“Dakhma despair”

I am a avid reader of Parsiana and always make it a habit to read it as and when I can get my hands on it.

I have since the last two years volunteered my time and efforts in strengthening the existing system of disposal of our deceased folks under the leadership and guidance of Cyrus Siganporia, consultant, Bombay Towers of Silence. I have had the honor and privilege of working under him at various dakhmas in India, including those in Bombay.

Nowhere have I seen or witnessed anything even remotely similar to the descriptions mentioned in your article ("Dakhma despair,” Parsiana, May 21, 2006). The "details” mentioned by Dhun Baria are in complete and utter departure from what I have seen inside the dakhmas and in the "bhandar.”

Thus your article is based on the surmises and conjectures of a person very clearly obsessed with the system but having been clearly misled by rumors spun by members of our own community who at any cost want their crematorium et al at the Bombay Towers of Silence.

I am not for or against this section of our community, but I humbly request them to stop spreading wrong information that ultimately will lead them no more closer to their objective but simply defame our predecessors who have given us a legacy to be proud of.

Your publication is a responsible one. I hope that wiser counsel prevails on her and you in the future.

DARAYES JAL SHROFF

I read with interest the article "Dakhma despair” (Parsiana, May 21, 2006).

Khojeste Mistree contradicts himself. On the one hand he feels that the panic button is being pressed with respect to the steps being taken to solve the problem of human disposal at Doon­gerwadi. On the other hand, he states that the photographs circulated by Dhun Baria would create disharmony, so much so that he advises a legal notice be sent to her. If things at the Doonger­wadi are not so bad, I wonder why the photographs would create disharmony. Mistree must realize that truth cannot be hidden by issuing threats.

RASHNA KHAN

The article "Dakhma despair” by Arnavaz Mama and "Vital to the vultures,” by Ardeshir Damania (Parsiana, May 21, 2006) puts the whole of the dakhma (Doongerwadi) controversy in its correct perspective. It appears that this is like Marie Antoinette’s famous statement, "If they haven’t got bread, let them eat cakes.” When we have not got vultures any more, let us substitute them by reflectors. We are trying to maintain the same old method of disposal of our dead by hook or by crook by several makeshift arrangements. In the end we still bury the decomposed body in the surrounding area, so why not bury it at the outset?

Of course cremation is out, as we believe that the dead body defiles the ‘sacred’ fire. Little is it realized that nothing can ever defile a fire. Paragraph 8 of the Atash Nyaish states, "Keep the fire in your hearts eternally burning, and as an emblem of that fire in your heart, pray before an earthly fire to remind you of that fire within.” We have done just the opposite, by venerating an earthly fire at the expense of the fire within.

In a decade from now, we will be featured in ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not’ series as:

"There is a tribe in India, following the Zoroastrian religion, which –

expose their dead to the vultures (even though there are now no birds) like the Red Indians used to do years ago,

in the days of MRIs, stethoscopes and CT scans, they bring in a dog to ascertain whether a man is dead or not,

when we have antiseptics like Dettol and Listerine they still prefer to use bull’s urine for washing their hands, after the funeral,

does not allow a non-Parsi to see the dead body of his closest friend, lest he pollute the soul on its onward journey.”

Let us do away with dakhmas altogether, a practice which is not followed even in Iran. If we don’t, then sooner or later, the government environmental department will force us to do so.

Brig N. B. GRANT

Poona