, and perhaps most important, the sapta-padi or seven steps made by the bride and groom, each step symbolizing some aspect of fertility, bonding or prosperity (according to some authorities, this rite seals the marriage-bond). There is also the śubha-dṛṣṭi or first formal, ‘auspicious, mutual viewing’ of the bride and groom (traditionally, the bride was veiled up to this point). Throughout, the sacred fire, personified as the deva Agni, plays a central role as witness to the proceedings and as bridge between earth and heaven, time and eternity. For the upper castes (in Bengal), two priests are generally in attendance, one from the groom's side and the other from the bride's; each has an allocated role, presiding over one part or other of the marriage ritual. After the ceremony, the guests are fed as lavishly as the parental purse on the bride's side will allow.

  The whole ceremony is treated as solemn no doubt, but it is also very much a festive occasion, with adult guests and their children crowding around the canopy under which the ceremony takes place to watch different stages of the proceedings, or chatting and catching up on family and other matters, or exchangi
ng good-humoured comments (sometimes about bride and groom, within clear earshot of both). It is meant to be an occasion of great joy and celebration. This underscores a salient feature of the saṃskāras: their marked social dimension.

  Finally, we come to (xvi) antyeṣṭi or the death rites. Some ancient authorities describe a deathbed rite or two, but we do not know how widely this was practised. It is after death has occurred that rites for the dead come into their own. It is generally believed that religious Hindus cremate their dead without exception, but this is not so. There is no doubt that cremation is an ancient and pervasive custom in Hinduism. The earliest texts indicate, however, that burial was sometimes an acceptable alternative. In due course, cremation became the standard practice, except, in societies regulated by Brahminic norms, for very young children and ascetics. This exception stems from the Vedic belief that, by cremation, Agni, the purifying fire, consumed the dead person's physical and mental impurities caused by decay and the appetites of the flesh, which enabled the soul to ascend to heaven and assume a glorious, pure body (tanu). Young children and renouncers, however, were supposed to be undefiled by worldly appetites, and therefore in no need of cremation. However, this did not necessarily prevent them, in popular belief, from having to suffer the effects of accumulated karma in a subsequent birth; since the belief in karma came later, logically these two beliefs may well appear to co-exist somewhat uneasily. The bodies of young children or renouncers are usually either buried or immersed in rivers, mother earth and flowing water being purifying agents in any case. Further, it may come as a surprise to learn that, in some low-caste communities, burial rather than cremation is the standard way to dispose of the dead. You cannot generalize about Hinduism with impunity.

  The basic purpose of the antyeṣṭi saṃskāra is to purify and to console – both the individual who has died and the bereaved. As we have seen, it is a tenet of religious Hinduism that the soul survives death. So by various rites, e.g. a ritual bath, the sprinkling of Ganges water, covering or dressing up the dead body with new cloths or fine clothes, daubing parts of the body with clarified butter, uttering Vedic mantras in the case of twice-born castes, etc., the deceased is purified and strengthened for the post-mortem journey and the bereaved derive satisfaction from this send-off. Low-caste and Untouchable communities have evolved their own rites, which are similar in some respects, so that the basic rationale here is the same as those for the upper castes.

  Here is a description of what happens after death with reference to an upper-caste community prevalent in northern and western India:

  After being bathed, the body is wrapped in a white sheet or dressed in white if the person is elderly or male. However, young women, even if they die unmarried, may be dressed as a bride ... A silver coin is placed in the mouth of the deceased for the funeral ... [F]amily members, aided by a priest, [place] food and flowers ... around the wooden stretcher [on which the body is laid] ... The body is then taken to ... a suitable place to light the funeral fire. Traditionally, the eldest son or father of the deceased lights the pyre, having first led the cortege on foot, bearing an earthenware pot of burning coal; this is believed to help guide the soul on.

  (Neera Vyas with Nirmala Vyas in G. Little (ed.) 2001:100)

  More generally, the mode of arriving at the place of cremation, and the way the rite is conducted, are to some extent matters of circumstance and preference. More well-to-do mourners commonly use motorized transport to get to the crematorium; the less well-to-do, and the more traditional, process at a brisk pace to the cremation ground, loudly invoking the deity at regular intervals, with the body borne on a stretcher or charpoy. The body is then duly burnt on the pyre (which usually contains sandalwood for the fragrance it emits), and the ashes and unconsumed fragments of bone are either buried later or more usually cast into a river – the holier the river's reputation, the better. In general, it is still ritually important for a/the son of the deceased to light the pyre if possible, although the actual preparation of the pile is done by individuals belonging to particular low or Untouchable castes (this practice is still strictly adhered to).

  After all funerals, everyone who has attended must bathe as soon as they go home ... [T]he women often return and begin the bathing ritual while men remain at the pyre until the body is completely cremated.

  (ibid.:100)

  The ashes may be kept until a close relative can journey to a pilgrimage centre on the banks of a particularly sacred river like the Ganges and immerse them. Such immersions are believed to be of great benefit to the souls of the dead. Sometimes, in fairly advanced old age, or as death approaches, individuals take up residence in those sacred sites, usually on the bank of some river, from where it is believed that, at death, salvation can be attained immediately. These places are thought to wash away accumulated karma. The sight of smoke curling from funeral pyres at holy river banks in such places as Benares is a familiar one; in the case of Benares, it has even become something of a macabre tourist attraction.

  The period of impurity for the close relatives of the dead lasts from 11 to 17 days, counting from the day of the death. In the example given above, we are told: ‘For the next 11, 12 or 13 days (customs vary), a room in the house is cleared of furniture and family and friends read from the Bhagavad Gītā or sing bhajans (hymns) to the deceased person's soul’. (ibid.:100). During this time, rites are also performed to build up and feed a (supposed) tiny, temporary, attenuated body of the soul of the deceased, which is now technically known as a preta or kind of ghost. We noted in the last chapter that it is considered very important for the preta to be appeased by rites and offerings of food (piṇḍa) and even clothes, for unappeased pretas can turn quite nasty towards humans, especially their neglectful relatives, even possessing people on occasion. Possession by preta is a common belief, in both upper and lower castes. The rites to satisfy the preta are called śrāddha rites and are believed to effect transfer of merit to the preta. People believe that it can take up to a year for the preta to attain a post-mortem fate in accordance with its fructifying karma. For this reason, the śrāddha performed on the first anniversary of death is so important – it may be the last chance to help the preta before its fate in the next round of rebirth is decided.

  Let us return to the temporal, progressive context in which the topic of the saṃskāras was raised. To begin with, besides manifesting characteristic Hindu preoccupation with such things as ritual purity and pollution, and defining one's status and place in the world relative to other groups, implementing and undergoing the saṃskāras has been one important practical way for individuals in the Brahminic tradition to maintain a sense of adaptive identity to changing circumstances down the ages. It is interesting to speculate what future this mode of perpetuation has. A further consideration, however, is that the succession of the saṃskāras itself implies a sense of progression through life which is not straightforwardly linear. This is indicated by the fact that, in some authoritative texts, the description of the saṃskāras is begun with marriage, which is the basis, so to speak, of both the beginning and the valorization of human life. Human life, as we have already seen in our treatment not only of the saṃskāras but also of the stages of life and the belief in karma and rebirth, is viewed in the Hindu tradition as a purposive whole against the horizon of a transcendent dimension. Time in this conception is not simply some cyclical or repetitive process but a framework for real development and growth – informed by the exercise of genuine free will – towards some final end. (This is not to say, of course, that there aren't Hindus who subscribe to some ‘replica’ view of time.)

  This broad conception provides the groundplan for a historical and progressive consciousness which, in fact, has been actualized in Indian secular history, in the way, for example, Hindu rulers have placed themselves in temporal lines of succession, and in the way lineages of religious preceptors or gurus, viz. guru-paraṃparās, have been reckoned. Some of these lines of succession and line
ages have been preserved in the Purāṇas and others in temple archives or oral records.

  Sacred histories in religious traditions tend not to be straightforwardly linear, in the way perhaps some secular historiography might be. Thus to say, as Christian theologians do, that the sacred history of the human race looks to a particular historical moment – the ‘Christ event’, which marks the life and death of a certain human being, Jesus of Nazareth, interpreted in a specific way – as the focus through which all human history, past, present and future (until the very end of the world), derives its salvific significance, is hardly a straightforward, linear reading of history. For, by pivoting on an event that took place only some 2000 years ago, it is simultaneously both recapitulative of past events and prospective with respect to future events in basically the same way. Similarly, Hindu sacred history may be read in distinctive ways by incorporating notions of cyclical time and multiple universes, repeated descents of the Godhead in the form of a succession of avatāras and so on, that may yet make secular and religious historiography compatible and illuminating enterprises. But we cannot dwell on these possibilities here. From focusing on Hindu notions of time, let us now turn our attention to Hindu conceptions of space, by considering ‘the Sacred and its forms’.

  14

  The Sacred and its forms

  Our theme of polycentrism as a defining force of Hinduism has come into play under several headings already (we shall draw the strands together at the end of this book). It has an important place too in articulating Hindu notions of sacred space. Here is a salient example adduced from the work of Diana Eck on the holy city of Benares, or more precisely, Kashi – the Sanskrit name refers to the traditional sacred space of the site in contrast to the urban sprawl of the present-day city – situated on the western bank of the sacred river of Hindu India, the Ganges, in the modern state of Uttar Pradesh. Kashi is an archetype of a holy ford or tīrtha from which salvation is directly accessible.