The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-07-16

are most distinct and peculiar of the many races which have their home in India and their religion is interesting as survival of the early Aryan faith which held sway in Central Asia when the lamp of civilization burned bright est in Persia. They expose their dead to be devoured by vultures and the sacred fire is the emblem of their high est devotion. These strikingly peculiar customs. together with the commercial supremacy of the race in Bombay. in- vite the interest of every visitor to India.
 The Parsees are followers of zoroast- CT and believers in the sacred writings of the Zend-Avesta. Their religion was founded twelve or fourteen centuries before Christ and, with many changes. remained the prevailing faith of Persia and Central Asia until the Mohamme- dan missionaries of the sword over threw their nation and persecuted their religion. In the year TT small body of Persian refugees fled to India and were welcomed by the Hindu chief of Baroda. It was then that they as-' sumed the cap shaped like horses hoof in token of submission to the rulers of their adopted country. They led . precarious existence. however, and did not assume importance until after the English established Bombay, when they were given an opportunity to make use of their natural business shrewdness.
 Parsee means simply "Persian" and rectly called "Mazdaism," and Is soine- times known as Zoroastrianism. from the name of its great prophet. The Zend-Avesta, the sacred book of Per sia. was not completed until many cen- turies after the death of Zoroaster. and the Parsees look to the Hebrew Prophet Daniel as one of their great est teachers.
 Parsees stoutly deny that they are centuries and the veneration which they accord to the sacred flame. The origi- nal refugees from Persia brought the embers of the sacred fire from Central Asia and the fires now alight in the Parsee temples of India are believed to have been kindled more than 5000 years ago. According to the tenets of the faith there are two spirits, Ahura Mazda. or good. and Deva. or evil. which are constantly striving for the mas tery. Their hope and belief is that Soshios. son of Zoroaster, will be re- incarnated and that he will destroy evil, purify the world and make Mag daism supreme. This belief is a heri- tage from the Jews through Daniel.
 They believe in Heaven and Hell. that conduct In life determines the future state of reward or punishment, they deny the doctrine of reincarnation, ex- cept in the case of expected second coming of Soshios. and they hold that. duly performed religious rites by the living help the souls of their ancestors to happiness.
 The elements, fire, water and earth. are revered as the gifts of the gooi spirit, and the sun, moon and stars are also held sacred. The more ignorant classes worship the elements and the celestial bodies as gods, the higher of the Supreme Good God. Fire, water and earth are held most sacred, in the order name1.
 The religion was corrupted by con-S tact with Hinduism for many centuries, but about 300 years ago there was fresh immigration from Persia and the purity of the faith was restored. In late years. under the influence of the Occidental cfvttizatton. there has- been a movement among the higher classes to differentiate the fire and other sym bols from the higher worship and this has brought about a revival of study of the ancient Persian language and a closer organization of the religious body of. the race
 one thing must be said of the Par sees-their morals are high and there Is no blemish upon the conduct of their lives in their family relations---as father and son, mother and daughter. husband and wife. The Parsees have high reputation as men of honor in business. they will fulfill contract to the minute and the letter. But 1t is wise for the other party to look sharp at the time the contract is sealed.
 The body, whence the soul has de- parted, Is accounted impure and un- clean. Therefore. fire must not be de- filed by burning it. water must not river, and earth must not be defiled by burying it. So the practice began. ages ago, of exposing the corpses to be eaten by birds and beasts. This practice has been refined and systema- tized, and is now invested with the strict ceremonial of ultra-ritualism.
 The Towers of Silence in Bombay are the most interesting things to be seen in that interesting city. They stand at the top of Malabar Hill, the highest point of ground on Bombay Island. There are five circular towers of from 200 to 800 feet in eircumfer- ence and about thirty feet in height. Permission to visit the Tower com pound is easily obtained, but no one is allowed to go nearer than the flower garden which surrounds the House of Prayer at the gate. Even the mourn CTS in a funeral train may not approach nearer than this.
 Men set apart for the purpose de- spised by their -religionists as un- clean. take the body from the House of Prayer, where the mourners stand with their clothes linked together in token of united grief. They bear the body on a litter up the inclined plane, which leads to an iron door, a little more than halfway up the side of the tower. Only these bearded carriers of the dead are permitted to enter the Towers. If any other person should see one of the bodies or skeletons inside, he would be cursed with eternal perdition and his descendants would share his woe.
 Inside the tower is wholly occupied by circular gridiron. sloping toward a central well. and having three con centric rows of inches for bodies. The inside circle Is for children. the next for women and the outer circle for men. The body-carriers place their burden in one of the niches remove the
 Then the waiting vultures swoop down from the sides of the tower and from every neighboring tree. In less than half an hour nothing Is left but the cleanly picked skeleton. That Is permitted to remain for several days, when the body carriers again enter and throw the bones into the great well at the center, where they are left to await the slow operation of the transforma- ton of dust to dust"
 The tower Is roofless. of course, and for that reason receives the rain. The rain water Is polluted by contact with tha cornsea and decayinu hOnes and