Burning the Dead

by David John Arnold

"Burning the Dead traces the evolution of cremation in India and the South Asian diaspora across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through interconnected histories of movement, space, identity, and affect, it examines how the "traditional" practice of Hindu cremation on an open-air funeral pyre was culturally transformed and materially refashioned under British rule, following intense Western hostility, colonial sanitary acceptance, and Indian adaptation. The book examines the critical reception of Hindu cremation abroad, particularly in Britain, where India formed a primary reference...