MUMBAI: The Towers of Silence in Mumbai, where Parsis lay their dead, are being equipped with solar concentrators that dehydrate the corpses and aid in their decomposition. This follows the near-extinction of vultures on whom the Parsis depended for the disposal of the dead.
“These work on the same principle that we as school kids used while burning paper with the aid of a magnifying glass. Basically, they harness sun rays and allow them to penetrate the body and aid decomposition,” said a source in a prominent Parsi organization in Mumbai.
“We are in the midst of working on an experimental model that could store solar energy and aid in the decaying of corpses during monsoons,” said the source.
After essaying their religious role for centuries, Mumbai’s vulture population has plummeted because of a painkiller, diclofenac, used to treat the cattle whose carrion they feed on.
The source, who did not wish to be identified, added, “Zoroastrians believe death is not just part of life, but temporary triumph of evil over good. That means a dead body would pollute the sacred earth, water or fire. This is both practical for a religion rooted in a region (Iran) where wood and clean water and soil were often in short supply, and also an extension of the faith’s egalitarian ethics.”
He was of the opinion that when compared with the manner in which other communities treat their dead, the Parsi way was extremely eco-friendly as “regardless of the person’s social stature, the body is exposed to the rays of the sun and birds of prey feed on them, thereby neither the ground, water or air is polluted”.
Explaining the working of the Towers of Silence, or Dakhmas, the source said, “These black stone towers are about 36 metres tall and are constructed as a three-tiered, open-air arena, where the men are placed in the outer circle, women in the middle and children in the innermost for the vultures to feed on. With the solar concentrators decomposing the flesh, the bones automatically flow down a cavity that is constructed for this purpose. With the solar concentrators, the body decomposes in about 2-3 days when earlier it would take at least six months.”
Some purists might argue that by using the solar concentra-tors, Parsis are actually burning the body which theologically is wrong as the body is charred.
Responding to the argument, the source said, “Detractors can criticize all they want, but we actually have people who brought back their dead to the Towers of Silence after they were forced to consider options like electric crematoria.”—By arrangement with The Asian Age
