The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-12-28
and swine arc better on than most Of
tho women Of India.

|
IN worship Who knows but that b,
yond the hight of tho sun on which h
gazes he may catch glimpse of tn
God who is light and Sin whom ther
is no darkness at all1"
The Tower of Silence.
We passed on up through gates int
the garden that surrounds the plac
where the Parsees dispose of their dead
This garden was given by Jamshidj
Jijibhai and is beautiful with flower
Of all hue and foliage of ali styles @
vein end notch and stature There
on all sides great opulenoe Of fern an,
cypress. The garden is 100 feet abov
the level of the sea. Not fur from TIN
entrance Is building where the mourn
ers of the funeral procession go in t.
pray. A light is here kept burning yea
in and year ont.
We ascend the garden by some eigh
stone steps. The body of a deceased
aged woman was being carried in to-
ward the chief tower of silence. ;
There are five of these towers Severa
of them have not been used for Ions
while. Four persons, whose business il
is to do this, carry the corpse. They
are followed by two mon with Ions
Boards The tower of silence to which
they come cost $3.50, 900 and is 25 feet
high and 276 feet around and without
a roof. The four carriers of the dead
and the two bearded men come to the
door of the tower, enter and leave the
dead. There are three rows of places
for the dead-the outer row for the
men, the middle row for the women, the
inside row for the children. The life
less bodies are left exposed as far down
as the waist. As soon as the EMPLOYEES
retire from the tower of silence the
vultures, now one, now two, now many,
swoop upon the lifeless form. These
vultures fill the air with their discord-
ant voices. We saw them in long rows
on the top of the whitewashed wall of
the tower of silence In few minutes
they have taken the last particle of
flesh from the bones. There had evil
IDENTIFY been other opportunities for
them that day, and some flew away, as
though surfeited. They sometimes carry
away with them parts of body, and it
is no unusual thing for the gentlemen
in their country seats to have dropped
into their dooryards bone from the
tower Of silence.
In the center of this tower is a we'll,
into which the bones are thrown after
they are bleached. The hot sun and the
rainy season and charcoal do their work
OF disintegration and distinction, and
then there are sluices that carry into the
sea what remains of the dead The
people of Malabar hill have
made strenuous efforts to lave these
strange towers removed as nuisance,
but they remain and will no doubt for
ages remain.
Food For vu1tures.
talked with learned Parsee abont
these mortuary customs He said: II
suppose you consider them very pocul-
ar, but the fact is we Parsees rever.
snce the elements of nature end cannot
to defile them. We reverence
'he fire, and therefore will not ask it
% burn our dead. We reverence the
water and do not ask it to submerge
'ur dead We reverence the earth and
will not ask it to bury our dead. And
% we let the vultures take them away"
lie confirmed me in the theory that the
'arsees act on the principle that the
lead are unclean. No one ganst toucl,
UGH body The carriers Of this tomb |
Il silence must not put their hands on
he form of the departed. They wear
loves lest somehow they should be con-
When the bones are to be re-
moved from the sides Of the tower and
nut in the well at the CENTER they are
ouched carefully by tongs. Then these
eople besides have very decided theo-
les about the democracy Of the tomb. |
70 such thing as caste among the dead.
Philosopher and boor, the afluent and
he destitute must go through the same
tower of silence, lie down side by
lde with other occupants, have their
odies dropped into the same abyss and
Q carried out through the same canal
nd float away on the same sea. No
olendor of Metropolis. No sculpturing
mausoleum. No pomp of dome or
belisk. Zoroaster's teaching resulted
these towers of silence" He wrote,
Naked you came into the world, and
aked you must go out. -
AS stood at the close of day in this
arden on Malabar hill and heard the
ap OF the vultures' wings coming from
leir repast the funeral custom of the
arsee seemed horrible beyond compare,
I'd yet the dissolution of the human
'dy by any mode is awful, and the
'aks of these fowl are probably no
ore repulsive than the worms of the
'dy devouring the sacred human form
cemeteries. Nothing but the resur-
ction day can undo the awful work of
'ath, whether it now be put out of
ght by cutting spade or flying wing.
Parsee Wedding.
Starting homeward, we soon were in
% heart of the city and saw a building
afiash with lights and resembling
18th merry voices. 1t was Parsee
edding in building erected especial
for the marriage ceremony. We came
the door and proposed to 20 in, but {
first were not permitted They saw 8
were not Parsees, and that we were l
It even natives. So, very politely, they I
'lted us on the doorsteps. This temple |
nuptials was chiefly occupied by
omen, their ears and necks and
nds aflame with jewels or limitations
jewels. By pantomime and ges- i
re, as we had no use Of their vo- |
bulary, we told them we were stran. I
rs and were curious to sec by what q
ocess Parsees were married. Gradual t
we worked our way inside the door. =
10 building and the surroundings !
re lllumined by hundreds of candles Il
glasses and lanterns, in unique and t
otesque holdings Conversation ran t
Oh, and laughter bubbled over, and all b
IS gay. Then there was a sound of an b
vancing band Of music, but the in I
uments for the most part were strange I
cur ears and eyes. Louder and louder a