End-of-Life Care

Culture Specific and Culture Sensitive End-of-Life Care
A Case Study Based on Kashi Labh Mukti Bhawan, Banaras

by
Dr. Umesh K. Singh
Lecturer, Dept. of Sociology
V.S.S.D. College, Kanpur
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

Culture shapes the belief system

The fears, hopes, and orientations people

have towards “Death” are not instinctive, but
rather are learned from cultural symbols


Death is not simply end of life in biological

sense. It is only a stage in the larger cycle of
procreation – regeneration
The ultimate goal of human being is to attain

mukti or moksha
Along with good deeds, there are sacred

rituals and sacred spaces which too can
contribute to liberation


Kashi: antiquity, religious symbol and sacred

space
mukti dayani/moksha dayani Kashi

Age old association of Kashi with old age and

dying and death


To illustrate the cultural distinctiveness of
death and end-of-life care:
exploration of the role of Kashi Labh Mukti

Bhawan — nature of services and facilities
available
kinds of inmates availing the services — their

life-situation and life-values
fulfillment of religious and psychosocial

needs and satisfaction received


a distinctive organization, established in 1958

old aged people are brought at the very fag

end of their life to attain the religious benefits
of dying in Kashi
caters mostly to the lower middle class and

lower class old aged persons belonging
mostly to the eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh
and adjoining areas of Bihar


varied socio-economic background and

personal history
on the verge of death because of their

sickness or simply because of becoming very
old
brought by their family and close relatives

heterogeneous categories of

inmates, however, sharing the same destiny


the physical facilities available to the dying old

person in the room are minimum
 it is the close relatives attending him who control
the dying person
 life-values and behaviour pattern: he is left with very
hazy notion of these and he can neither articulate
nor perform any of these
 the attendants often remind him of remembering
the names of gods/goddesses or help him in
performing some basic pre-death rituals


common ideology of death and dying in Kashi

most of the inmates of are there because of

their personal wish or else their family
thought it better to take the dying one to
Kashi and to perform the cremation here
the family also wishes to facilitate salvation

of the departed soul by availing death in
Kashi


The Hindu society does not leave the dead

person all alone but by observing many death
sacraments such as pinda-dan, shraddh, etc.
to the deceased person leads to formation of
close bonds between the dead and the
descendents. Institutions like Kashi Labh
Mukti Bhawan uphold these religious and
cultural traditions.


The individual accepts the inevitability of death and in spite

of all the trauma and pains of preceding death, gets ready for
a newer existence/life.
The family accepts the passing away of the old aged and

facilitates the process by keeping the dying persons in Kashi
Labh Mukti Bhawan accompanying all the pre-death and
post-death rituals and ceremonies.
The religious symbols on the one hand lessen the grief of the

family members and on the other hand it facilitates the
salvation of the dead one.
This cultural specificity relating to death is deeply ingrained

in Hindu psyche and differentiates it from other cultural
systems of the world.


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