why do hindus burn their corpse? is there a scientific reason behind it other than the spiritual one?

Question

i know about the soul reaching heaven in the havan. but since hinduism is one of the oldest religions, there should be a practical reason behind this. any answers?

Answer 1

burning steralizes the body so disease does not spread.

Answer 2

Let's face it that nowadays everything must have a scientific theory behind it though it may never be verified or else people will discard it.Now even the religion must give proper bullslaga to take advantage of science's achievements or it will disappear soon.It is so sad that we are trying to imply that those (great but ancient) people knew all about everything:Atmosphere & Gases,Tides,Earthquakes due to fault lines,etc.They had simple logics & most of them relied on what could be seen on the surface & not what is the nature of the molecular structure of the materials & all the complex & unknown part was left to be filled by someone/something never showing up,never talking to anyone in public,could not be met with unless you are dead.So Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaase stop wasting time on applying advane & modern science on ancient & blindly followed logics.

Answer 3

coz hindus believe that if they didnt,the spirits of these bodies will get out and follow them in an evil way to get a revenge or something.anyway,this is their own believe but with no scientific base,and believe me they are totally totally WRONG,coz their whole religion is wrong, it doesnt have a base, think of this:if they are in a true religion they would have been kinder and more gentle, dont u here about their attitudes in some countries, they are so eviland have no sympathy.(i want to be a friend of you, can u mail me"[e-mail]"

Answer 4

well one of the most scientific reasons is, once the body is burned, there is no way any infection (whether known or unknown or commonor deadly) from the dead body will spread in the neighbourhood. also there is no wastage of space in burying the bodies. also the minerals left from the organics in the body will get recycled into the earth. one more reason is that the remains of the body will not enter the food chain directly.

Answer 5

To save land. And unlike other religion, most of them bury corpses. As usual, other religions might find cemeteries an unlucky place to be in. So by burning bodies, unluckiness will be eliminated from earth.

Answer 6

Hindu Barbecue?

Answer 7

Ruskin Bond noted ih his book Mussoorie that there are more stories of british ghosts than indians in India. He went on to say that it seems burrial system is not as final as cremention. And that may be the one reason why british ghost stories are more common.

Inhumation or burial proper is almost absent in the present day Hindu funerals, except in cases of great saintly personalities and very small children. But the existence of this custom among common people in the Rigvedic times is proved by the verses contained in it.But it must be admitted that even during the Vedic period this custom was becoming optional and falling into disuse. When the cult of sacrifice was fully established, the funeral came to be regarded as a sacrifice and cremation became the most prevalent custom, replacing the older custom of burial. In the Grihyasutras the burial of the dead bodies is not mentioned, though the ancient tradition was followed in the form of burying the bones and ashes of the dead after cremation. In subsequent times the burial of the dead became quite unknown among the Hindus except in the cases of very small children and ascetics.

Preservation of the dead body in the house with or without previous desiccation or mummification is not mentioned at all in the ritual literature of the Hindus. This custom was prevalent in a rude or archaic society that believed that the soul or spirit of the man was still dwelling in the body after his death. The Indo-Aryans out grew this stage as early as the Vedic period. According to their faith the spirit departed from the dead body and there was no sense in preserving it.

Cremation or burning of the dead body is the most recognized mode of the disposal of corpse among the Hindus from the time of the Vedas up to the present day. This mode evolved at a high stage of the human civilization, as it is the most scientific and refined. More than one causes might have operated in bringing this custom into existence:

Tribes without a settled abode may have found it convenient, if they desired to carry about the remains of their dead, or to remove such remains beyond the possibility of desecration by their enemies.

Another very powerful motive for cremation may have been the desire to be quit of the ghost. The fortress of the ghost was destroyed by fire and it was frightened away by its flames.

Fire, consuming forest, grass, and refuses might have suggested its utility in burning away the dead also.

In the beginning the above causes may have been more active, but the most potent factor that gave the custom of cremation a lasting position was the religious belief of the Indo-Aryans as the messenger of the gods on earth, and the carrier of the oblations offered to them. The material things that constituted Havya could not be bodily and directly conveyed to the gods in heaven; hence the services of a heavenly messenger and carrier like Agni were requisitioned. This analogy was also extended to human corpses as well as to the carcases of the animals that were sacrificed to the gods. After a man died, it was thought necessary to send his body to heaven. This could be only done by consigning it to Agni.

Before fire was discovered and brought to human use, corpses used to be cast away as a rule, or buried under ground, or exposed to be devoured by carnivorous birds and beasts. The custom of cremation must, therefore, have come into existence in the last. One branch of the ancient Aryans, the Parsis, however, retained the older custom of exposing the corpse to be devoured by birds, even after they had become staunch Fire-worshippers, for they regarded Fire too sacred to be polluted by such an unclean thing as a corpse. But the Vedic Aryans did not agree with them in this view, and anxious as they were to see their beloved dead go to heaven and join his ancestors, they consistently thought it right to consign his dead body to Agni in order to transfer it to heaven, in a subtler and a more resplendent form befitting his new environments.

There was another religious belief also which seems to have been instrumental in introducing the custom of cremation. The Hindus call the cremation ceremony Aurdhvadaihika-kriya or the ceremonies that release the soul from the body for its upward journey to heaven. Unless the ceremony is performed, the departed soul is believed to linger about its late habitation and hover without consolation, and in great distress as a Preta.

Answer 8

may be, cause they know ..they would go to hell.
and....they can't wait.... to.... burn