Death+Perception+Among+Asian+Indian+American+Hindus

Gupta, Rashmi. "Death Beliefs and Practices from an Asian Indian American Hindu Perspective." Death Studies, vol. 35, no. 3, Mar. 2011, pp. 244-266. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/07481187.2010.518420.

In the academic journal, "Death Beliefs and Practices from an Asian Indian American Hindu Perspective", Gupta explores the background of Hinduism and the religion’s belief system and relates it to the Asian Indian American Hindu (AIAH) followers' perception of death itself. It discusses how Hindus believe in reincarnation, which reveals that once a person dies, there spirit is reborn in order to fulfill their karmas. Gupta explains four concepts named dharma, karma, maya, and Atman which express the evolution of life which inevitably includes death as a stage. This study interviews and focuses on different age groups including senior citizens who were immigrants, youth, and adult aged members of this community and explains their role in the family which is a key part of their religion.

This work by Rashmi Gupta helps me discover other views of death that are not your usual negative connotations when dealing with the topic. In my research, the goal was to learn about the perception of death in different cultures and to learn why they believed what they believed. This study included religion, race, age and family hierarchy which helped me understand that not all cultures view death as something to fear or oppose.