The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-02-07

He looks Upon the sun as the en-
blem of the warmth and light of the
Creator. Looking at a blaze of light,
whether on hearth, on mountain height
or in the sky, he can more easily bring
to mind the glory of God-at least SO
the Parsees tell me. Indeed they are
the pleasantest heathen I have met.
They treat their wives as equals, while
the Hindoos and Buddhists treat them
as cattle, although the cattle and sheep
and swine are better off than most of
the women of India.
This Parsee on the roadside on our
way to Malabar hill was the only one
of that religion l had ever seen en-
gagged in worship. Who knows but
that beyond the light of the sun on
which he gazes he may catch a glimpse
of the God who is light and sin whom
there is no darkness at alp"
We passed on up through gates into
the garden that surrounds the place
where the Parsees dispose of their
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 100
feet above the level of the sea. Not
far from the entrance is 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 -
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, 1000 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,
swcop 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 evi
IDENTIFY been other opportunities TO,
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 gen
tlemen in their country seats to have
dropped into their dooryards bone
from the tower of silence.
In the center of this tower is 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 disintegratiol and disinfec
ton, and then there are sluices that
carry into the sea what remains of the
dead. The wealthy people of Malaba,
hill have made strenuous efforts tC
have these strange towers removed as
a nuisance, but they remain and will
no doubt for ages remain.
| I talked with learned Parsee about
| these mortuary customs. He said: ''.
suppose you consider them very pecul
lar, but the fact is we Parsees rever
ence the elements of nature and car
not consent to defile them. We rever
ence the fire, and therefore will no
ask it to burn our dead. We reverence
the water and do not ask it to sub
merge our dead. We reverence the
earth and will not ask it to bury oul
dead. And SO we let the vultures take
them away"
He confirmed me in the theory thai
the Parsees act on the principle tina
the dead are unclean. No one mus
touch such body. The carriers O
this tomb of silence must not pu
their hands on the form of the de
parted. They wear gloves lest some
how they should be contaminated
When the bones are to be removed
from the side of the tower ant
put in the we'll at the cen
ter, they are touched careful
ly by tongs. Then these people
besides have very decided theories
about the democracy of the tomb.
No such thing as caste among tn,
dead. Philosopher and boor, the affiu
ent and the destitute must go through
the same s'tower of silence" lie dowr
side by side with other occupant
have their bodies dropped into tn,
same abyss and be carried out through
the same canal and float away on the
same sea. No splendor of Metropolis
No sculpturing of mausoleun. NJ
pomp of dome or obelisk. Zoroaster
teaching resulted in these towers o
silence" He wrote NAKED you cam,
into tue world, and naked you mus
go out"
As stood at the close of day in thi
garden on Malabar hill and heard tn,
flap of the vultures' wings coming from
their repast, the funeral custom of th'
Parsee seemed, horrible beyond com
pare, and vet the dissolution of the hu
man body by any mode is awful, ant
the beaks of these fowl are probabl,