“Hurting the feelings”

Of late, I am very dismayed at the controversy that is raging in our small community regarding the disposal of the dead. It appalls me to see how insensitive human beings can get to prove a point. There is no respect nor regard for the deceased. However, Eruch Desai’s article "Hurting the feelings” (Parsiana, September 21, 2006) was very knowledgeable and to a great extent soothing.

Desai explains, in simple English, the scientific approach of dakhmenashini and quotes Madame H. P. Blavatsky and Prof John Hinnells. He further explains the legal implications of the trust deed which prohibit any other method of disposal at the Towers of Silence. The trustees, who are sworn to protect and preserve the customs and traditions, should not be put in such a tight corner so as to compel them to commit a breach of trust.

As Desai correctly mentions, if each Zoroastrian follows their heart and exercises their own freedom of choice there will be less acrimony than prevails currently.

ARNAZ BANA

New South Wales, Australia

I saw some video footage of the inside of a dakhma on the Net shown by CNN-IBN Videos. I could make out that all the corpses were dry flesh to be ‘thrown’ down in the bhandar later.

I would like to ask Dhun Baria and all the others whether this is what they term as dignity for the dead? I think they should be ashamed for exposing the dead, inside a walled enclosure, not meant for Peeping Toms.

Were these dead bodies not somebody’s loved ones? What did they prove by exposing them to all and sundry? Don’t these dead have a right to lie with dignity inside the dakhma?

If at all the system is not working to its full potential, instead of branding it to be the worst, put on your thinking caps and try to find some means of rejuvenating it. If this system is bad, give me one that works better — without defiling nature. I can’t find any.

What would one expect to see if one dares to exhume a body from a grave that is some years old? Would they stand and watch when a body is consigned in an electric furnace? Then why go peeping into a dakhma?

In burial, we pollute the ground. It takes years for the body to get fully disintegrated. Land is scarce and sometimes the old body has to be dug up so that a new body can be accommodated in the same grave.

In burning the body in any manner we pollute the air, which in turn pollutes water when it falls as rain.

If a body is thrown in the sea, rivers or lakes, we pollute the water, which in turn pollutes land. Disposal takes days or even months. The bones remain scattered, eaten by fish and other creatures.

So which other method is better than the dakhma? At least we do not defile any component of nature. Let’s not be squeamish about "seeing” what happens inside the dakhma. As in the case of any other system, you are not supposed to look inside. Our pristine religion talked about microbes and other microorganisms ages back when the world was ignorant about it and talked about pollution of nature which science has ‘discovered’ today!

Our religion is a time-tested one.

BURJOR DABOO

Ahmedabad

I have five photos and a VCD of the inside of a dakhma. Even though the viewing is very disturbing it is a must for every Zoroastrian to know what a foolish practice we are following. I do not deny that once upon a time our system was more efficient when there were enough vultures. The main point, all these so-called orthodox or self-appointed religious scholars forget or hide from the community is that the entire system has totally collapsed due to total absence of vultures. I am thoroughly convinced beyond doubt that the age-old system of dakhmenashini is a total failure. I am not concerned what Madame H. P. Blavatsky stated more than a century ago, or what John Hinnells or what Prof Monier Williams said some decades ago ("Hurting the feelings,” Parsiana, September 21, 2006). The system has totally failed and bodies are piled up on one another and left to decay. Surprisingly the so-called educated community is making use of a system that is absolutely defunct. It is similar to one throwing the body of his/her dear and loved ones into a gutter and forgetting about it after locking the gutter.

Should we treat our loved ones in a most undignified manner after they die just because of wrong notions of the self-appointed religious scholars? Can we not voice our protest and opt for alternate methods of disposal like cremation/burial or even donating the body to a medical college?

Regarding electric cremation they say it pollutes fire which is a totally stupid and baseless argument. Every fire is not pious and good. It is only the consecrated fire that is pious. For example would you not throw water on fire if any of the articles in your house catch fire? Or will you start praying the Atash Nyaish? Moreover the coil which burns the body never touches the dead body. It is only the heat from the coil which burns the body. The same principle is applied for solar concentrators.

The other day when I was attending a marriage party I saw priests who were officiating at the wedding, standing in the queue for tandoori chicken! Where were their principles when they enjoyed chicken kept directly on a fire?

Burial is objected to on the grounds that it pollutes the soil. What a stupid argument. I have learnt in school that by burying waste the soil becomes fertile. Besides, what happens when a body is buried in places where there is no dakhma? Moreover at present they bury the decomposed bodies from the Towers at regular intervals in a mass grave. At that time are they not spoiling the soil?

The advocates of dakhmenashini say that it does not pollute air. Why then were ducts installed in the Anjuman Dakhma to remove the foul air? Please let the community know how many complaints of foul smell were made by the residents of Spenta building facing the Doongerwadi? Just because they did not complain to authorities like the Bombay Municipal Corporation or government does not mean that nothing is wrong.

It may not be out of place to point out that whenever a natural calamity like floods or earthquake occurs anywhere in the world, the first concern of the authorities is to dispose of bodies at the earliest since they are likely to spread epidemic. How can the advocates of dakhmenashini claim that rotting dead bodies are no cause of concern and no epidemic can spread because of dead rotting bodies?

Time is not far when someone will approach a court or authorities in the matter. The group seeking an alternate method of disposal have shown their constraint till now but I am sure they are bound to lose their patience if the trustees fail to oblige.

The orthodox are trying to blackmail the community by saying that no prayers for departed can be done if a body is not consigned to a dakhma. Why then were four-day ceremonies for J. R. D. Tata performed even when his body was not consigned to the Towers?

Everybody knows how seriously prayers are done nowadays! It has become commercialization of religion. Do you think that a soul will not go to heaven if no prayers are said? Everybody knows the shortcut prayer tactics followed nowadays. Today there are few priests in Bombay who are willing to perform prayers when a body is buried or cremated. Tomorrow there may be many. Day after tomorrow could be all — it is the color of money.

Trustees are not the owners of Doongerwadi and every Zoroastrian has the right to use the place for religious ceremonies. Live and let live, die and let others die in a dignified manner.

Dhun Baria and company have done service to the community by exposing the hollowness of the so-called self-appointed religious leaders and religious fanatics. There are many like me who really appreciate their struggle.

HOMI DALAL

After reading about the very controversial and contentious issue of the dismal state of the Towers of Silence in the Parsiana and on the Internet, and viewing the horrible pictures, I feel that some changes have to be made.

Once the soul has left the body it is a mere carcass and what is done with it should be the deceased’s choice. If they choose to be put in the Tower of Silence after what we know today, then it is their wish. If they want burial or cremation it is their wish. We know that burial is out of the question in Bombay, so we are left with cremation. If we had a small modern crematorium on the Doongerwadi estate and our priests were allowed to say our four-day prayers, it would be a wonderful choice.

My suggestion is to throw open the doors of the dakhmas and let people go in and see what they have never seen before and never will want to see again. And not after the trustees and priests have had the time to clean up and spruce up the wells with insecticide and air fresheners. Let the families carry their own dear departed into the towers and release our poor khandhias to do some better jobs.

Parsis need to go in and see the state of the Doongerwadi situation themselves before others step in and take the land over on the grounds of health and property value.

SHERAZ BHESANIA

Vancouver, British Columbia

My father passed away three years ago. Since it takes about two days to arrange a flight and arrive in Bombay, I was not present at his uthamna and other ceremonies. I would sincerely have liked to visit at his gravestone at that time and during my subsequent visits to Bombay. The way things are now, there is no physical memory of him, except for some photos and possessions.

Our traditions have been protected over 200 years of strife and deprivations, and one can understand how the orthodox amongst us feel about change. However, we do live in a democracy, and with 55 acres of prime real estate at our disposal in Bombay, we could easily set up a small graveyard where our dead can be buried, if so desired. Considering that a large portion of our community lives in the West, and is buried, I would think Ahura Mazda would not mind the same option being extended to the Parsis in Bombay.

DARIUS DESAI

USA