Samadhi (shrine)

Samadhi sites are often built in this way to honour people regarded as saints or gurus in Hindu religious traditions,[4] wherein such souls are said to have passed into mahāsamādhi, or were already in samadhi (a state of meditative consciousness) at the time of death.

In Sikhism, the term "samadhi" is used for the mausoleums of eminent figures, both religious and political.

The word is sometimes used for a memorial stele, also called paliya, a type of hero stone once common in parts of Gujarat and Sindh.

[citation needed] The tradition of India is cremation for most Hindu people at the time of death, while samadhi is generally reserved for very advanced souls, such as yogis and saints,[4] who have already been "purified by the fire of yoga"[5] or who are believed to have been in the state of samadhi at the time of death.

[6][7] A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (d. 1977) the founder of ISKCON (known as the "Hare Krishna Movement"), is commemorated with a large Samadhi Mandir in Mayapur, West Bengal.