“Insulting the community”

In his letter "Insulting the community” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, November 21, 2010) Kersee Kabraji writes "…where there are no scavenging birds dakhmenashini should not be used.” I differ on that and would like to state that Behramsha Pithavala in his book In Search of Divine Light writes that even when there are no vultures present, crows and mountain kites, etc are there.

As per the Bundahishn, Shayast La Shayast, Vendidad and other Rivayats there are four types of birds of prey: khahrakas (vulture), valak (crow), gargar (mountain kite) and dalman (eagle), according to Pithavala. The sun’s rays, ultraviolet, gamma, roentgen, cosmic rays, etc are effective enough to dry the body and prevent any epidemic from spreading. There is no record of an epidemic starting due to the dead bodies lying in the open after a war.

I would not say that the system has failed. Not at all! I agree one should own up that the system at present is not in good condition, steps should be taken to make it effective. The system has not failed. It is we who have failed the system. Due to vested interests (monetary reasons, vast lands for development as prime property) we are deliberately trying to weaken the system. We built high-rise buildings (the dakhmas were there long before), killed the vultures. We do not place the bodies properly in the dakhma or remove the clothes so that the corpses are exposed to sunlight. There is no proper maintenance of the solar panels to make them effective.

Kabraji also mentions that the priests are "performing death ceremonies in Madras, Nagpur and Delhi for those who were buried, but denying the same in other places.” I had asked the same to a priest in December 2008 but have yet to receive a reply!

BURJOR M. DABOO

Ahmedabad

burkhurdar@yahoo.com