Mumbai-based Ritesh Sharma, 42, is familiar with the advantages of having a will. “My father got a registered will with the help of a lawyer, clearly listing the distribution of assets, and we faced no problem in transferring the property to my mother’s name,” he says. The importance of having a will cannot be over-emphasised because of the ease it offers in sorting financial matters after the death of a parent.

If you go into a pleasant state of existence, it is called heaven. If you go into an unpleasant state of existence, it is called hell. These are not geographical locations – these are experiential realities that a life which has become disembodied is going through. Tarpana is usually performed at a holy site such as ghats on sacred rivers or sites. In the Hindu symbols, there’s a comprehensive set of rituals that are to be followed. Just like birth, Hindus believe that a set of rituals need to be formed after death.

• Make sure you have the right documents to hasten the process,” says Sunder.
• But the government has cited the highly infectious nature of novel coronavirus to dismiss the objections on account of faith.
• Towards the end of the viewing, some Hindus observe the custom of placing rice balls close to their loved one.
• The hospital refused to forward the form and it took more than a month to sort the issue out.

According to Section 15 of Hindu Succession Act, if property is acquired from other sources, then the legal heirs shall be as follows. Brain donation is a separate process and registering as an organ donor does not mean you are choosing to donate your brain. If the person is registered as a brain donor, their point of contact will need to be notified within two hours after death. At some time before death or right after it, the doctor may ask about donating organs such as the heart, lungs, pancreas, kidneys, cornea, liver, and skin. Organ donation allows healthy organs from someone who died to be transplanted into living people who need them.

What to Do Within A Few Weeks of Death

This is where joint bank accounts and nominations are useful since you can keep using the account to make immediate and crucial payments. The next crucial, and difficult, task is to locate and identify all the financial documents of your parents. It helps if your father or mother is organised and has already arranged various papers systematically under different heads. If not, be prepared for a long, tedious process of collating and sorting all the documents. After the demise of the person,the legal heirs should actually have a look that along with the assets, whether there are any liabilities.

However, in high-caste people like Nagaras, if the pregnant woman dies, the dead fetus is removed and buried in the same place where the mother is being cremated. When the child is dying, they are not placed on the ground but are allowed to expire in the mother’s arms. In the Hindu tradition, it is what to do when someone dies at home in india believed that the child becomes a victim of such karma because he or she must have been a monster or done evil deeds in their previous birth. If the deceased has not shared his/her PIN number, a fresh ATM card has to be applied for by the heir after the bank account name transfer has happened.

Meenakshi Das, 40, who lost her father in 2016, knows this well. Sons, daughters, sons, and daughters of a predeceased son and sons and daughters of a predeceased daughter. After the death of the owner of the assets, the court shall check the authenticity of the will and shall call the witnesses to check the authenticity of the will.

A will can be registered also; however that doesn’t mean that an unregistered will is not valid. If a will is made, and before dying, the owner again makes a different will, then the previous will gets revoked even if it is registered. Laws for succession and inheritance are also governed by personal laws which come under the Indian Succession Act, 1925. When your spouse or loved one dies, your entire world may change. You may feel a variety of different emotions like anger, guilt, or sadness.

Only unmarried daughters had the right in the ancestral property of father. After the amendment of 2005 in a case, a daughter was granted equal rights and duties in her father’s ancestral property, same as the son’s share in his father’s property. The legitimate heir of the deceased person needs to visit the respective area’s taluka tehsildar’s office or corporation/municipality office. The heir can ask for the application form to obtain legal heir certificate. When a loved one passes, some people want to stay in the room with the body; others prefer to leave. Some families want time to sit quietly with the body, console each other, and maybe share memories.

It is a little like with children – they go out to play until they are exhausted and cannot go on anymore, because they do not have the necessary discernment as to when it is time to stop. Tarpana is a sacred ritual whereupon the closest relatives make a sacred offering to the Gods so that the departed soul may enter Swarga. In Hindu mythology, the Great Parasurama offered a tarpana for his father Jamadagni with the blood of his father’s killer. Hence, it was tough to find if the cause of death was a virus or infection. Apart from the religious explanation, the thirteen days were also observed scientifically to keep the family isolated.

Moreover, Gangājal and tulsī leaves help in retaining the purity of the inner sheaths of the deceased and in preventing entry of negative energies through the mouth. Hence this is treated as one of the prime rituals after death. Above the corpse are flower ornaments, and above them is a straw to allow combustion.In Hindu culture, Mukhagni is done by men. However, in modern times, even women are allowed to attend women, which initially wasn’t done. Once the funeral pyre is lit, the ashes are scattered on the Ganga, which is considered one of the holiest rivers as per Hindu symbols. Apart from that, as per the last wish of the deceased, his/her ashes may also be spread over the place of their choice.

Hindu Death Rituals 10th day

Once the Hindu cremation is complete, the service is over and mourners may go home. The cremation forms an important part of the Hindu funeral ritual, and it traditionally takes place within 24 hours of death. This is not always possible now, as crematoria are often quite busy and may not be able to offer a time slot at short notice. The person who has died is traditionally only touched when absolutely necessary. In cases when this is not possible, a funeral home will attend to this ritual.

In the Hindu religion, when someone dies, instead of Rest In Peace, it is customary to say “Om Shanti” or “Aatma ko Sadgati prapt ho” . There’s a huge concept of Moksha in the Hindu death rituals. A few sessions of biofeedback or eye movement desensitization and processing can help change biological responses to traumatic memories.

The hospital or nursing facility, if that is where the death took place, may help with these arrangements. If at home, you will need to contact the funeral home directly, make arrangements yourself, or ask a friend or family member to do that for you. Hundreds of families want their loved ones’ bodies cared for as quickly as possible, but there is a shortage of people who can do the funerals and last rites. This has led to a situation where people are paying bribes in order to get space or a furnace for cremation. There are also reports of physical fights, and intimidation.

For more information about what to do after someone dies

Workers digging as they prepare to bury the body of a person who died of COVID-19 in Guwahati, Assam. These ten steps, devotedly completed according to the customs, means, and ability of the family, will properly conclude one earthly sojourn of any Hindu soul. On the 3rd, 5th, 7th or 9th day, relatives gather for a meal of the deceased’s favorite foods. A portion is offered before his photo and later ceremonially left at an abandoned place, along with some lit camphor. Others combine all these offerings with the following sapindikarana rituals for a few days or one day of ceremonies.

Burial in Hinduism

“Those are things that there’s never a right time for,” Shaw says. But keeping the logistics from spiraling out of control help prevent unexpected problems in the days and months after a death. Under the Indian Succession Act, the son has the right in his father and grandfather’s property since birth. The son has equal right in his grandfather’s ancestral property equal to his father’s right. In case where the father has self-acquired property and he dies intestate the son of Class 1 legal heir shall have equal right in father’s property as his mother and sister.

It clearly defines how all assets are to be distributed, to whom, by whom, and minimises disputes within the family. “Remember to take adequate number of copies and get them attested, if required,” says Jayant Pai, Head, Marketing, PPFAS. “In case the death is in abnormal circumstances, obtain the relevant coroner’s report, autopsy report and a letter from the police station,” he adds. Every death needs to be reported and registered within 21 days in the prescribed reporting forms. Proof of Date of Birth of all legal heirs- It can be proved by submitting a copy of a PAN Card, Passport, Birth Certificate, School Transfer or Leaving Certificate, etc.

While Hindus and Sikhs often decorate the body with flowers, Jains avoid natural flowers for concern of inadvertently destroying the lives of insects that may be hidden within its petals. In all of these faiths, a priest or male member of the family recites prayers. It is traditionally the eldest son of the deceased who lights the funerary pyre; women do not go to the cremation ground. At the end of one year, all elderly members of the deceased person gather once again for the Shraad ceremony. The 3rd, 5th, 7th or 9th day after the death of the person are also important, as all relatives gather to have a meal of the deceased’s favorite foods. A small amount of the food is offered before his /her photo and later, it is ceremonially left at an abandoned place, along with a lit diya.

There are, however, some Hindu communities which practice burial. If you want to stop the drama, the first thing is to set fire to the body within one-and-a-half hours. Or to be sure the person is dead, they have stretched it to four hours. In agriculture communities, they used to bury, because they wanted their forefathers’ bodies, which are a piece of soil, to go back to the soil that had nourished them. Today, you buy your food from the store, and do not know where it comes from.

It’s important to know your rights in these situations, Smith says. For instance, morticians might try to sell you an urn for ashes, even though you’re not required to have one. “Much of the industry is very ethical, but there are bad players out there,” Smith says. “They’re for-profit companies.” Till the time this amount is invested afresh in an avenue that can generate better returns and is more tax-efficient, the income will be slashed. This also means that expenses will have to be curbed to adjust to the new flow of income.