“Tenets and traditions”

Rustom Jamasji has in his letter "Tenets and traditions” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, February 21, 2008) expressed guilt over not being able to strengthen dakhmenashini. He should have known that when a system has reached a point of no return, that system must be discontinued and replaced with an alternative one.

With the demise of the carrion-eating birds dakhmenashini had collapsed, but the powers-that-be fooled the community by stating that they would strengthen the system by replacing the vultures with solar reflectors. It was a crazy idea. They were trying to equate the removal of flesh with the removal of water from the corpses, so the project was doomed to failure. But Jamasji is not convinced. He now states that decomposition by exposure to air is the solution not realizing that decomposition means decay of organic matter leading to putrefaction, rot and stench.

Being a Zoroastrian does not imply sticking to outdated and obsolete practices.

Dr P. D. SUNAVALA