Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-01
THE TOWERS OF SILENCE.

| DblCCto VI DO4AOoys Will bAClA ISSoASoS
crowds of Hindoo, Mussulman, and Eu.
ropean inhabitants, and to the never,
ceasing movement of the multifarious
Indian life of the city, are those still
"Towers of Silence" that crown the
height of Malabar Hill. No sound dis
turbs their slumber but some faint echo
of the far-off life IN the teeming town
below; no movement but the heavy
fight of some grim, awful bird. The
hot sun pours down its ardor, pitiless,
on those bare, round walls, and the tall
palms bedraggled by the vultures that
rest upon them scarce move their light
est filament in the languid, breathless
air. Here stiffness and silence reign
supreme, save in the early morning or
at sunset, when some white-clad pro-
cession mounts the steep pathway to
this great garden of the dead, bearing
its burden, at sight of which the birds,
now all in motion, wheel in heavy cir
Giles above the tower.
All that relates to the Parsees-their
religion, their customs, and their his
tory-is of the deepest interest, an in
terest given by and arising from that
hoariest antiquity to which they belong.
A religion that is of the most ancient of
the earth, and one that, although few
and unimportant are its adherents to-
day, at one time bid fair to be the creed
of almost the whole civilized world 1t
was the belief of Cyrus, Darius, and
Xerxes; and, had not the advancing
armies of the Persians fallen before the
phalanxes of the Greek, the religion of
the East, the worship of one God, might
have flowed over Europe and raised it
from the paganism IN which 1t grOveled
until the doctrines of Christ, centuries
after, spread and were received. Mara
thon, that greatest battle of the world,
preserved the integrity of Greece, but it
stayed the purer teaching of Zoroaster
from flowing to the West, as it would
have done under the empire of the
Eastern satraps. Long after in the
East was Ormuzd wOrshipped; long did
the Persian temples shelter the pure
flame of their holy fire; and not until
the fierce followers of Mahomet with
fire and swOrd-true fanatics weapons
conquered them in Arabia, did the fol-
lowers of Zoroaster dwindle in number
and decline in power till at length, per-
secuted and oppressed by power they
could not resist, but to which they
would not bow, they migrated, 1900
years ago, to India, where, in Bombay
and Poona, the remnants of this ancient
faith still Hnger with their worship.
Zerdusht, or Zoroaster, about whose
birth and childhood later superstition
has flung an almost impenetrable veil
of fable and of myth, was one of those
great leaders of men--philosophic and
enthusiastic-that only the ardent East
seems powerful to produce; one of
those men whose belief in their own
teaching is so intense and perfect as to
convince all others of its truth. He
was born about 500 B. c. GU, and at an
early age retired from the world, it is
said for thirty years, for meditation and
for prayer, during which time he COM
posed those books of his teaching whose
fragments remain priceless treasury
to this day, collected in the Zend-Avesta,
the sacred book of the Parsees. His
creed was simple and comprehensive,
but he doubtless taught with it laws,
ceremonies and restrictions, much as
were given with that other Eastern
faith which it so much resembles in
many ways; and to these the priestly
caste has added much in the succeeding
generations. He taught that there was
one Almighty POwer-a deity existent
from all time and for eternity, who Gre
ated two spirits, Ormuzd and Ahriman,
each of whom was also a creating force.
Ormuzd was the benefcent and Ahri-
man the malevolent power, and between
them and their followers ragged, and has
ragged since their beginning, a constant
warfare. Zoroaster taught that at length
Ormuzd should prevail, and for a sea-
son, before the end of all things, peace
should reign on the earth. The great
teacher is supposed to have received
this knowledge from Ormuzd himself,
with whom he was for a space in heaven.
| He taught that there Is a heaven and a
| hell, and for our actions, good or i'll,
shall be judged to all a meet reward of
| happiness or Of sorrow, each one upon
| his merits OrmuZd told him also to
"teach the nations that my light is hid
den under all that shines; whenever you
| turn your face to the light and follow
my command, Ahriman" (the evil spirit
90 will be seen to fly. In this world there
is nothing superior to light" Hence it
Is that fire, though not worshipped by
! the true Parsee, is held in reverence by
all. In their temples the sacred fires,
! the first bright seed of which was orig
inally brought by Zerdusht from heaven,
are constantly kept burning, and from
this fact the Parsees have gained the
name-a misleading one for the true
followers of their prophet-of Fire-wor-
| shippers. But with that strange, sad
decay that seems the inevitable fate of
! all religions, corruptiOns entered their
pure faith, until the MOnotheistic Par
see, the worshipper of one Almighty
! Power, degenerating, became almost
universally d mere worshipper of its
symbol, with ceremonials and customs
! that had lost all significance, and pray
ers whose meaning had long since been
forgot.
Until late years, their very priests,
who must learn the Zend-Avesta by
heart before they can be admitted to
their calling, were ignorant of the old
Zend tongue in which their sacred
books are written, and, scrupulous to
the letter in the observance of their
rites, were ignorant entirely of the loft
| est teaching of their master, and even
of the significance of the ritual they
practised. These things now are much
changed, and the old pure teaching,
though with many tedious, sometimes
disgusting, ceremonies, is resumed, and
the simple creed, "There is one God
whom all must worship is dear to the
Parsee's heart not only for its univer-
salty, its wide-embracing scope, but
from the fact that now for thousands of
years, through success and through
suffering, through changes Of country,
home, and language, his fathers have
adhered to the worshiping of Ormuzd
and the honoring of fire.
"Thou shalt not defile the earth, -
had Zerdusht taught, and, mindful of
this teaching, no dead Parsee is laid III
> mother earth to faint her with his cor
ruption. Stone towers are built, upon
whose summit are exposed the bodies
of the dead to all the fowls of air, who
quickly remove all flesh from off the
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