Elven Views on Death

Burial customs: The elves exclusively practice cremation, and cremation must occur as soon as possible after death (typically at the next sunset). This is primarily because, from a practical perspective, the hot and humid climate the Elves inhabit causes bodies to degrade rapidly. From a religious standpoint, the Elves believe that the body serves no purpose after death, and cremating it is quickest way to release the soul and facilitate reincarnation.
However, Elven burial customs truly begin even before death. When an elf feels that they are approaching death, a priest will be contacted, and the priest and the family will gather around the dying while chanting mantras.
When death seems imminent, the body should, if possible, be transferred to a grass mat on the floor. A small amount of water from the nearby river (ideally the Mahanadi river, which is sacred to all elves) will be purified by the priest and placed in the dying person’s mouth for them to slowly drink.
If this is not possible before death—such as if the death is sudden like in battle—then these actions should take place immediately following the death. Sometimes, if death occurs on too large a scale and there aren’t enough priests or time to perform these rites (such as after a battle, or in the wake of a plague), then it may be permitted to perform this for just a few people in lieu of the whole.
Traditionally, the body is washed by family members and close friends. If this is not possible (such as if the deceased has no family members or close friends, or they all refuse to wash the body for some reason), then it will be washed by priests of Yama, the god of death and justice. There is a very specific ritual process to washing the body.
The deceased’s head must be facing southward during the ritual washing, and a lighted oil lamp as well as a depiction (painting, statue, effigy, or other representation) of the deceased’s favoured deity should be kept by their head.
The deceased is then given an abhisegam (holy bath): the body is washed in a mixture of milk, yoghurt, ghee, and honey. Finally, body is washed in purified water. While the body is being washed, those washing must recite mantras constantly.
Once the body is sufficiently cleaned, the big toes are tied together, the hands are placed palm-to-palm in a position of prayer, and the body will be shrouded in a plain white sheet. If the person who died was a married woman who died before her husband, this sheet will be red instead. The body will then be placed in a boat-shaped coffin called a vṛkṣá (for the wealthy, these vṛkṣá can become incredibly elaborate, intricately carved and made of precious woods).
A garland of flowers is placed around the neck of the deceased, and holy basil (also called tulsi, often used in medicine to make perfumed oils or quite commonly as an herbal tea) is placed in the vṛkṣá around them. Finally, the forehead of the deceased is anointed. Sandalwood oil is used for men, and turmeric oil is used for women.
Once the body has been prepared, it is laid in state for a short time and the family and friends of the deceased are permitted to visit it before the cremation. During the wake, family and friends gather around the deceased and will recite hymns or mantras.
At the end of the wake, before the body is removed for cremation, it is traditional to place pinda (rice balls) near or in the vṛkṣá. At the end of the wake, the vṛkṣá is removed feet-first and brought to the śmaśāna (the crematory grounds).
Funeral customs: In an Elven funeral, the eldest relative of the deceased is designated as the karta, or chief mourner. For a man, the karta will be male; for a woman, the karta will be female. Traditionally, the vṛkṣá is carried on a stretcher and walked to the cremation site or transported in a vehicle.
If a vehicle, such as a carriage or elephant, is used for transportation, the karta and another family elder (traditionally the second oldest relative of the appropriate sex) must accompany the vṛkṣá and chant mantras until they reach the holy site designated for cremations, called the śmaśāna.
As with other cultures, there are very specific rules to where the śmaśāna can be located. It must be on the northern side of the settlement with land sloping towards the south, near a river or other body of water, and it cannot be visible from a distance of ½ gavyuti (1,000 dhanus, or 1.83km) or further. Ideally it will be on the Mahanadi itself, the holiest river in elven culture.
Elven funeral processions are elegant and meticulously detailed. They consist of the family and friends of the deceased, as well as servants or musicians where applicable. In a ring around the deceased at a distance of 1 paurusa (1.92m), the mourners sing prayers led by the karta. It is a beautiful and sad harmony.
For the High Elves, it is traditional for there to be no instruments other than the singing of the mourners. For the Wood Elves, the tradition is for there to be a few flutes acting as a drone that provide a constant pitch for the mourners.
Once at the śmaśāna, the family places the vṛkṣá on the riverbank. The karta will then circle the vṛkṣá three times, walking counter-clockwise so that the vṛkṣá stays on their left, and sprinkling holy water on the pyre. Meanwhile, a priest will sing hymns to Agni, the deity of fire (who is also literally all fire and serves as Brahmin of the heavens).
While all this is happening, the rest of the family will set up blankets and tables with food. They will be assisted in this task by the chandala. The chandala are the people who handle the maintenance of śmaśāna, as well as the lighting of vṛkṣá. They live in the śmaśāna and are not permitted to travel more than 1 gavyuti (2,000 dhanus, or ~3.66km) from its grounds.
This means that much of their needs, such as food, must be provided for them by the rest of the community or foraged from the surrounding area. Under the High Elven varṇa system, the chandala are a class of shudra, while under the Wood Elven jāti system they are a jāti of their own.
Just moments before the sun sets, the vṛkṣá will be pushed off into the water, which will then be set alight with either a fire arrow or fire magic by a chandala. The lighting of the vṛkṣá is timed so that the fire begins to blaze right as the sun sets below the horizon.
As the vṛkṣá burns, the presiding priest will hold a short ceremony, singing hymns to Agni and Yama. Once the ceremony is finished, those gathered will eat a small meal together (usually small finger or snack foods, or sweets) and generally enjoy each other’s company.
However, it is very important that they do all this with their backs turned to the vṛkṣá as it burns, otherwise the soul of the deceased may develop an attachment and linger instead of reincarnating. This meal will last until the vṛkṣá finally slips below the waves (since they obviously cannot see it with their backs turned, the chandala is tasked with informing the mourners when this has happened).
Post-funeral traditions: Upon returning home, all the family members will bathe and change into fresh clothes while the presiding priest purifies the house with incense. Once everyone is clean and changed into new clothes, the family will gather for a large meal.
The morning after the cremation, the karta will return to the śmaśāna alone and offer one final prayer for the deceased. They must not eat or drink anything before they leave, must be wearing all white, their forehead anointed with ash, and they cannot speak except to pray (and even then, it must not be any louder than a whisper). Once they return, they cannot be touched or spoken to until they have eaten, drank, bathed, and changed their clothes.
This marks the beginning of the mourning period, which lasts for 13 days. During this time, the family of the deceased will stay at home and receive visitors. Though the specifics and minutiae of the mourning rituals may differ depending on the community, it is generally true that the karta will speak as little as possible (and the family will try to as well in solidarity), the family will be dressed in white (a colour associated with mourning among the elves), and pinda (rice balls) will be left out as offerings for the deceased. Finally, the karta may only eat one meal per day, must not sleep in a bed or engage in sexual activities, and must not groom or clean themselves.
Among the High Elves, a picture of the deceased will be prominently displayed, and a garland of flowers may be placed on it. The Wood Elves instead honour their deceased by playing reserved flute music as much as possible (by contrast, a High Elven home is strictly devoid of music for those 13 days).
On the 13th day, the rite of preta-karma will be performed, which assists the disembodied spirit of the deceased to obtain a new body for reincarnation. The family offers pinda to the deceased and burns incense while hymns to Ganesha are sung. Then a large feast is held to which all passersby are invited. At the feast, the family will take turns telling fond memories of the deceased that honour their life.
One year after the death, the family will observe a memorial meal and ritual called the Śrāddha which pays homage to the deceased. The karta will invite priests to the home and provide them with an elaborate meal, treating them as they would their own parents. The priests will then perform a homa (fire ritual) dedicated to Agni and Chandra (the deity of the moon and night).
Finally, more pinda are offered to the departed soul, as well as to crows (which are heavily associated with death). During the Śrāddha, other actions will be performed to show respect to the priests, such as washing their feet and bringing them tea. Before the priests leave, the karta gives them ritual dakshina (fees, usually but not necessarily money) as thanks.
Finally, the priests sprinkle the karta and the rest of the house with holy water (this relieves the karta of his duties as chief mourner) and leave. Once they are gone, the entire funeral ritual—starting from the moment the deceased draws their last breath and ending with the conclusion of the Śrāddha one year later and known as antyesti (final sacrifice)—is officially finished.
Beliefs of the afterlife: Elves do not have an afterlife. They believe in samsara: the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. However, it isn’t quite *that* simple. Even without an afterlife like the Kemetic Du’at, or the Achaio-Vicini Hades, they still have ideas about what happens to a soul after death apart from simply reincarnation.
The first, and worst, option is that the soul becomes a preta, or hungry ghost. Or, more accurately, remains a preta. Technically speaking, they actually become a preta immediately upon cremation. The elves believe all the world and cosmos are formed of the 5 Great Elements, the Pañcamahābhūta (lit. “5 Great Elements”): Ākāśa (space), Vāyu (air), Agni (fire), Jala (water), and Pṛthvī (earth).
A person’s body is composed of all 5 Great Elements. However, upon cremation, fire, water, and earth are all burned away. Thus, what remains is a preta, composed solely of space and air. Since they are composed only of these two elements, preta are incomplete and therefore cannot consume anything, causing them to suffer in great hunger.
The purpose of all the various ritual of the antyesti is to ensure the soul of the deceased is guided to a new body for reincarnation, and that they do not remain behind due to any lingering attachments. This is the purpose of the pinda, they literally serve as the new body that will be provided to the preta. Rice is harvested from the earth, set over fire, and boiled/steamed with water. Thus, it represents all 3 elements a preta is missing.
This means if for any reason the deceased is deprived of the proper rites of antyesti, they may become trapped as a preta (or, if they are never even cremated, they may rise as undead, and/or will become preta once their corpse has rotted away to nothing).
The second option is reincarnation. Two concepts that need to be explained very quickly: dharma, and karma. Dharma means “moral duty,” and is what is expected of you as a member of society. This is based on your caste, position in society, in a family, in your career, etc. (it can also refer to a sense of cosmic order and is the closest word to “religion”; for example, the Elven religion is called the Sanātana Dharma— “Eternal Order”).
Karma means “action” and refers to generally all action and its consequences, but especially in the context of acting in accordance with (or in violation of) one’s dharma. It can also refer to action in a ritual sense, like the specific things said and done during a ritual.
The elves don’t really believe in a fundamental sense of cosmic retribution for individual acts and behaviours that could happen instantly or within one's own lifetime (in fact, most elves will say that any belief in such a system is a result of the naïve hopes of the shorter-lived races).
Te conditions into which one is reincarnated are entirely dependent their karma in their previous life. If their karma was in line with their dharma, then they will earn a good reincarnation. If their karma was in violation of their dharma, they will suffer a poor reincarnation. Among the High Elves, keeping your karma in line with your dharma is the only way to be reborn into a higher varṇa.
Conversely, if your karma is not in line with your dharma, then you may be reborn into a lower varṇa, or worse as a person without knowledge of the Sanātana Dharma (i.e., a non-elf), or even worse as an animal or plant.
The Wood Elves have a sort of similar concept. While the Wood Elven jāti system is not as explicitly hierarchical as the High Elven varṇa system, there are still jāti that are seen as more or less desirable than others (e.g., kingship or priesthood is desirable, while generally anything involving ritual impurity, like a chandala, is undesirable).
In the Wood Elven sense, then, a good reincarnation involves being born into a desirable jāti. Conversely, a bad reincarnation would involve being reborn into an undesirable jāti, or worse as a person without knowledge of the Sanātana Dharma (i.e., a non-elf), or even worse as an animal or plant.
The third, and ideal, option is moksha—liberation (from samsara). Three more concepts need to be explained here: the atman, Brahman, and the three yoga (paths). The atman is, essentially, a person’s soul. It is the essence of their being that animates them, though it does not carry any of their personality or memories (so it is not possible for a person to remember any information from a past life). Naturally, all living things possess an atman. It is the atman that transits from life to life through samsara. The atman is not born, does not die, it is unbegotten, begets not, and is eternal.
Brahman is the ultimate reality. The word translates to “The Undivided, Uncreated Absolute.” The Brahman is everything, right down to every individual emotion you feel, and 3x more (this is called panentheism; meaning the elves are, fundamentally, not polytheists). All gods, all people, every tree and rock, every river and raindrop, it is all Brahman.
The atman is, therefore by definition, already one with Brahman at a fundamental level. However, moksha is achieved by realizing and experiencing this identity (usually at least partly through meditation). In this way, they shall truly become one with Brahman upon death, achieving moksha (liberation) from the cycle of samsara.
The three yoga are: the Karma Yoga (Path of Action), the Jnana Yoga (Path of Knowledge), and the Bhakti Yoga (Path of Devotional Love). The first one is exclusive to the High Elves, while the latter two are exclusive to Wood Elves. The three yoga are the paths by which one achieves moksha. You can’t just meditate blindly and without reason.
Karma Yoga is, as you might expect, keeping your karma in line with your dharma. However, you can’t simply perform your karma just because that’s what you’re supposed to do, just going through the actions. This is no different than a drone bee mindlessly collecting honey for the hive on instinct.
To follow the Karma Yoga and achieve moksha, you must understand why you follow your dharma, why it is proper, how it is in accordance with the cosmic order. In High Elven belief, this is the only way to achieve moksha (specifically, you must be reborn as a Brahmin; only they have the potential to achieve moksha).
Jnana Yoga is the Path of Knowledge. Not knowledge from reading books, mind you, but knowledge gained from personal experience—specifically, direct personal experience of the divine. This is typically achieved through meditation and realizing that the central aspect of one’s character is in fact one with the divine.
Among the Wood Elves, this is the main way moksha is believed to be achievable. Unlike with the High Elves and the Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga does not require one to be in a specific jāti. However, this does not mean just anyone can achieve it: you must be reborn as a person with the capacity to follow Jnana Yoga and achieve moksha through it. It is accepted as simple fact that this will not be possible for everyone..
In other words, while anyone can in theory pursue the Jnana Yoga, having the capacity to achieve moksha through it is an innate capacity that very few possess (in fact, just about no one does).
Bhakti Yoga is the Path of Devotional Love. Specifically, devotional love of the gods. It is believed that the gods have the power to lift a person’s atman out of samsara, thus granting them moksha. It requires one to focus on the development of a personal relationship between individual and the divine.
In theory, absolutely anyone can achieve moksha through the Bhakti Yoga so long as they can sufficiently earn the favour of a deity. Bhakti Yoga is a recently growing movement among the Wood Elves, but it remains relatively unknown and unpopular.