His funeral pyre, lit under gloomy skies in a lonely corner of his country, resembled a small garbage heap -- a makeshift pile of truck tires, soiled mattresses, a solitary chair and a few other of his meager possessions.

CNN: BEYOND POL POT

Subsequently, all three brothers converge on the family home, not only arranging the funeral and burning their father's possessions in a garden pyre, but remaining in his house for months after their filial obligations are dispatched, sampling an aimless liberation.

ECONOMIST: A memoir of a father's death

Though outlawed in India for nearly two centuries, some Hindu communities practiced the ritual of sati -- in which a widowed Hindu woman would throw herself, or be thrown, on her husband's funeral pyre.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS