The
Zoroastrians practiced sky burials. I have visited other sky burial sites, like
in Tibet, where the extreme altitude makes decomposition impossible, and
because of the scarcity of fuel, burning isn’t an option, too. In Iran or
India, where the Zoroastrians thrived, the reason for sky burial had been
avoiding contact of the corpse with the sacred elements earth or fire. The
dakhma (دخمه) or towers of silence were built
in remote areas, far outside the settlements, where only a guard, called
nasasalar, held the right of entrance. The corpse would be laid out and
fastened in order that the vultures would take away pieces and then contaminate
the earth. Also the nasasalar lived outside society in order not to spread
disease.
We might
think it alien to have corpses eaten by vultures, but in principle eaten by
worms doesn’t make a big difference. The bones were collected an sometimes put into
an ossuarium, and sometimes put into a collective pit in the middle of the
tower of silence.
A law
had been passed during the 1970ies, which forbid sky burial. Since then the
corpses are buried next to the towers of silence, but in order not to pollute
the earth they are put into graves of rock and concrete.
15 years
ago the towers of silence of Yazd were not protected as a historical site, so
that male youths were using the hills for motocross biking. Luckily this practice
has been abandoned.
Another tower of silence in Yazd
Entrance to the lower tower of silence
The stone round with the bone pit in the middle
2004 - towers of silence (?)
surrounded by motocross paths
2004 - motocross in action
in front of historical buildings
Links
and References:
Stausberg, M.: Zarathustra und seine Religion. Beck, München 2005, ISBN
3-406-50870-7.
.
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