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Rituals of Death and Bereavement
Birth and death are natural phenomena for human beings. The soul is the one unchanging element in the living being; until the soul is purified by shedding all the karma attached to it, the type of being into which it will be reborn depends upon its karma. The body is only a temporary abode for the soul and when someone is dying this belief offers some solace. When Jains visit someone who is dying, whether at home or in a hospital, they sing hymns and recite the Navakara Mantra. A dying person would like to receive, during this crucial period; forgiveness for any wrong committed to others during his or her lifetime, and to forgive all who have done wrong to him or her, and to have a peaceful death. If the dying person cannot chant, someone else will substitute so that the dying person is allowed some noble reflections, and the soul leaves this world in a peaceful state.
Indeed, these simple rituals are performed not only for Jains, or even for fellow human beings, but also for all living beings: if Jains know that an animal is dying, they will visit to it and quietly recite the Navakara Mantra. The most famous example of this is the story of Parsvanatha, the twenty-third tirthankara, when he found two snakes dying in a burning log; Parsvanatha recited the Navakara mantra to the snakes, which were then able to die in peace, and according to the Jain scriptures, they were reborn as Dharanendra and Padmavati, the heavenly attendants of Parsvanatha.
The first ritual after death is a recitation of the Navakara Mantra, hymns and incantation of the jinas and Shantinatha, until the body begins its journey towards the cremation ground, crematorium or undertaker's premises. In India, a dead body is normally cremated within a day of the death. The corpse is secured on a funeral bier and close relatives carry it to the crematorium in public procession. The body is placed on the funeral pyre of logs of wood or sandalwood and covered with more wood; it is then sprinkled with ghee, incense and flammable materials. A close relative makes three circuits of the pyre, chanting mantras before lighting it. It takes about two hours for a body to burn. After the body is consumed, the participants in the funeral ritual return home, bathe, and purify themselves by chanting mantras. It is customary that women do not take part in any of these rites. Jainism forbids the act of sati, when a widow will fling herself upon her husband's funeral pyre. Jains consider sati a sin, an act of violence.
For two days after the cremation the family members of the deceased are consoled by the community with repeated recitations of hymns and narrative stories, emphasising the Jain belief in the temporary nature of the body and the continued life of the soul. On the third day, the ashes are taken and thrown into a nearby sacred river, but if there is no river nearby, they are put into a pit, thus the physical body composed of the five material elements, returns to its origin. It is believed that the aura of mourning around the deceased's home remains for three days, but it is alleviated with the benefit of special prayers, hymns and recitations for peace, resulting in a gradual normalisation of the bereaved family's life. The third day ends with a visit to the temple where donations to worthy causes are made, but some observe the period of mourning for the deceased for up to thirteen days, when temple worship or pujaa is performed in the presence of community members and relatives.
In the albeit rare event of the death of an ascetic away from a populated area, for example in a forest, other ascetics or disciples take the body and expose it in a carefully selected spot, where there is a minimum of living beings. Animals or carrion birds may
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