Those who meet a sudden or violent death, e. g., by being crushed under a falling house, by drowning in a well, by an accidental fall, by a snake bite, etc. enter the order of bhuts, pretas, pishāchas, etc., and are said to have gone to durgati or to a bad path.[72]
But those who die on a field of battle are believed to attain heaven.[73]
According to another belief, persons dying a violent death have to pass through the same fate, that is, die violently, for the next seven lives.[74]
Their souls are said to be liable to enter the asurgati or the order of devils. They are emancipated from this condition by the performance by their descendants of the ceremony called Nil parnāvavi or of those ceremonies prescribed in the Pāl Shāstra.[75]
It is also believed that such souls after entering the order of ghosts oppress and torment their descendants and relatives.[76]
In the case of suicides, when the crime is proved before the god of death the culprit is hurled into a hell called Mahāraurava, where he has to pass a thousand years. After the expiry of this period he is born again into this world, again commits suicide, and again meets the same fate after death. This is repeated seven times, after which he has to pass through 8,400,000 species of animals before again obtaining the human life.[77]
If the suicide be caused by poisoning, the person, in his next life, becomes a serpent; if by drowning or strangling, he becomes a ghost.[78]
Some believe that the souls of persons meeting a violent death enter the order of such ghosts as Jinni, Māmo, etc. For their emancipation shrāddhas are performed by their descendants. At times these ghosts possess the persons of their nearest relatives, and through this medium declare their desires. If they express a desire to have a pālio or pillar erected in their name, one is erected on the spot where they breathed their last. On this pillar is engraved a figure riding a horse, representing the deceased, which is besmeared with red lead or ochre. This representation is worshipped as a deity with offerings of frankincense, cocoanuts and lamps fed with ghi.[79]
The pālio is called surdhan, and is worshipped, especially on the death anniversary of the deceased.[80]
In some castes the surdhans are installed in the house of the deceased.[81]