How to dispose of the dead? This and many other controversies feature in this history of the Parsis
An excerpt from ‘The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas’, by Coomi Kapoor. 14 hours ago
The differences among BPP [Bombay Parsi Panchayat] trustees, between reformists and conservatives, have led to some unseemly squabbles over the last few decades. One of the major sources of contention was the functioning of the Towers of Silence at Doongerwadi.
According to the Vendidad, Zoroastrianism has a unique system of disposal of the dead – dokhmenishini – because cremation pollutes fire, which is considered sacred, and burial is unhygienic. In ancient Iran, the bodies were left on hilltops in pits so that they could be devoured by wild animals or scavenging birds. In the 1940s, the Iranian monarch, Reza Shah, banned this method of disposing of the dead, but in India, Parsis still cling to this tradition in towns that have dakhmas.