Volunteer pall-bearers

Parsis are said to be free from any stringent class structure, and to a great extent it is even true. Then what are we doing to help the khandhias and nassessalars to join the mainstream of the community? Isn’t this a shame that the very people who are doing this service for the community are ostracized?

It’s time the Bombay Parsi Punchayet scrapped this practice of a particular group doing a job that needs to be done by the family and friends of the deceased. Why should one’s dear depart­ed be handed over to pall-bearers who have no feeling for them? Whereas other communities consider a puniya nu kam (merit-earning duty) to give kandho (shoulder) to a departed friend or relative, we Parsis are not allowed to touch the dead.

In Baroda our own provide this service voluntarily and readily. If this practice is scrapped the khandhias and nassessa­lars can be relocated into different professions. Certainly this is not something that can happen overnight. Over a period of time with free education, free housing and motivation these men and women of our community will win back their self respect, and be free from the isolated life that they are used to living.

Rituals can be simplified, if they are not of any relevance. Whether you are or aren’t a khandhia or a nassessalar, you are still a child of Ahura Mazda.

RODA D. HAKIM

Baroda

The Editor replies

In Bombay there are an average 80-90 Parsi deaths a month. Sometimes on a given day three to five bodies may need to be consigned to a dakhma. Unless the family members are accustomed to the sights inside a dakhma it could be a harrowing experience for the voluntary pall-bearers. Also able bodied individuals are required to lift the corpses and place them in the dakhmas. To get volunteers on a daily basis would be difficult. The Bombay Parsi Punchayet could, however, ask for volunteers to assist the professional pall-bearers and see how many respond. But many Parsis may not approve of strangers entering the dakhma and viewing the corpses of their loved ones and others who are con­signed to the towers.