Death: Changing the Chariot

Hindus prepare themselves for death by thinking frequently of it, and the detachment it will bring. Every true Hindu would like, if he could, to die in Benares, holiest of holy spots. There is a belief that moksha, will come of itself for those so fortunate. Next best is to die near the Ganges, most sacred of rivers. And with all that you know now about fire and the Hindu, you may rightly suspect that the body is usually cremated.
It is washed, dressed in clean clothes, and carried by relatives on a litter borne on the shoulders, through the streets. "The name of God alone is true," they chant again and again. Taken to the burning-ghat, a stairway to the river, where on the bank a pyre has been laid, the body is set alight. The family sits nearby while hymns are chanted, and the fire consumes the body in two or more hours. Then each of the bereaved pours water on the bones and ash. With all his respect for life, and practice of non-injury, the Hindu does not view his own death with fear or dismay. It is not the end of his pilgrimage. "The soul is the rider in the chariot of the body". Death is only changing the vehicle.