The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-01-04


whether on hearth, on mountain heigf
or in the sky, he can more easily brin
to mind the glory of God-at least S
the Parsees tell me- Indeed they ar
the pleasantest heather 1 have met
They treat their wives as equals, Will
the Hindoos and Buddhists treat Their
as cattle, although the cattle and shee
and swine are better off than most o
the women of India.
This Parsee on the roadside on on
way to Malabar hill was the only on,
of that religion I had ever seen en-
gagged in worship Who Knows bu
that beyond the light of the sun OF
which he gazes he may catch a glimps,
of the God who is light and sin whom
there is no darkness at ALP"
We passed on up through gates intt
the garden that surrounds the place
where the Parsees dispose of theil
dead. This garden was given by Jam
shidji Jijibhai 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 1oC
feet above the level of the sea. Not
far from the entrance is a building
where the mourners of the funeral pro-
cession go in to pray, A light is here
kept burning year in and year out.
We ascend the garden by some eight
stone steps. The body of a deceased
aged woman was being carried in to-
ward the chief tower of silence. I"
There are five of these towers. Several
of them have not been used for long
while. Four persons, whose business it
it is to do this, carry the corpse. They
are followed by two men with long
boards. The tower of silence to which
they come cost $3.50, 600 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
cultures, now one, now two, now many,
'woop upon the lifeless form. These
cultures fill the air with their discord-
mt voices. We saw them in long rows
IN the top of the whitewashed wall of
he tower of silence. In few minutes |
hey have taken the last particle of |
lesh from the bones There had evil |
lently been other opportunities for |
hem that day, and some flew away, as
hough surfeited. They sometimes
AIRY away with them parts of body,
nd it is no unusual thing for the gen.
lemen in their country seats to have
ropped into their dooryards a bone
rom the tower of silence.
: In the center of this tower is we'll,
lto which the bones are thrown after
hey are bleached. The hot sun and
ne rainy season and charcoal do their
-ork of disintegration and disinfec-
on, and then there are sluices that
airy into the sea what remains of the
cad. The wealthy people of Malabar
i'll have made strenuous efforts to
ave these strange towers removed as
nuisance, but they remain and will
o doubt for ages remain.
l talked with learned Parsee about
lese mortuary customs. He said II
oppose you consider them very pecul-
IT, but the fact is we Parsees rever-
nee the elements of nature and can
OF consent to defile them. We rever-
nee the fire, and therefore will not
SIX it to burn our dead. We reverence
lie water and do not ask it to sub
erge our dead. We reverence the
nth and will not ask it to bury our
cad. And so we let the vultures take
lem away"
He confirmed me in the theory that
lie Parsees act on the principle that
lie dead are unclean. No one must
'uch such body. The carriers of
lis tomb of silence" must not put
leir hands on the form of the de- |
irted. They wear gloves lest some
ow they should be contaminated.
hen the bones are to be removed {
ON the side of the tower and I
1t in the well at the GEN.
r, they are touched careful
by tongs. Then these people g
sides have very decided theories d,
'out the democracy of the tomb.
No such thing as caste among the a
'ad. Philosopher and boor, the affiu- c
t and the destitute must go through !
e same ''tower of silence" lie down a
lie by side with other occupants, t
we their bodies dropped into the 2
me abyss and be carried out through i
e same canal and float away on the ]
me sea. No splendor of Metropolis. S
} sculpturing of mausoleum. No i
mp of dome or obelisk. Zoroaster's o
iching resulted in these towers of d
ence." He wrote. "Naked You came G