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

1. 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

2. Culture shapes the belief system

The fears, hopes, and orientations people

have towards “Death” are not instinctive, but
rather are learned from cultural symbols
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

3. 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
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

4. Kashi: antiquity, religious symbol and sacred

space
mukti dayani/moksha dayani Kashi

Age old association of Kashi with old age and

dying and death
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

5. 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
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

6. 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
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

8. 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
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

9. 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
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

10. 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
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

11. 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.
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

12. 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.
umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

13. umeshka@gmail.com | umesh.singh@live.in | Blog: sociocrat.blogspot.com

14. . . . Thanks !