Praying for salvation
Praying for salvation is the act of praying to Maya, the Great Mother for safe delivery unto Her Halls after you have died. After making your way through the Halls, you will, if the Creatrix deems your death untimely (and most adventurer deaths are), be reborn into a new physical body, and will awaken in the Cave of Maya.
There are other means of returning to life. Of the various methods, praying for salvation costs the most experience in addition to that which you have already lost through death itself, and is usually done when one has no other means available.