Dakhmas are defunct
Ervad Homi Kotwal (pictured) will go down in the annals of history of the Parsis in India as a pious priest of the Navsari Atash Behram who willed that his remains not be consigned to the dakhma but be buried in Vansda instead. His wish was fulfilled with all the four-day prayers and rituals for the departed being adhered to. Such a step by a priest would at one time have been unthinkable. If a priest can opt for burial then why deny a behdin his choice of method of disposal?Lest we forget, two "renegade” priests were taken to court and not allowed to perform their priestly duties because they prayed for those opting for burial or cremation. What a hullabaloo it created and what a huge amount of community money was wasted on lawyers and courts! The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) is totally silent on the Navsari incident. Why? Are they planning to take all the priests who prayed for Kotwal to court and call them renegades too? The BPP needs to do a rethink. Why should anyone be obliged to take their counsel? Aren’t we adult enough to listen to our own conscience? How long will they stall the inevitable? Delhi, Calcutta and many more anjumans allow the wish of an individual to prevail.
If Bombay’s Doongerwadi is not turned into a burial ground and if prayers for people opting for cremation are not allowed on its premises, Parsis will someday regret their decision. The government will soon have to step in and who knows what drastic steps they may take in the name of stopping pollution and the unhygienic conditions prevailing.
With his decision, the late Ervad Homi Kotwal has added his name to the many who have protested this archaic Dakhma-nashini custom, designed for a totally different geography, and practiced in another era. I am gratified at the progress since 1974 when as a young man I battled the trustees of the Chenoy Agiary in Hyderabad, who prohibited the Panthaky and Mobeds from performing funeral services for my father, who opted for burial in a Zoroastrian Aramgah! More than 3 decades later in 2006 I wrote this article in "The Parsiana" to share how my family responded to the "boycott". http://www.parsiana.com/current-issue/articles.aspx?id=c6XnJv6g/X8=&issue=65 Let's add to Roda Hakim's proposal of burials on Dakhma property, by also installing crematoria as an option. After all, solar panels have been installed in various Dakhmas to dehydrate cadavers to expedite disposal. Why not solar powered crematoria? The Worli prayer hall and crematorium is a step in the right direction.