#Hindu Funerary Monuments:
Ordinary Hindus are cremated after their #death except for the saints. According to religious traditions, they are buried, and their shrines are called #Samadhi. The term Samadhi in #Hinduism also refers to an elevated state of mental awareness. 1/
Ordinary Hindus are cremated after their #death except for the saints. According to religious traditions, they are buried, and their shrines are called #Samadhi. The term Samadhi in #Hinduism also refers to an elevated state of mental awareness. 1/
Death by Samadhi usually involves inhumation rather than cremation on a pyre. However, samadhi memorials may or may not contain the remains of the deceased. This ritual occurs in 3 stages- taking Samadhi, the burial of the body, and site construction. 2/
The belief is that body of a saint or guru should be preserved as a symbol of sacred power. In this context, the #Hindu memorial is similar to the #Buddhist stupa, where relics of Buddhist teachers are buried and worshipped. 3/
Rituals such as meditation, prayer, mantra chanting are allowed in the Samadhis. These memorials become places of pilgrimage for devotees. The structures of these Samadhis vary significantly in style and architecture. 4/
Samadhi has also been a tradition in #Sikhism for eminent political figures. The Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in #Lahore and Maharaja Sher Singh near Lahore city in #Pakistan are a few examples. 5/
Many #Maratha political figures chose Samadhis as their death memorials. Such shrine of Jijamata, the mother of the founder of the Maratha empire #Shivaji, is at Raigadh in #Maharashtra. 6/
Samadhi of the Maratha admiral Kanhoji Angre is at Alibaug, #Maharashtra. As chief of the Maratha Navy in 18thC #India, he fought successfully against the #British, #Dutch and #Portuguese naval interests. His 3 wives are also buried nearby. 7/
There are Samadhis of holy men and women spreading all over #India. Marathi saint Dnyaneshwar took Samadhi in #Maharashtra in 13thC, poet-saint Kabir in Magahar. #ISKCON's founder Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's resting place is in West Bengal. 8/
Samadhi shrine is sometimes a synonym of a memorial stele called Paliya or Khambhi, found in western #India and the #Sindh region of #Pakistan. These monuments have symbols and inscriptions. Those dedicated to soldiers fall under hero stones, common in western India. 9/
Word Samadhi also represents a state of meditative consciousness, undisturbed by desire, anger, or ego-generated thoughts and emotions. In Buddhism, Samadhi is the last of the 8 steps leading to enlightenment. 10/
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