What to do when someone passes away

The first hours after a death are confusing, and nobody expects a family to know the order of things. This page sets it out plainly. Call 80083 91768 at any point and we take it from there.

1. Call us first, at any hour. One call brings the purohit, the freezer box if the paarthiva deham must remain at home overnight, the antima yatra vehicle and the katta at the ghat. You do not have to find these separately. We reach homes across Hyderabad and Secunderabad in about an hour.

2. Get the doctor’s note. If the death was at home, a doctor must certify it; your family doctor or a nearby clinic will come and give the medical certificate of the cause of death. If it was in a hospital, the hospital issues it. Keep that paper safe — the municipal death certificate cannot be had without it.

3. Inform the family. Decide who will be the karta, which by custom is the eldest son, and call the relatives who should be present. If they are travelling from far, the deham can remain at home in a freezer box for a day or two and the dahana samskaram be done the next morning.

4. Prepare the home. Clear a space on the floor of the main room, facing south. Take the footwear out of the room, light a lamp near the head, and keep the dhoopam burning. The purohit brings everything else.

5. The karmas at home. The paarthiva deham receives its last snanam and is dressed in new vastram, the tilakam and the tulasi are placed, and the karta makes the first offerings. The purohit tells the karta what each step is before it is done.

6. The antima yatra and the dahana samskaram. The vehicle reaches the house as the karmas there are drawing to a close. The yatra sets out at the purohit’s word; at the ghat the pinda pradanam, the pradakshinam and the giving of agni to the chita follow in their order. We book the katta and see to the register; the ground gives a slip that you will need later.

7. The third or fifth day: chinna dinam. The family returns to the ghat for the asthi sanchayanam and the first offerings. We tell you the correct day on the day of the dahana samskaram, so there is nothing for you to work out.

8. Days one to ten: nitya karmalu. A pindam and jalam offered at home each day. We set the place and bring the samagri for all ten days at the start, and show the karta once. He may keep it himself, or we come daily.

9. The tenth day: dasa dina karma. The largest of the karmas, when the relatives gather. The ten pindas are offered, the karta takes kshouram, the family bathes and the house is cleansed. We plan the venue, the purohits and the bhojanam with you a few days beforehand.

10. The twelfth or thirteenth day: sapindi karma and shanti. The sapindi joins him with the pitrus of the line, the brahmins are fed, and the shanti poojas cleanse the house. From that day the lamp is lit again, the pooja room is opened, and the family may attend shubha karyams.

11. The death certificate. Apply to the GHMC with the doctor’s certificate and the slip from the ghat, within twenty-one days. We tell you which office to go to and what to carry.

12. The first year. A masika pindam on the tithi of death each month, and the abdikam at the end of the year. We give you every date in writing and call you before each one.

You need not hold any of this in your head. Keep this page, and call.