Asia's Three Paths of Departure

Following the completion of the cremation, the next crucial step involves the collection of the bone fragments (Asthi Visarjan). These remnants are treated with profound respect and are never simply discarded. They are often collected and, at a later date, ceremonially scattered in a sacred body of water, ideally a major river. This final act of dissolving the last physical traces into the eternal flow of the river symbolizes the final dissolution of the individual back into the universal cosmos, signifying the completion of the Antyesti process.