The Yale expositor., 1894-12-28


the women of India.
This Parsee on the roadside on our
way to Malabar Hill was the only one
OF that religion had ever seen en-
gagged in worship. Who knows but
that beyond the light of the sun on
which he gazes he may catch glimpse
of the God who is light, and ''in whom
there is no darkness at ALP"
We passed up through gates into
the garden that surrounds the place
where the Parsees dispose of their
dead. This garden was given by
Jamshidji Jijibhal, and is beautiful
with flowers of all hue, and foliage of
all styles of vein, and notch and
stature. There is on all sides great
opulence of fern and cypress. The
garden is 100 feet above the level Of
the sea. Not far from the entrance is
a building where the mourners of the
funeral procession go in to pray. A
light is here kept burning year in and
year out. We assend the garden
by some eight stone steps. The body
of deceased aged woman was
being carried in toward the chief
Flower of Silence" There are five of
these towers. Several of these have
not been used for / ng while. Four
persons, whose business it is to do
this carry in the corpse. They are
followed by two men with long boards
The Tower of Silence, to which they
come cost $50, 900, and tits twenty-five
feet high, and 270 feet around, and
without q 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 .he dead; the outer
row for the men: the middle row for
women; the inside row for the children.
The lifeless 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 life
less form. These vultures fill the
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 bodies. There had
evidently been other opportunities for
them that day, and some few 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 a
bone from the Tower of Silence.
In the center of this tower is well,
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 disinfec-
ton, and then there are sluices that
carry into the sea what remains OF the
dead. The wealthy people of OF Mala-
bar Hill have made strenuous efforts
to have these strange towers removed
as nuisance, but they remain, and
will no doubt for ages remain.
Starting homeward we soon were in
the heart of the city, and saw build
ing all ahash with lights and resound-
ing with merry voices. 1t was a Par
see wedding, in building erected es-
pecially for the marriage ceremony.
We came to the door and proposed to
90 in, but at first were not permitted.
They saw we were not Parsees, and
that we were not even natives SO
very politely they halted us on the
doorsteps. This temple of nuptials
was chiefly occupied by women, their
10 10 a. a a
with jewels, or limitations of jewels.
BY pantomine gesture, as we had no
use of their voca bulary, we told them
we were strangers and were curious to
see by what process Parsees were mar
ried. Gradually we worked our way
inside the door. The building and the
surroundings were illumined by hun
dreds of candles in glasses and Ian
terms, in unique and grotesque hold
ings. Conversation ran high, and
laughter dubbed over and all
was gay. Then there was a sound OF
an advancing band of music, but the
instruments for the most part were
strange to our ears and eyes. Louder
and louder were the outside voices,
and the wind and stpinged instruments
until the procession halted at the door
of the temple and the bridegroom
mounted the steps. Then the music
ceased, and all the voices were still.
The mother of the bridegroom, with a
platter 'oaded with aromatics and arti-
cles of food, confronted her son and
began to address him. Then she took
from the platter bottle of perfume
and sprinkled his face with the redo
lence. All the while. speaking in a
droning tone, she took from the platter
handful of rice. throwing some of it
on his head, splitting some of it on his
shoulder, pouring some of it on his
hands. She took from the platter n CO.
coanut and waved it about his head. She
lifted garland Of flowers and threw it
over his neck and n bouquet of flow
ers and put it in his hand. Her part
of the ceremony completed, the band
resumed its music, ard Through an
other door the bridegroom was con-
Quoted into the center of the building.
The bride was in the room, but there
was nothing to designate her. Where