Death, Dying and the Afterlife in South Asian Religions

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course introduces students to a wide range of mythologies, doctrines, and practices concerning the experience of death, the afterlife, and emancipation in the four major religions of (that is, originating in) South Asia: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. What happens when we die? What becomes of us and what determines our fate? How can survivors ritually assist the departed? How do men and women in South Asia engage differently with doctrines and practices concerning death? Can the power of death be exploited, and what rationales are provided for the practice of self-willed death? Such questions are treated thematically rather than historically under three broad headings, which provide a tri-partite structure to the course: classical doctrinal formulations, ritual and funerary practices, and modes of embracing death. In this way, students will build a familiarity with common themes across South Asian religions, and learn to appreciate their unique modes of understanding the experience and management of death in antiquity, the medieval period and modern and contemporary contexts. FORMATS: Lecture