Rite no. 16 / 16
अन्त्येष्टि
The final rites
The rite that closes the circle begun at conception. With gratitude and grief the family returns the body to the elements and sends the departed on their way — the community's final act of care for one of its own.
At the end of life, as the concluding rite of the series.
Gṛhya-Sūtras — funeral rites — SBE Vol. 29 (1886), public domain
The Gṛhya-Sūtras, Part I · trans. Hermann Oldenberg · 1886 · Public Domain