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THE MISHINGS OF ASSAM AND THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF DEATH AND FUNERAL RITES

Dibyajyoti Das

Abstract


Death which is considered to be the last stage of a living being that occurs during one’s lifecycle. Durkheim; who began with his masterpiece on Suicide, gave impetus to the study of the organisational aspect of death in society. Death has an integral relation with religion, rituals and rite of passage. The death rites also called as funeral rites, which incorporate the deceased into the world of the dead are more extensively elaborated and assigned the greatest importance. The event of rite of passage makes a person’s transition from one status to another status; including birth, coming-of-age, marriage and death. One of the most important rite of passage is the funeral and the rituals associated with it. A funeral is a ceremony for honouring, respecting and remembering the life of a person who has died. The customs of funeral comprises the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead through prayers and rituals undertaken in their honour. In every society, there are certain beliefs and customs related to death, as well as disposal of corpse which reflects the parochial belief system associated with the event. Through this paper an attempt has been made to understand death from the perspective of the Mishing tribe of Sadiya in Assam and also to observe the customs associated with disposal of the dead, rites and rituals related to it.

Keywords


Death, Rites, Rituals, Culture, Anthropology, Mishings.

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