Death in Banaras
As 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...
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A study of Hindu death rituals and the sacred specialists who perform them in the Indian city of Banaras.
List of illustrationsList of tablesForewordPrefaceGlossaryIntroduction1Pt. IDeath and the City1Through 'divine eyes'112A profane perspective33Pt. IIDeath as a Living3Shares and chicanery754Giving, receiving and bargaining over gifts119Pt. IIIDeath Into Birth5The last sacrifice1516Ghosts into ancestors1917Spirit possession as 'superstition'226Pt. IVThe End of Death8Asceticism and the conquest of death251Notes272References293Index303
