Tracing the Roots of Samādhi Burial Practice

Abstract

Abstract A Hindu samādhi is a shrine that marks the final resting-place of a realised guru’s body and reflects the traditional understanding that the realised sage’s perfected body should not be cremated but rather should be preserved as a localised instantiation of sacred power. While some scholars speculate that the Hindu samādhi shrine tradition is borrowed from the Sufi dargāh (tomb-shrine) tradition, I argue that the Hindu samādhi burial practice has pre-dargāh roots resonant with the Buddhist stūpa and relic worship tradition. This article charts the development of this samādhi burial practice in regard to three important considerations: the act of taking samādhi, burying the body, and marking the burial site. It is this long-established burial practice that eventually blossoms into a full-fledged worship tradition in part by coming into contact with the Sufi dargāh tradition.