Tamil Funeral

Yesterday I attended the funeral of my dads uncle. He was a tamil Man, I found it particularly interesting to observe all the rituals/ceremonies and prayers that were carried out during the course of the day. I was most taken by the final burial, because in south africa we don't have any "sacred" bodies of water to scatter the ashes, our relatives chose to bury the ashes on a family grave. The ashes are gathered from the crematorium, the Swami/brahman/priest placed a white piece of linen about half a meter by half a meter big on the ground. He then placed 4 pieces of camphor at each corner of the sheet and lit it, representing the 4 points of the compass. So when the spirit of the deceased resurrects he will not be lost, He then poured milk onto the ashes whilst saying a prayer, he said that the milk represents the 5 element to complete the "body". Then the swami/brahman/priest tied the corners of the sheet together and made a neat parcel and the ashes were then buried whilst saying another prayer.
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