THE TOWERS OF SILENCE IN BOMBAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5950, 22 March 1880, Page 6

THE TOWERS OF SILENCE IN BOMBAY.

(CJnmlera 1 Journal.) .. ITo European who has visited Bombayoan ■ have failed to remarjk, tho poouliar and primitive way tho Pawoos have of disposing of. their dead. It iq admitted by all, that among the difforeatnations of India,- this little qom- , munity of enterprising And intelligent people are foremost., in casting aside'Superstitious and uprooting prejudices. They haye taken the lead of civilisation and enlightenment in India, and they are of all ethers the least, fettered by mischievous prejudices and idle superstitions. ; It ; seems, therefore, quite surprising that the^: ; have'yet persevered in a custom which is calculated to shock enlightened minds, and whioh. no one can eontemplate without a sense,; of horror. Surprising os it may be, it is nevertheless a fact., .that.they expose the dead bodies of their coreligionists to bo devoured by vultures. A glance at the ceremonies, performed over tho , dead body of a Parsec before it is conveyed to the Towers of Silence, and the mode in which it is left to be devoured by these vultures, may bo interesting. It may be premised that the Payees Ore tho followers of the prophet Zoroaster, who flourished in Persia, and i’whoi according to the Babylonian historian Berosos, founded thes dynasty of the Kings of-Babylon two; thousand years before Christ. At the present day the Parsecs are erroneously termed’ fire-worshippers p but tho truo spirifc of the Zoroastrian religion is to worship the. great Creator through his elements; The pith of their /doctrines of faith consists in three words: Manashni (good thoughts), Gavashni , (good words), Kunashni (good. deeds). In no: sense are they idolaters. At the same , time many of theicoeremonies are strange to those, : not intimately; acquainted with their religion ; : those connected with the 'disposal of their dead being peculiarly revolting, : though; still defended by many upon certain sanitary grounds. ; ; ;> i ■> ; A corpse is-, oobsidered : by the Parseesla ■very sacred, thing,, and the touch ofan ordinary mortal is supposed; to oontdminate it. * Immediately after i the vital spark has deft the human frame, itistaken charge of by two nassaaaldrs (a hody of men: who are specially . ordained to ■ perform, funeral rites, and paid by the -community at; a fikedi Salary). By them it is cleansed; and clothed in-white Unsullied garments, -after which -it is placed on two flat stone slabs on the ‘ground. The fe-,» male relatives and friends gather togother in the ball where the remains, with all but the face covered,. i are laid.; The male relatives, friends, and all those who wish to - show res-, pect to the dead,, clad in their white flowing, robes, sit on* benches on.!the verandah—ana if tho verandah is not large enough to accommodate all, on the sides -of the istreet. •; When a Parses of < note dies,; it is not unusual to see a whole street lined- with coreligionists, sometimes three or. four rows deep.. They generally gather together about an hour before, the time announced for the remains to be carried to the Towers' of Silence; The women sometimes, indulge in lond lainentations, particularly if-death has. overtaken a young person ; but themen maintain a grave and respectful silence; . About an hour before the time for taking the remains away from the house, the nassasalars transfer the Corpse from the slabs, and place it on an iron bier, which is Usually quite new, except in the cases of very poor persons. After the transfer Of the remains to the bier, two 'priests - standing at the foot of the corpse commence repeating the, funeral service, everyone else maintaining the strictest silence. During two pauses in the service a dogis brought in and madetp look at the face of the dead person. Thereasonr or philosophy of this extraordinary performance is not very clear. At the end of the, service, the priests make a very low obeisance and retire. The pent-up feelings of the women generally break out at this moment, and a scene'of the most piteous lamentations ensues. The men outside then come in, and after looking at 1 the face, make U deep and reverential obeisance; some men going down on their knees with the face touching the ground—most of them 'muttering prayers, subdued but fervent, foir the soul of the dead. The face is now covered up, this being the last glimpse the female relatives* are per-; mitted to have of the dead. The bier is then lifted off the* ground by the nassssalars, and brought out of the house, where two others join them, and take each of the four ends on their shoulders. Themen outside rise and remain standing,' performing a reverential obeisance as the bier passes them. The, .mourners then fall in,; and the funeral procession, led by the priest, moves on. After the cortege; has proceeded about i a hundred yards, the high-priest comes to a stop; but someother priests with- the relatives and intimate friends of the family follow the funeral all the way to the Towers of Silence.

The highest hill in Bombay* bn the Choptai side of it, is elected by the.ParseeS as the site of these Towers—the last. resting-place of their fellow-religiohistsi the top Of the hill, being surrounded by a wall, within the precincts of which hone but the Parsees have free’ access. (Occasionally a European is permitted to enter the 1 gate; but he is not allowed to proceed further than a certain distance, and the view he obtains is a very indistinct one). To 1 facilitate''the ascent of funeral processiohsj a flight of ednntless stone steps is built from the bottom of the hill to the very gate of the wall which gives admission to the ground; - As one enters the gate, he is bewildered by the magnificence and the grandeur of the scene that bursts upon his sight. The whole of Bombay lies at his feet, and the most beautiful gardens imaginable lie in front of him'. The distant; view of the sea adds to the enchanting spectacle. The first thing that engages the; attention is the “Sagari,” a small stone building where the sacred fire is kept, and where Parsees often go to say prayers for the soul of their deceased friends or Relatives, In the distance are visible the white walls of the seven different Towers, erected at irregular but considerable distances from each other. After the Towers are once consecrated, none but the nassasaldre are allowed to enter; but when a new one is built, it is' open to the Parsees for inspection ; and the ceremony of consecration is performed in the presence of all those of the community who choose to attend.

On the top of the wall of the Tower which is being used for the time being, may be seen huge vultures to the number of from forty to fifty. Inside the iron door—which is on a level with the surface of the top of the hill—is. a flight of a few steps downwards. The arrangement in the interior of the Tower is perfectly simple. There are stone slabs arranged—a little distant from each other—in three concentric circles; the slabs of the innermost circle being intended for the bodies of children, are smaller thap .the slabs of the second circle, which are exclusively used for the bodies of females • the outermost circle having the largest circle, being intended for the remains of males. In the centre, is a well of immense depths and the surface is built so as to slope gently from all directions towards the well.

, When the funeral procession arrives at the summit, it straight to one of the; seven Towers , that is in use at the time. After a short halt, for the purpose of allowing the relatives. to toko a last look at the deceased, two nasjasdlars proceed slowly with the bier towards .the iron door. One of them opens the door with a key, and they disappear with the earthly remains, and close the door after them. They, then deposit the dead body on one of the stone slabs, tear the garments in which it is enveloped with a hook | and issuing out of the same door with the empty bier, proceed to a place where they wash themselves, change their clothes, and undergo a purificatory ceremony. Directly, the nassasalars emerge from the iron door, the vultures on the top of the wall descend, and after;; about ton minutes reappear, Then everybody knows that nothing hut : the skeleton ; is left of the lifeless remains deposited within the walls only a few minutes ago. 'VVhen the .nassasdldrs enter again with another funeral,, they drag theVskeletdn and 'everything with 6 hook to the well the centre s and so tHe honpsbf the. members of this united, and unique community mingle together in death. Or cohrse the height of the hill, combined with th

height of tho Tower walls, render it impossible for any one else, to obtain even the faintest glimpse of the inside ql those Towers. The nassasildrs alone witness what tnust sometimes bo a horrid and revolting sight inside this awe-inspiring place. . Meanwhile, the men forming the procession —immediately after the nasaasaldrsontcr the iron door—turn their backs, and retraco their steps towards the “ Sagari," where they wash and say their prayeW , and rwturn to, their respective homes in carriages orbullook-carts, provided, oooording to their means, by the relatives of the deceased. It is popularly believed that the vultures are gifted witbtj such fine instinct, that they will., not touch at! body if there is the slightest spark of life in* it, however latent that spark may be, 'Some years ago, when the affairs of the, community were managed by tho Punohyat (five headsmen), the naseasdldrs, it is believed, had strict orders to kill any person who came to life again after being taben to the Towers. It is oven believed;'by many that some mur-1 dor# have in this; wise been committed the sole justification for such; barbarity being a strong conviction that anybody coming out of the place of the’ dead would ( bring with him the curse of pstilenoe and other visitations 'of Providence. It is. also believed that those who have been able; - to' climb over tbh wall and make their escape after;! resusoi- > tation, have exiled themselves from Bombay, ileverdaring to acknowledge their identity, for fear of being killed. It is needless to say that whatever may have happened in the past with impunity, it is different htbhe present day, asthe English Government wbuld recogDiee no reason why a murder committed in the Tbwers of Silence should not be punished with the same severity with which a murder in any otter place would be visited.; The only reason the Pdrsees; can bring forward in favour of this custom is, that on sanitary consideration, it is , the best mode of disposing oftheirdead, and renders the livibg Secure from the risk of'impure waterand vitiated air in the vicinity of graveyards;' Moreover, they maintain that, it is less’ objeotlonnble 'than burial, which has the die-, advantage' of involving a more protracted process of- destruction. Bilk it must be admitted that the reasons fpr persevering in a custom at' v brice do* shocking and barbarous, areVefcy weak's' 5 and ‘thotigh' most 1 educated Parsees of tip present day. Tebbgnise the fact, it is difficult to make a etuddbri* transition, and throw off bho- fetters of a custom which has come' down; to ; ;them from generation, to generation for so, 6f years. A unanimous and, powerful effort alone can abolish-a custqm, the. contemplation of which fills the European mind with horror.