Life After Death

‘‘Four to five days is very normal even today,’’ says Namgyal, a government official from Ladakh posted in Delhi.

Keeping the dead for such a long period is what distinguishes the Buddhists of Ladakh from the ones in Tibet. In fact, in parts of Tibet, the body is dismembered and fed to birds. ‘‘The Tibetan way is considered most appropriate as per the ancient scriptures. But the Ladakhis for some unknown reasons like to keep the bodies of their dead ones for long,’’ says Thupstan Chewwang, chief Councillor of Leh Hill Council.

Historians, however, say religion had probably nothing do to with this tradition which originated out of sheer necessity. ‘‘Ladakh has seen roads only in the past three decades and earlier it was difficult to inform relatives about a death in the family. And so the body was kept for a while so that they could come,’’ says a monk.

Ladakh is one of the least populated regions in the world, the density being two persons per square kilometres. So communication has never been simple in the region. The weather—minus being the average temperature for most part of the year—helped preserve the body naturally. ‘‘The temperature in Ladakh ranges between 1 degree celsius to -10,’’ says a relative of the late Rinpoche.

‘‘The bigger the stature of the dead person, the longer his body is kept till cremation,’’ says Lama Lobzang, a senior Buddhist leader. A lama’s body is kept in a meditating posture by other monks and how they do this is a secret they don’t reveal to anyone. ‘‘Traditions are changing and now you can even see the bodies being kept in a lying position which is completely forbidden in Buddhism.’’

Each day after the death, close relatives of the deceased take charge of the prayers—chanting hymns from Tibetan scriptures before the body. It is believed that praying before a body ensures that the person is reborn in an exalted form. ‘‘We believe that a Lama (monk) is reborn after 49 days of his death,’’ says Lama Lobzang. In fact, the practice of keeping the dead for a long period of time is also followed in some other regions such as Bhutan.