When there is a funeral, we often see that women do not go to the cremation grounds. Have you ever wondered why? Well, the famous Hindu epic, the Mahabharata clearly mentions that women did take part in final funeral rites. According to it – The dead body of Bhisma was covered in fine clothes, flowers, umbrella and the body was fanned by the Kaurava ladies.

So, in reality there is no such hard and fast rule concerning women’s presence in the funerals. But these days women are not allowed to take part in Funeral because of certain Hindu beliefs. We are here to share some of the reasons as to why women were not allowed to go to the crematorium or burial grounds.

#1 Cleaning The House

In ancient times, women were solely responsible for taking care of their houses. Taking them to funerals was avoided so that they could clean the house, look after children and keep food ready when the male members return.

#2 Hard to Watch Funerals

When a pyre was lite, it would be a nasty scene to see the body being burnt. There have been instances where the body sat upright straight while being burnt and the people around hitting it hard and keeping stones on it to avoid such scary scenes. Women in Hindu religion are considered to have a delicate heart and this can leave a disturbing image for a long time.

#3 Ghost effect

It was assumed that women are easy targets of evil spirits, if they entered these cremation grounds, especially the virgins, as they are considered pure, whereas the married women could enter.

#4 Ritual Belief

There are beliefs in the Hindu mythology, which state that tears are considered as pollutants during the last rights of the deceased, and a woman shedding tears while bidding adieu to her loved ones might not give peace to the dead person.

#5 Strictly Not for Pregnant Women

It was believed by ancient Hindus that pregnant women should avoid funerals and burials. They believed that it was potentially hazardous for a pregnant woman to be in such close proximity to death as recently departed souls sometimes even linger around at cemeteries.

#6 Shaving head

It was assumed that hair can be a reason for evil spirits to eye the women. And it was not a great scene to see a woman with bald head. This is one of the reasons why women were not allowed inside graveyards and cremation grounds.