An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c17.s4: 12.4 Disposal of the Dead
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c17.s4
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12.4 Disposal of the Dead
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Archaeological evidence of the disposal of the dead in India comes from habitational areas as well as cemeteries. The body was either cremated or inhumated. When cremated the ashes were collected, sometimes in earthen pots; and buried; when inhumated, the entire body or a collection of post-exposure disarticulated bones was buried. In both the cases the disposal was done in various ways, depending on the social status of the dead person and in accordance with the prevailing religious beliefs and practices.
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No Palaeolithic [4.2-4] human remains have been found in India. The story begins with the succeeding Mesolithic period [4.5], when, the available evidence shows, by and large the dead were buried within the habitational areas, both inside rock-shelters and on open grounds, although it is possible that the actual place of burial was temporarily abandoned. The mode of the disposal of the dead body was inhumation. At SARAI NAHAR RAI, Dt Pratapgarh, more than a dozen graves have been excavated in a shallow mound located on the Baklahinala, a tributary of the Ganga. Although the graves were usually an oblong pit containing a single extended body placed in w.-e. orientation, the head being kept towards the w., there are a couple of examples of 'double' burial, i.e., instead of a single skeleton there were two. LANGHNAJ in Dt Mahesana and BAGOR in Dt Bhilwara are the two other open-air sites located on ancient sand-dunes. Both of them have single extended burials, although in neither case have all the bones been found intact. The former site gives evidence of slightly flexed burials also, which, if not accidental, is only a variety of complete inhumation. Both kinds of burials have been found in rock-shelters. At PANCHMARHI, Dt Hoshangabad, and BAGHAI KHOR and LEKHAHIA in Dt Mirzapur extended burials, sometimes in a slightly flexed manner, have been located within the habitational deposits. Although microliths have been reported from the earth removed from the graves, it cannot be said with certainty that they were placed there purposely as offerings.
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The Harappans [4.9] as a rule disposed of their dead singly in oblong pits dug in regular cemeteries located outside the habitation some 200 to 300 m away. The extended body, sometimes with ornaments on, was laid with the head kept towards the n. In rare examples two bodies were laid together. Cremation and fractional burial in pots were practised at a few places. As a rule each grave was furnished with a large number of pots and pans, sometimes along with personal ornaments and toiletry such as faïence and shell bangles, copper rings and mirrors and gold and steatite beads. Interestingly there have been examples without any grave goods as well as without any skeletal remains. At Harappa an adult was wrapped in matting and buried in a wooden coffin. The grave pits at ROPAR measured 2·75 by ·75 m. In one example the grave was rectangular demarcated with one course of mud brick. In another example a dog's skeleton was found lying below the skeleton of the man, a practice with parallel at the Neolithic site of BURZAHOM. All the 14 excavated graves at LOTHAL were single extended burials in oblong pits, except three, which are ‘double’ or ‘twin’ burials, each consisting of the skeletal remains of two interlocked individuals. It seemingly recalls the later-day Hindu practice of *sati*, i.e., immolation of the wife on the funeral pyre of the husband, but it has not been conclusively proved that in each case the individuals belonged to the opposite sexes. Some of the graves, rectangular in shape, were demarcated with a single course of mud brick, as at ROPAR. In one example the floor of the pit was paved with mud brick and in another with *kankar*. Again in one example the grave yielded bones and horns of a goat. At RANDALIYO, Dt Rajkot, was found an extended burial in an oblong pit. The cemetery at SURKOTADA in Dt Kutch has yielded entirely different evidence. The total of four graves excavated there belong to the category of ‘post-exposure pot burials’. The pits in which the pots were laid were oval in shape and usually measured 2·02 m in length, 1·44 m in width and 30 to 50 cm in depth. Inside were offering pots of different sizes. Except in two examples which yielded small fragments of bones kept in pots (in one case they were charred) the graves were entirely devoid of skeletal remains. Architecturally these grave pits were capped with stone slabs and covered with cairn stones. At KALIBANGAN were excavated as many as 37 graves belonging not only to the ‘oblong pit’ and ‘round pit with pot’ types but also to the rectangular pit type with the sides of the pits lined with mud brick, in one example with landing steps also, as if the intention was to provide the dead with a comfortable underground chamber. It is significant to note that some of the rectangular and round (sometimes oval also) pit burials were devoid of skeletal remains. But possibly much more important is the pattern of the distribution of the different types of burials within the cemetery since it may reflect some kind of social differentiation among the population of KALIBANGAN. Thus, ‘rectangular and oblong pits with skeletal remains and offerings’ are concentrated in the e. portion of the graveyard, ‘rectangular pits with offerings but no skeletal remains’ in the w., and ‘round and oval pits with offerings but no skeletal remains’ in the n.
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The Harappa site of TARKHANEWALA DERA, Dt Ganganagar, had on the top of a made-up platform an oblong cremation ground, marked off by flatly-laid mud bricks. Traces of at least five cremations were clearly noticed. Burials of the regular kind have also been suspected at the site of BINJOR-3 not far from TARKHANEWALA DERA and also in Sector 22 of CHANDIGARH.
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The almost contemporary n.-w. Neolithic culture [4.6.1] is represented at its type site at BURZAHOM, where as many as 14 burials have been excavated. Located within the habitation of the later phase of the culture and in close proximity to each other, nine of them turned out to be human and five animal burials. The human burials included both the extended and flexed types, dug into the floors of houses. The grave goods included soapstone disc beads, barrel-shaped beads and fragmentary bones of animals, perhaps sacrificed. The skull of the skeleton of an extended burial bore seven finished and four unfinished trepanning holes, a practice which is also attested among the Harappans at KALIBANGAN. Fractional burials contain post-exposure bones in pits plastered with lime. Skulls and long bones of several examples have been found bearing traces of red ochre. The animal burials followed closely the practices of the human ones: a dog was buried in the flexed manner in a pit dug into the living floor. In one example however there is the evidence of fractional collective burial since in it were found the bones of five wild dogs mixed up with two antler deer. Such practices remained in vogue at BURZAHOM in the succeeding period, Megalithic [4.17.1], except that in a few examples free-standing stone pillars were planted over the graves.
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In the Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures of peninsular India [4.6.7-9; 4.14.6-8] the people as a rule disposed of their dead within the habitational area usually below the floors of rooms but sometimes in the front verandas of huts and within roads and lanes. They followed both the well-known modes of complete inhumation and fractional burial. However they also practised a kind of burial called urn burial. The speciality of these burials lies not so much in the actual mode of the disposal of the dead body as in their earthenware containers—globular jars, used singly and kept upright, or two placed mouth-to-mouth and laid horizontally, or several of them arranged telescopically and placed horizontally. In some extended adult burials the bones below the ankles are cut, as if to demobilize the ghosts of the deceased persons. In certain examples at NAGARJUNAKONDA post-exposure bones have been found arranged in a manner as if the burial was extended. Infants were however buried in pots in flexed manner. At BRAHMAGIRI there is evidence of single urn burials for infants laid in an embryonic position and extended burials in oblong pits for grown-up children and adults. At NEVASA double and multiple urn burials for infants and children and extended pit burials for adults are noticed. Here it is clear that infant mortality was very high since out of the 131 excavated graves only three belonged to adults. At DAIMABAD, CHANDOLI and INAMGAON the same evidence is repeated—multiple-pot burials within the habitation interspersed with adult burials in oblong pits. The grave goods are small pots, beads and bangles of different materials.
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Two oblong graves of the PGW culture [4.15 ], with extended burials of adults, with no grave goods, have been located at BHAGWANPURA within the habitational area. Belonging to the succeeding NBPW culture [4.18] there is an example from RAJGIR of a jar burial with post-cremation bones and ashes, placed vertically in a mud-plastered pit shaped like the jar itself.
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As by this time cremation had virtually replaced inhumation there is hardly any archaeological evidence of the practices concerning the disposal of the dead. [The Buddhist (and Jaina) *stūpas* form an entirely different category see 12.8. [For Megalithic burials see 4.17.]
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Gupta, S.P., 1972, *Disposal of the Dead & Physical Types in Ancient India* (with full bibliography). Singh, P., 1970, *Burial Practices in Ancient India* (also with bibliography).—S.P. GUPTA