Some Rules of Death Impurity

General purification from maranashaucha (impurity due to death) happens in ten days. This is called kaya-shuddhi, meaning basic bodily purification. After this, the impurity of the physical body is considered gone. Full purity for food, rituals, and ceremonies is recognized only after sapindikarana on the twelfth day. That’s why religious acts should be done only after the twelfth day.

If another death occurs during the ten-day ashaucha period, the second maranashaucha is also considered complete along with the first one — both end together after 10 days.

But there’s one condition —

If the second death happens during the night of the tenth day of the first death, but before the third prahar (i.e., before around 9 hours have passed), then after the ten days of the first ashaucha, two more days are added, making a total of twelve days of impurity.

And if the second death happens during the fourth prahar (between 9 and 12 hours of the night), then after the ten days of the first shaucha, three more days are added, making it thirteen days in total.

For those performing the funeral rites (kriya-karma), a full ten-day ashaucha must be observed again.

If the mother passes away within ten days after the father's death, then from the day of the father's death, an extra one and a half days of impurity is added.

If the father passes away within ten days after the mother's death, then a fresh ten-day ashaucha starts from the day of the father’s death. Even if the ashaucha period for the mother is over, the one for the father is not — it must run the full ten days.

If, for some reason, the cremation doesn't happen on the same day as the death and is delayed to a later day, the ashaucha still counts from the day of death, not the day of cremation — and it runs for ten days from then.

If a married woman’s parents pass away, she is considered impure for only three days.

As long as the dead body remains in the house, even people of other gotras present there are considered to be in ashaucha.

If someone carries the body on their shoulder, stays in the same house, and eats there, then they have to observe impurity for ten full days.

But if the person either only eats there or only stays in the house, he is considered impure  for three days.

If he only carried the body on his shoulder but did not stay or eat there, then the impurity is just for one day.

If the cremation takes place during the day, those who attend the funeral procession remain in ashaucha until sunset.

After sunset, they should bathe, see the stars (nakshatra-darshan), and change their sacred thread (yajnopavita).

If cremation happens at night, then the ashaucha period lasts until sunrise.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi