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by wickedwillie on December 18th, 2004

wickedwillie

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What are the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence?

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  • by Alatea on December 6th, 2005

    Alatea

    The Towers of Silence (also dakhma or dokhma) are Zoroastrian funerary towers, the majority of which are located in Mumbai, India, belonging to Parsi Zoroastrians, and in Yazd and Kerman, Iran, belonging to the Iranian Zoroastrians.

    Zoroastrians consider the dead body to be unclean, and their religion prohibits allowing corpses to pollute the pure elements of earth and fire. Corpses are therefore placed atop the Towers of Silence for their flesh to be consumed by vultures. Once the bones have been bleached by the sun and wind, they are thrown into the ossuary pit at the center of the tower.

    In the Iranian Zoroastrian tradition, the Towers of Silence were built atop hills or low mountains in desert locations distant from population centers. In the early twentieth century, the Iranian Zoroastrians discontinued usage of the Towers and now bury their dead in more traditional cemeteries. Some have even taken the practice of cremating their dead, though this is forbidden by the Gathas.

    In the Parsi Zoroastrian tradition, the Towers are squat buildings surrounded by forest gardens, and may only be entered by a special class of pallbearers. Bodies are arranged inside the towers in three rings: men around the outside, women in the second circle, and children in the innermost ring. In the past several years, the vulture population has greatly declined, and the remaining vultures are often unable to fully consume the bodies. If their numbers continue to fall, this tradition may end.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Silence

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  • by anguilla on December 26th, 2004

    anguilla

    The Parsi people are pre-Islamic Zoroastrain peoples who fled Iran for India in 700 when it was clear Arabic Islam had won the day.

    Towers of Silence – where the Parsis ‘bury’ their dead by offering their ritually minced bodies to the vultures at a place in the heart of Bombay, a hilltop park refuge guarded and walled off in the heart of Malabar Hill. Entry to non-Parsis is forbidden.

    The Towers are really just circular concrete buildings with a platform around the inside edge of their squat top and a deep black well plunging into darkness in their center (presumably that is where the cleaned bones go). Evidently the vultures have been dying off and there are barely enough of them now to consume the 300 bodies a year which are set out for them here.

    ---http://www.gorustic.com/bombay_interlude.htm

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