The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-03-03
FOOD FOR
BURIAL CUSTOMS AMONG THE
PARSEES.
The Dead Fed to Birds Of Prey
Weird Temples Of Silenee-.The
White Stone Of Parting and Gooe-

~
White Stone Of Parting and Gooe-
BY.
Among all the strange burial Gus
toms the world over there is noue
more horribly interesting than that
which is followed wen until to-day
among the Parsees in India, says a
writer in the Pail Mall Budget. There
is a strangeness even about the very
name-a Tower OF Silence-the place
where the Parsees put away their
dead and leave them for the vultures
to swoop down and feed upon.
The Dokhma-to give the correct
name TO the round Parsee sepulchers
that we, in our easy Anglo-lndian
fashion, call Towers of SiIence-is al
ways OF high ground. The sanitary
reasons for this are very obvious. In
Bombay there are three towers. They
were built at different periods, and
mark the increase in Bombay Of
Parsee affiuence and of Parsee num-
bers. The oldest and smallest was
built soon after the followers of To-
rooster had fed from Persia TO India.
These Parsee mortuaries were in
every way different from what had
imagined them. But after having
seen what they really are, my utmost
philosophy revolts and sickens at the
thought of the poor dead body, torn,
as it is, by the claws and beaks of the
human-hesh-fed vultures. But that
the Parsee disposition OF the dead is
anything but healthy, / dispute. And
the surroundings and situation of the
Bombay Dokhmas are dignifed and
beautiful.
Our guide took us into a little
house, in which is kept a model of
the Dokhma. From this you learn
what the inner construction of every
Parsee Dokhma is; for into no Dokh-
ma are you allowed to look. On the
bottom Of the tower is a thick floor
ing Of lime. A few feet above is the
grating upon which the bodies are
laid. This grating is divided into
three tiers; not above each other but
inside each other. Each tier is d.
vided into the same number Of sec
tons. These sections are formed by
iron rays that spring from the center
IF the tower TO its outer circumfer-
nee or wall. Hence the apartments
Of the inner tier are smaller than
those Of the center tier-those of The
center tier smaller than those of the
outer. The outer tier is reserved for
the bodies Of men the inner tior for
the bodies Of children, and On the CEN
ter tier the swOoping vultures find
the bodies Of the Parsee women.
Only the attendants of the Dokh-
ma are allowed to enter it with the
dead. They pass quickly up n mar
row aisle that run from the doorway
and lay the dead upon the appointed
place.. They tear the sheets rapidly
from the body, for the vultures are
waiting, and they do not wait tamely.
Only one article is left upon the
corpse-the kusti. The attendants
hurry away and the vultures, with
horrid cries, rush down upon their
prey.
The vultures are kept and bred by
the attendants Of the Dokhmas for
the purpose of cleaning the flesh from
the bones Of the Parsee dead. They
are only IA few hours, at the longest,
in executing their gruesome task.
The Dokhma is roohesS. When the
rain falls it washes the dust OF the
c~rumbling bones down TO the lime
flooring. From there il gradually
drains away and is absorbed again
into the economy Of nature in a way
absolutely harmless to the living.
A few wards from the tower Of ST.
lence is a white stone. It is kept
clean and shines up from the green
grass. Nearer the Dokhma than this
stone no one may go save the dead
and the professional attendants. 1t
is the Stone Of Parting, the Stone OF
Good-by, of Everlasting Farewell.
Beyond it the dead must go from
those who have loved him, those be
has loved-go alone into the place of
death and into the something after
death which, in Parsee usage, seems
to us worse than death itself.