One of the principal reasons that ethnic religions are highly clustered is that they are closely tied to the physical geography of a particular place. Pilgrimages are undertaken to view these physical features.

Cosmogony and Spirits

Cosmogony is a set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe. The universalizing religions Christianity and Islam consider that God (or Allah, for Islam) created the universe, including Earth’s physical environment and human beings. Religious people in these traditions believe that they can best serve the Creator by cultivating the land, draining wetlands, clearing forests, building new settlements, and otherwise making productive use of natural features that the Creator made.

The cosmogony underlying Chinese traditional religions is that the universe is made up of two forces, yin and yang, which exist in everything. The force of yin (earth, darkness, female, cold, depth, passivity, and death) interacts with the force of yang (heaven, light, male, heat, height, activity, and life) to achieve balance and harmony. An imbalance results in disorder and chaos. To primal-indigenous folk religionists, the powers of the universe are mystical, and only a few people on Earth can harness these powers for medical or other purposes. Spirits or gods can be placated, however, through prayer and sacrifice. Rather than attempt to transform the environment, they accept environmental hazards as normal and unavoidable.

Hinduism’s South Asian Landscape

As an ethnic religion of India, Hinduism is closely tied to the physical geography of India. According to a survey conducted by the geographer Surinder Bhardwaj, the natural features most likely to rank among the holiest shrines in India are riverbanks and coastlines. Hindus consider a pilgrimage, known as a tirtha, to be an act of purification. Although not a substitute for meditation, the pilgrimage is an important act in achieving redemption. Hindu holy places are organized into a hierarchy.

Particularly sacred places attract Hindus from all over India, despite the relatively remote locations of some; less important shrines attract primarily local pilgrims. Because Hinduism has no central authority, the relative importance of shrines is established by tradition, not by doctrine. For example, many Hindus make long-distance pilgrimages to Mt. Kailash, located at the source of the Ganges in the Himalayas, which is holy because Shiva lives there (Figure 6-58). Other mountains may attract only local pilgrims: Local residents may consider a nearby mountain to be holy if Shiva is thought to have visited it at one time.

Mount Kailash, India

Holy to Hindus because Shiva lives there.

Hindus believe that they achieve purification by bathing in holy rivers. The Ganges is the holiest river in India because it is supposed to spring forth from the hair of Shiva, one of the main deities. Indians come from all over the country to Haridwar, the most popular location for bathing in the Ganges.

The remoteness of holy places from population clusters once meant that making a pilgrimage required major commitments of time and money as well as undergoing considerable physical hardship. Recent improvements in transportation have increased the accessibility of shrines. Hindus can now reach holy places in the Himalaya Mountains by bus or car, and Muslims from all over the world can reach Makkah by airplane.

Disposing of the Dead

A prominent example of religiously inspired arrangement of land at a smaller scale is burial practices. Climate, topography, and religious doctrine combine to create differences in practices to shelter the dead.

Burial

Christians, Muslims, and Jews usually bury their dead in a specially designated area called a cemetery. The Christian burial practice can be traced to the early years of the religion. In ancient Rome, underground passages known as catacombs were used to bury early Christians (and to protect the faithful when the religion was still illegal). After Christianity became legal, Christians buried their dead in the yard around the church. As these burial places became overcrowded, separate burial grounds had to be established outside the city walls.

Public health and sanitation considerations in the nineteenth century led to public management of many cemeteries. Some cemeteries are still operated by religious organizations. The remains of the dead are customarily aligned in some traditional direction. Some Christians bury the dead with the feet toward Jerusalem so that they may meet Jesus there on the Day of Judgment.

Cemeteries may consume significant space in a community, increasing the competition for scarce land. In congested urban areas, Christians and Muslims have traditionally used cemeteries as public open space. Before the widespread development of public parks in the nineteenth century, cemeteries were frequently the only green space in rapidly growing cities. Cemeteries are still used as parks in Islamic countries, where the idea faces less opposition than in Christian societies.

Traditional burial practices in China have put pressure on agricultural land. By burying dead relatives, rural residents have removed as much as 10 percent of the land from productive agriculture. The government in China has ordered the practice discontinued, even urging farmers to plow over old burial mounds. Cremation is encouraged instead.

Other Methods of Disposing of Bodies

Not all faiths bury their dead. The Hindu custom of Antyesti involves cremation rather than burial. The body is washed, wrapped in cloth, and burned with a slow fire on a funeral pyre. Burial is reserved for children, ascetics, and people with certain diseases. Antyesti is considered an act of purification, although it tends to strain India’s wood supply. Motivation for cremation may have originated from unwillingness on the part of nomads to leave their dead behind, possibly because of fear that the body could be attacked by wild beasts or evil spirits, or even return to life.

Hindu Cremation

Hindus consider the Manikamika Ghat (the steps leading to the Ganges at Varanasi, India) to be the most auspicious place for a cremation.

Cremation could also free the soul from the body for departure to the afterworld and provide warmth and comfort for the soul as it embarked on the journey to the afterworld. Cremation was the principal form of disposing of bodies in Europe before Christianity. It is still practiced in parts of Southeast Asia, possibly because of Hindu influence.

To strip away unclean portions of the body, Zoroastrians (Parsis) traditionally exposed the dead to scavenging birds and animals. The ancient Zoroastrians did not want the body to contaminate the sacred elements of fire, earth, or water. The dead were exposed in a circular structure called a dakhma, or tower of silence (Figure 6-60). Tibetan Buddhists also practiced exposure for some dead, with cremation reserved for the most exalted priests.

Zorastrian Tower of Silence, Yazd, Iran

A structure for dead bodies to be exposed to vultures.

Disposal of bodies at sea is used in some parts of Micronesia, but the practice is much less common than in the past. The bodies of lower-class people would be flung into the sea; elites could be set adrift on a raft or boat. Water burial was regarded as a safeguard against the living being contaminated by the dead.

Pause & Reflect 6.3.5

What are some of the cultural or religious factors that influence methods of disposing of bodies other than burial?