A guide for families and mourners
Sikh funerals
A Sikh funeral is called antam sanskar, which means the last rite. Its shape is set out in the Sikh Rehat Maryada, the code of conduct published by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, and what strikes most people attending for the first time is how plain it is. There is no display, no monument afterwards, and no ranking of one death above another.
The thread running through it is acceptance of God's will. That is why the code asks mourners to hold back from loud grief and to turn to prayer instead. It is worth saying clearly that this is guidance about conduct, not a claim that Sikh families do not feel the loss. They grieve as anyone does.
- Burial or cremation
- Cremation, at any age
- Usual timing
- Within a few days, no restriction on the hour
- Where
- Crematorium, with prayers at home or the gurdwara
- Concludes
- On the tenth day, and nothing after it
One thing to hold in mind
Practice varies between families, between gurdwaras, and with regional custom, and Sikh families in the diaspora often do things a little differently from relatives in Punjab. The Rehat Maryada is the shared reference point rather than a description of every family. If you are arranging a funeral, your own gurdwara is the right place to settle the detail.
What happens, in order
This is the order the Rehat Maryada sets out. Where open-air cremation is not lawful or practical, which is the case in most countries outside India, the cremation takes place at a crematorium instead, but the sequence of prayers around it is unchanged.
At the time of death
The body is left on the bed rather than moved to the floor, and no lamp is lit beside it. The code asks that only Gurbani is recited, or the name Waheguru repeated, by the person's side. Families are asked not to wail or beat their breasts, and to recite instead, as a way of settling into acceptance of God's will.
Washing and dressing
The body is bathed and dressed in clean clothes. The Sikh articles of faith stay on it: the kangha (comb), the kara (steel bracelet), the kachhera (undergarment) and the kirpan. Hair is never cut or trimmed. Hospital multi-faith guidance repeats this point for staff, and asks that the body be covered and not taken to the mortuary until the family arrive.
Ardas before leaving
An Ardas, the Sikh communal prayer, is offered before the body is taken for cremation. On the journey, hymns are recited whose subject is detachment from the world.
At the cremation
An Ardas is offered again on arrival. A member of the family or a close friend lights the pyre, which at a crematorium becomes a family member starting the cremation. Those attending sit a little apart, listening to kirtan or to the recitation of hymns.
Kirtan Sohila
When the pyre is fully alight, Kirtan Sohila is recited, the prayer Sikhs also say at night before sleeping, followed by a further Ardas. The code sets no restriction on the time of day or night at which a cremation may take place.
The reading begins
Returning home, a reading of the Guru Granth Sahib is started. Family and relatives share the reading between them.
The ashes
The ashes and any remaining bone are gathered up, and either immersed in flowing water or buried at the place of cremation with the ground levelled afterwards. Raising a monument to the dead at the site of cremation is not permitted.
The tenth day, and after
The reading of the Guru Granth Sahib should be completed on the tenth day. Where that is not practical, the code allows the family to finish it on another date that suits them. It concludes with six stanzas of Anand Sahib, an Ardas, and the sharing of Karhah Prashad.
That conclusion is often held at the gurdwara rather than at home, and is commonly followed by langar, the free communal meal served to everyone who comes, regardless of who they are or whether they are Sikh.
After the tenth day the code is unusually direct: no funeral ceremony remains to be performed. That is the end of it. A number of mourning customs found in the surrounding culture are explicitly rejected, among them ceremonial pot breaking, organised lamentation, keeping a lamp burning for a year, ritual food offerings, and collecting bone to carry to a sacred river.
This is one of the places where a Sikh funeral differs most from what people expect, and it is worth understanding rather than reading as coldness. The refusal of monuments and extended rites is a statement about equality and about where the dead now are, not an instruction to stop missing someone.
If a hospital is involved
It is reasonable to ask that the articles of faith are left on the body and that staff of the same gender handle it. Neither is an unusual request. Hospital multi-faith guidance sets both out for staff, and the people caring for your relative may simply not know unless you say so.
Because a Sikh funeral is arranged soon after a death, anything that moves the paperwork along genuinely helps, and it is worth saying plainly that the timing matters to you.
A post-mortem should not go ahead without the family's permission unless the law where you are requires one. Organ donation, if it is raised, sits comfortably with the Sikh emphasis on giving and helping others.
If you are attending
If you have been invited to a Sikh funeral and have never been to one, these are the questions people most often want answered and are too polite to ask.
What should I wear?
Modest, subdued clothing. Cover your head: a scarf or a plain cloth is fine, and gurdwaras keep spare head coverings by the door. You will remove your shoes before entering the prayer hall.
Do I need to be Sikh to attend?
No. Sikh worship is open to everyone, and the langar meal is served to all comers by design. You will be made welcome without being expected to participate in anything you do not understand.
Should I bring flowers?
Ask the family first. The tradition leans firmly towards simplicity and away from display, and some families would rather you gave to a cause instead. Nobody will mind you asking.
What do I say?
Less than you think. If loud grief is being held back deliberately, a quiet word and your presence carry more than a long speech. Saying that you do not know the customs and asking what would help is always received well.
Where this comes from
We are not writing from inside this tradition, so everything on this page is drawn from the sources below and we have said what each one was used for. Nothing here is scripture quoted at you, and nothing has been filled in from assumption.
- Sikh Rehat Maryada, Article XIX: Funeral Ceremonies. Issued by the SGPC, Amritsar; text hosted by the Sikh Missionary Society
Used for: The full sequence: conduct at death, washing and dressing, the articles of faith, Ardas, cremation, Kirtan Sohila, the reading, the ashes, monuments, the tenth day, and the rejected customs.
- Sikh Rehat Maryada, English text (sikhs.org)
Used for: A second, independent rendering of Article XIX, used to check the first. The two agree.
- SPaRC multi-faith guide, Sikh (Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
Used for: Hospital care at the point of death: the articles of faith and uncut hair, covering the body, same-gender handling, family presence, post-mortem consent and organ donation. A British source, cited for hospital practice rather than for religious rulings.
Tell us if we have this wrong
If you belong to this tradition and something here is inaccurate, incomplete, or simply put badly, we would genuinely like to know. We would rather be corrected than be politely wrong on a page that grieving families are reading. Corrections are made quickly and we will say what changed.
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