by Iqbal Ahmad
As an archaeologist, I occasionally encounter remnants of ancient lives. Among these remains are fragments of skeletons that once carried breath and memory.
A young girl in a white school uniform, head lowered in quiet composure, would pass the roadside near my home each morning to board her school bus. My little daughter often waited for her and greeted her with a handshake. For a few days, however, we did not see her. My daughter, accustomed to her presence, remarked that she had not seen the school dedi, the name she had fondly given the girl. Upon inquiry, we learned that the girl had passed away.
The previous evening, while working on her homework, she had suffered a sudden heart attack and died in her study room. Her dreams and aspirations were left unfinished. Still in her teens, beloved by many in the locality, her sudden death not only devastated her family but cast a deep gloom over the entire neighbourhood.
This was not an isolated tragedy. Such shocking incidents unfold around us with disquieting frequency, yet the rhythm of life continues. Thousands lose their lives to sudden deaths, heart attacks, brain strokes, suicides, road accidents, armed conflicts, wars, epidemics, floods, fires, and other calamities. In recent years, there has been a marked rise in deaths caused by cardiac arrest and accidents. This has instilled fear among people, but despite this anxiety, life moves on. The business of daily existence does not pause.
The road outside my home remains crowded with people heading in different directions, pursuing their destinies. Yet the absence of that unfortunate young girl is conspicuous. She no longer walks that path. She has vanished into the silence that follows death.
The Certainty of an Uncertain End
There is a saying that death keeps no calendar. Indeed, it is a natural occurrence, unpredictable and inescapable. Grasping the nature of death and what may follow is a complex undertaking. Mortality is a fundamental truth. Every being that is born must, in time, return to the earth.
Yet it is death that gives life its weight. I have seen elderly people, worn by suffering, yearning for death. For them, death is not a source of fear but a promise of peace. However, when death strikes the young, a child, a teenager, a person still shaping their future, it brings sorrow. Such losses are especially painful.
In recent times, the number of sudden deaths among the young has increased. Brain strokes, heart attacks, road accidents, and suicides claim many lives. This has caused concern in society, but what can be done? In the face of death, the living are powerless and must surrender to fate.
What Is Death?
From a biological standpoint, death is defined by the irreversible cessation of circulatory or respiratory functions, or by the complete and irreversible loss of all functions of the brain stem. Spiritually, it is regarded as the moment when the soul departs from the body. Once the soul separates, the individual is considered dead.
While the event of death itself is, to some extent, comprehensible, what follows remains a mystery. What happens to the body? Where does the spirit go? Is there a continued link between the two? Across cultures and belief systems, there are numerous explanations. These stories, shaped by faith and mythology, attempt to answer what lies beyond.
Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Civilisations
The ancient Egyptians believed that after death, the spiritual body continued to exist in an afterlife that closely resembled the world of the living. However, this afterlife was not assured. The dead were believed to journey through a perilous underworld and face a final judgment before gaining entry.
In ancient Rome, death was seen as something that could contaminate or harm the living. A firm separation between the living and the dead was maintained. A boundary known as the pomerium enclosed inhabited areas, and it was only beyond this boundary that the dead could be buried.
Among the ancient Greeks, it was commonly held that the soul departed the body after death and continued to exist in another form. However, moral reward or punishment in the afterlife was not central to their beliefs. When someone died, the body would be washed, and a coin placed in the mouth to pay the ferryman who transported the soul across the rivers of the Underworld.
Eastern Traditions
In the Hindu tradition, death marks a transformation rather than an end. The soul is believed to be eternal and is reborn in a different form. This cycle of reincarnation continues until the soul realises its true essence and reaches liberation. The body may perish, but the soul is thought to continue its journey.
Buddhist teachings also regard life and death as a continuous flow. Consciousness persists beyond physical death and may be reborn. Death is not always seen as an end, but as a possible opportunity for release from the cycle of existence. In some forms of Tibetan Buddhism, death is believed to occur after the final breath, but the soul then enters an intermediate state that lies between the past life and the one to come.
Sikhism teaches that the soul passes through repeated cycles of birth and death, shaped by past actions. The aim is to transcend this cycle and merge with God. One’s present life is regarded as a reflection of past lives, and the choices made now are believed to shape future existence.
Ritual and Respect
Judaism places strong emphasis on honouring the dead. Caring for someone who has passed away is considered one of the greatest commandments. Burial is traditionally carried out without delay, to bring comfort to the soul and assist in its journey to the Next World.
The body is ritually washed, sometimes using water perfumed with pomegranate flowers, and then dressed. This act reflects a belief that an unclean body may suffer contempt and punishment in the afterlife. The ritual is intended to ease the soul’s passage through suffering and towards eventual peace.
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In Christian belief, death is regarded not as an end but as the beginning of another existence, either in heaven or in hell. It is held that judgment follows death. This judgment is considered final and absolute. Those deemed righteous are promised eternal bliss in heaven, while sinners are condemned to hell without reprieve.
In Islamic teachings, life and death occur according to the will of Allah. The timing of death is fixed for each person. Death signals the transition to the hereafter. According to tradition, the soul enters *Barzakh*, a state of waiting that lasts until the Day of Judgment. During this interval, the soul remains in suspension, removed from the world of the living, yet not yet called to account.
Reflections from the Dead Past
Each of these beliefs is held with conviction by the followers of the respective faiths. Yet, in literal terms, death remains what it is. No one who has died has returned to recount the reality of the event or the experience that follows. The nature of death and its aftermath remains unknown. The human mind struggles to grasp its full meaning.
As an archaeologist, I occasionally encounter remnants of ancient lives. Among these remains are fragments of skeletons that once carried breath and memory. They, too, lived as we do now. It is death that renders all beings into silence, that replaces movement with stillness, and that leaves pain in its wake for those who remain.
In the words of Sheikh Noor ud Din Noorani, a 14th-century Kashmiri philosopher and Reshi saint, the essence of death finds a poetic echo:
“kyeh karzi mouts te moutkin wakanan,
gou kuman janan chhangir karith.
pauien zen chamith go naven banan,
gay wain wanan fallove deith.”
What can be done to death or its causes? It is death that consumes the wondrous life forms. Just as water vanishes from newly crafted clay pots, just as shopkeepers close their shutters, so too does life come to an end.
(The writer is a senior archaeologist and author. Ideas are personal.)
