Although cremation is the most frequent method of Hindu cremation, remains are sometimes buried.
The corpses of extremely young children are one example, as though it is acknowledged that they never grew into actual people.
Ascetics are the only other individuals that are typically buried, and there are many meanings for them.
One theory is that they are not really dead, but rather in a profound state of meditation (samadhi).
Because the ascetic is still believed present, he is often buried in a sitting position.
Another rationale for burying ascetics may be because it was assumed that by abandoning the world, they had become “dead” to it, and therefore no more rituals were required.
Indeed, performing one's own death rituals is a requirement of several ascetic initiations.
Ascetics with followers who want to preserve their graves as shrines are often buried.
Those who aren't buried are typically tossed into bodies of water after being weighted down with boulders.
