In this project I documented the antyesti “last sacrifice” funeral rite of my grandmother in 2015. Here you can see the early morning poosai one month after her cremation and few hours before the ashes will get thrown into the sea.
during the morning poosai, people from the village, mostly elder men, will attend the funeral. After the poosai everyone will join the mourning family to the hot springs of keerimalai, where the ashes will be thrown into the sea and everyone takes a bath in the “sacred” water spring.
the poosai continues in the backyard of Ammammas house.
carnatic musicians are also present during the whole ceremony. A funeral singer recites some tevarams and letters from the family members printed in a booklet that is handed out to everyone.
the cooking area on the other side of our house. In giant pots the food is being prepared for the funeral attendees.
the funeral singer is reciting thevarams and letters from the family to our grandmother. The whole neighbourhood can hear his voice through big speakers. A copy of that booklet is given to everyone attending.
under the temporary roof, people listen to the funeral singer, flip through the booklet or even read newspapers.
now after the morning poosai, everyone, including a portrait and the ashes of my grandmother, is heading to the buses we organized. The busride from Karaveddi, Nelliady to Keerimalai takes about 40 minutes. Both locations are on the very top coast of Sri Lanka in the Vadamarachchi and respectively Valikamam region on the Jaffna peninsula.
My grandmothers portait in the bus heading to Keerimalai. The area around Keerimalai is still a security zone and highly militarized, a lot of this area once belonged to tamil families, who still can’t go back to their land because of the Sri Lankan Army occupation.
my uncles walking along the keerimalai beach before throwing the ashes into the indian ocean. The ashes are in the brown pot with the flower garland.
my uncle throwing the pot with my grandmothers ashes into the indian ocean. There was also a little boy who had to do this ritual, so probably one of his parents died also a month ago.
afterwards everyone bathes in the mineral water spring in Keerimalai. The womens bathing area is on the other side.
Welcoming back my uncle after arriving from Keerimalai. A cow was also always present until the last day in our frontyard. Historically, a cow is offered to the Brahmin priest, but nowadays its just a symbolic gesture and you give the Brahmin money. But I read that the cow is also seen as an assistant for the deceased. It will help their souls to find the right path to liberation.
After coming back from Keerimalai, there will be another poosai by another Brahmin priest. Here I experienced an incident that showed me sadly again that casteism is still very relevant in Tamil society. The person on the left, who helped us for the funeral rites, is from an “impure” caste. He accidentally touched the Brahmin priests feet. Because of their heavily difference in caste hierarchy, the Brahmin got angry.
So when every poosai and rite is finished it’s finally time for the first Tamil food of the long day. Interesting to see that after the antyesti my relatives were kind of released and a bit happy because they believe that now my grandmothers soul (aanma) will hopefully find a peaceful liberation, especially because she really suffered her last moments in her body.
now everyone can enjoy the food, thinking of the liberated soul of my grandmother
the cremation area where my grandmother was cremated a month before the antyesti rite (open sky cremation)
So this is the last picture of my first photo documentation story. There was an empty chair in our garden and the sunlight focused on it perfectly. I’m not really a religious person but I liked the idea that my grandma’s soul could be waiting on this chair for her liberation.
Ammammas (tamil: Grandmothers) Funeral
In this photo project from 2015, I documented the Antiyeddi (Antyeshti “Last Funeral”) rite in Karaveddy (Nelliady, Sri Lanka).
One month after passing away, my grandmother’s ashes got a last blessing and were thrown into the sea to liberate her soul. There are various rituals and customs for a Antiyeddi, depending on caste, family and village traditions. Click on the photos to read more about this specific hindu-tamil rite.