The eminent lexicon-editor Amarasiṁha (Amarasimha), in the Puravarga (Puravarga) of his Amarakoṣa (Amarakosha), has mentioned eḍūka (eduka), among several types of houses or abodes in a locality–
bhittiḥ strī kuḍyameḍūkaṁ sadantaryastakīkasam.
The term ‘kīkasa‘ means ‘last remains of the corpse’ or ‘asthi‘ (bone-dust). It is to be understood that the house in which the remains of the dead is kept preserved, is of a different type — not like other normal houses. In Koṣa (Kosha)-texts (dictionary) such kind of houses are referred to as eḍūka. In Śavdakalpadruma (Savdakalpadruma), citing one lexicon-editor named Mādhava (Madhava), it is said that after a proper burial of the bones of the dead, at the centre of some consecreated place, a house is built over it, and this house is called eḍūka —
madhyasaṁsthāpitasthyādi kūḍyameḍūkamucyate.
From the definition given in Koṣa-texts, eḍūka can fairly be understood as a tomb or vault or memorial shrine, dedicated to the deceased.

In Mahābhārata (Mahabharata), the mention of memorial shrine or eḍūka is also found. While describing the characteristics of the Kaliyuga, it is said that in Kaliyuga, instead of going to temples of gods, people would worship the eḍūka —
eḍukān pūjayiṣyanti varjayaṣyanti devatāḥ.
Moreover it is said that in the localities, the number of memorial tombs would be increasing, instead of temples —
eḍūkacinhā prithivī na devagṛhabhūṣitā
bhaviṣyati yuge kṣīṇe tadyugānta lakṣaṇam.

Though used in Mahābhārata as a Sanskṛta (Sanskrita; Sanskrit)term, eḍūka is not actually so — as several scholars have thought. According to Julia Shaw, the term derived from the Tamil ‘Elūka’ which means ‘burial ground’.