According to Hindu tradition and its sacred texts, only a male family member (such as a husband, father or son) can perform the last rites.

However, in some cases women have taken on this role.

In most Hindu families, the body is bathed immediately after death, sometimes by women in the family.

The ritual marks of the community, along with sacred ash, may be applied on the person's body, under the guidance of the priest who chants holy mantras, which vary in different Hindu communities.

There are two main types of kapalas – those that use a full skull, and those that only use the skull cap or top-half of the cranium.

In later years, the religious patriarchy interpreted the putrika as the grandson, and reserved the conducting of the last rites for males.

A courtship may be an informal and private matter between two people or may be a public affair, or a formal arrangement with family approval.

Traditionally, in the case of a formal engagement, it has been perceived that it is the role of a male to actively "court" or "woo" a female, thus encouraging her to understand him and her receptiveness to a proposal of marriage.

The Scythian kurgan, or burial mound, was uncovered during power-line development in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia in 2013.

Dubbed Sengileevskoe-2 by archaeologists called in to excavate the mound, it was found the site had at one time been looted and not much was presumed to lie within.