SmartSurat  #  Hinduism

Belief in afterlife

As in the pre-Indus valley period, disposal of the dead at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa was varied - complete burial, cremation and then burial of the ashes; or burial of the skeleton after the body had been exposed to the elements. Cremation seems to have been the general trend at the height of the Indus valley culture though burial was widespread. At Lothal a cemetery has been excavated in which pairs of skeletons of the opposite sex have been found interred in a single grave. This has led a number of writers to suggest that the practice of Sati, the death of a widow at her husband's demise, was a very early one, but the evidence for this is slim, and all sorts of equally speculative theories could be put forward for the skeletal phenomena. What is important about the burials at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, however, is the fact that the dead were often buried with daily possessions - pots, bowls, ornaments, mirrors, and also weapons. This clearly suggests belief in an afterlife of some kind.