Why Hindus burn body after death?

Answer 1

That's called cremate. And they cremate bodies so the person who died can go to heaven.

Hindu consider the heat of fire to be the final purifier after water -the second purifier. When human is dead, his soul exist for some time near to his belongings. Hindus perform rituals up to 13 days further also so as to get the soul to peace. As soon as soul loose the contact with body, it also looses all the sensations and emotions attached to its existence in present life. Still an attachment to his belongings remains. This goes in tandem with the philosophy that the embodied soul casts away old and takes up new bodies as a man changes worn-out raiment for new.

According to Hindu Beliefs, when a person dies, his soul lingers around near the relatives, the body, and his materialistic possessions. They also believe that some rituals need to be performed, for the soul to break the bond with the body, and start a new life elsewhere. Often, we wonder why Hindus burn or cremate the body, instead of burying it. The answer lies in the belief, that by burning the body, the soul does not feel the physical association with the body anymore, which it could have, had the body been buried.

Answer 2

No they don't,

It was an barbaric custom , which was abolished around 200 year's ago because of efforts made by Sir Raja Ram Mohan Roy, an Indian reformer.

The above stated custom is known as the sati pratha, was a funeral practice among some Hindu communities in which a recently widowed woman would either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion immolate herself on her husband's funeral pyre.

Its origins are not known, Few reliable records exist of the practice before 400 AD.

But about the 10th century sati, as understood today, was known across much of the subcontinent.

It continued to occur, usually at a low frequency and with regional variations, until very early 19th century.

Some instances of voluntary self-immolation by both women and men that may be regarded as at least partly historical accounts are included in very old Indian literary works.

Also this practice is prohibited by law And is highly punishable act under the Indian law.

The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act of 1987 Part I, Section 2(c)(Indian Law) defines Sati as:

The burning or burying alive of - (i) any widow along with the body of her deceased husband or any other relative or with any article, object or thing associated with the husband or such relative; or (ii) any woman along with the body of any of her relatives, irrespective of whether such burning or burying is claimed to be voluntary on the part of the widow or the women or other-wise.

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