Preservation of Hindu funeral and memorial traditions in the Indian diaspora in Tanzania

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2021-54-2/72-86

Abstract

The article describes the funeral and memorial complex of representatives of the Indian Diaspora in Tanzania. It is based on field materials of the authors of this publication, collected among Hindus from the Indian state of Gujarat during expedition to Tanzania in 2019. The funeral rite of the Hindus of Tanzania includes the main features of the traditional ceremony, despite the existence of cultural differences in the conduct of this rite in India. Representatives of the Diaspora observe the rituals performed before cremation: placing the deceased on the floor, ablution, dressing in white clothes, a 12-day ceremony (the period of ritual pollution of close relatives and home), the last drops of sacred water from the Ganges River and tulsi leaves, carrying out the body on a stretcher. As in India, the leading role during the ceremony belongs to the eldest son. Only men take part in the funeral procession to the cremation site, as well as in all the rituals performed in the crematorium. Until recently, Hindus in Tanzania continued to burn the dead on an open fire, but in 2014 in large cities Indian communities began to install cremation ovens after a ban by the local authorities to arrange a funeral pyre. On the Zanzibar Island, an oceanfront crematorium, built before the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, is still used, where the body of the deceased is burned on a funeral fire. The crematorium is owned by the Indian community, which allows all the necessary rituals according to tradition, unlike the situation, for example, in the UK. An important remaining stage of the funeral rite is the scattering of the ashes over the water surface. The analyzed cases illustrate the high preservation and adaptability of the funeral and memorial complex as much as possible corresponding to tradition in India. However, there are some changes in the funeral rite: the reduction of the time period of the 12-day ceremony, involvement of the staff of specialized institutions in the preparation of the deceased for cremation, etc. Also, the Hindus continue to perform the prescribed tradition, which is the last in a series of obligatory rituals – the commemoration of the dead (Śrāddha). In general, the funeral rite and the commemoration of the ancestors are built in the daily religious system of the Diaspora.

For Citation: Dronova, D.A., M. L. Butovskaya. Preservation of Hindu funeral and memorial traditions in the Indian diaspora in Tanzania. Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 2: 72–86.

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