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Rites and Ceremonies

Religion Library: Hinduism

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Rites and Ceremonies

Written by: Jacob N. Kinnard
The most fundamental of all rituals in Hinduism is sacrifice. Sacrifice was the primary religious activity of the
Vedic period, and although the concept of sacrifice has undergone dramatic transformation as Hinduism has
developed over the past few thousand years, it remains the bedrock of the tradition, and Vedic sacrifices
continue to be performed throughout the Hindu world.
Vedic sacrifice is a highly structured affair. Strict rules govern the purifying preparations for the Brahmin
priests, construction of the altar, the preparation of the offeringin the contemporary world, various vegetable
and grain offerings, particularly ghee (clarified butter)and the performance of the ritual itself. All of this is to
satisfy the gods and thereby maintain order, or dharma.
The ascetic challenge to the Vedas, as embodied in the Upanishads, on one level rejected ritual action as not
conducive to ultimate salvation. On another level, however, the Upanishadic renouncers took the basic ideology
of the sacrifice and internalized it, taking the transformative heat of the fire sacrifice and turning it into the
purifying heat of asceticism. And although the Upanishads openly rejected ritual, even the act of becoming a

renouncer is itself a significant ritual.

When one becomes a
renouncer, one essentially performs one's own funeral: the sacred thread is cut, one's normal clothes are
exchanged for the ascetic's minimal garb, the hair is shaved, and all of these objects, representing the trappings
of worldly life, are burned. This is a symbolic cremation. The ascetic, through this ritual, is now understood to
be dead to the world, and when he or she physically dies, no cremation is performed.

Many Hindu rites and ceremonies take place in a temple setting and are
directed toward a god or goddess, but by no means do all such rituals take place in the temple; indeed, many
Hindu rituals are distinctly domestic affairs, taking place in individual homes. And certainly not all rites and
ceremonies are directed toward the gods and goddesses. Virtually every aspect of Hindu life, in fact, is marked
by ritual actions.

Death is a critical moment in the life of a Hindu, not only because it marks
the end of life, but also because it marks the transition to the next life. The shraddha, funeral rites, therefore, are
among the most important rituals in Hinduism. Such rituals are called samskaras, rites of passage. It is utterly
important that the rituals associated with deathnot only the cremation itself but also the preparation of the
corpse and the purification of the surviving familybe performed properly, because if they are not, the
deceased may become "stuck" between this life and the next, and remain in the world as a preta, a ghost, to
haunt the surviving relatives.
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