Shmashana
Sign in to savethumb|A shmashana outside an Indian village A shmashana () is a Hindu crematory ground, where dead bodies are brought to be burnt on a pyre. It is usually located near a river or body of water on the outskirts of a village or town; as they are usually located near river ghats, they are also regionally called smashan ghats.
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Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Hinduism
- Jainism
- Early Buddhism
- Spiritual role
- See also
- References
thumb|A shmashana outside an Indian village A shmashana () is a Hindu crematory ground, where dead bodies are brought to be burnt on a pyre. It is usually located near a river or body of water on the outskirts of a village or town; as they are usually located near river ghats, they are also regionally called smashan ghats.
== Etymology == The word has its origin from Sanskrit language: shma refers to shava ("corpse"), while shana refers to shanya ("bed"). The other Indian religions like Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism also use shmashana for the last rites of the dead.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Shmashana” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.