In The Towers Of Silence, An Ancient Ritual Of Death Comes Under Threat

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9-12-2006 | Peter Foster

[JimSEA]

In other words, the Tibetans don't want the world to know of their savage rituals.

And just what makes this "savage"? No cruelty, torture, or violence takes place. The idea is that the spirit has discarded it bodily host and the nourishment form the body should go back to nature. Some Christians refuse cremation and are buried instead. Not very practical or sanitary in comparison. Savage folks?

The problem in India is the lack of vultures. In the sparsely settled areas of Tibet, there doesn't seem to be a problem except the opinions of outsiders. The idea of the uninvited photographing someone's funeral seems impolite, to say the least.

[MineralMan]

"In other words, the Tibetans don't want the world to know of their savage rituals.
"

Interesting choice of words, there. What is savage about this ritual? The person is dead, and cannot be harmed any further. Allowing the natural scavengers of this planet to perform their natural function seems to me to be a reasonable way to dispose of the dead.

For myself, my instructions are that I be cremated. My wife or other survivor will dispose of my ashes by dumping them in the Mississippi river from the Saint Paul, MN bridge leading to my favorite fishing spot. I figure that some portion of my ashes may even eventually reach the mouth of the Mississippi.

[TexasRepublic]

I can think of some people that would gag a vulture, can't you? (But please, no Helen Thomas pictures!)

[sagar]

"In other words, the Tibetans don't want the world to know of their savage rituals."

I don't think it is any more savage than letting a body rot or body burned to ashes. If you put a camera inside a casket and broadcast the footage, I'm sure the slow rot and maggots forming all over it would be seen by people as savage and disrespecting. Cremation wouldn't be any eye pleasing either with body fluids boiling, flesh burning and skull popping.

Death is savage, so is body decomposition. Personally, I would want to be cremated. Don't want nobody excavating my skulls or bones in the future, or parts of my body become bird dinner.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. I've got some late 1990s stuff on the hard drive about the declining vulture population at this site, and how it was worrying Zoroastrians because (due to a demographic bulge) so many are on the verge of dying of old age.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[SunkenCiv]

From the January 2002 Fortean Times:

Dead Parsees are carried on a simple bier to a ceremonial gate into the private jungle park of banyan and casarina trees in the city's posh Malabar Hill district, wich surrounds the five Towers of Silence... However, with an average of three Parsees dying every day, the six-odd vultures at the towers are overfed and unable to cope, although kites and other birds help out.

[SunkenCiv]

dead link, try the Wayback Machine (that has worked in the past):

All consuming faith: To keep an ancient custom, India's Parsees need to protect their vultures
by Debora MacKenzie
New Scientist
5 August 2000

Parsees are the religious descendants of the Zoroastrians of ancient Persia. They believe that earth, water and fire are sacred and must not be defiled by corpses. So they put their dead in funerary sites where hundreds of griffon vultures perform the disposal job. The funerary site of the prosperous Parsees of Bombay is known as the Towers of Silence, a well-known landmark in the city next to the Hanging Gardens Park on upmarket Malabar Hill.

But vultures from the griffon genus have all but disappeared across much of India over the past few years (see p 32). Poisoning with the insecticide DDT, widely used in India, was initially suspected. But that would be unlikely to affect only one genus of vulture, or to cause such an abrupt and widespread die-off, says Andrew Cunningham, a veterinary pathologist with London's Zoological Society. A more likely culprit is infectious disease, and last spring Cunningham found signs of viral infection in some vulture carcasses.

[rwfromkansas]

Who are you to judge?

Every culture is different.

There are some things that are wrong across all cultures.

Method of burial is not. Why don't you object to burning bodies?

[rwfromkansas]

I agree.

The person is dead. They aren't doing this to be cruel. It is part of their beliefs about how to FREE the dead person.

It isn't savage at all.

[ZULU]

"Tibetans believe that the corpse is nothing more than an empty vessel."

So do Christians. The life is in the soul and spirit - not the body.

[Andonius_99]

I don't know...I think garlic powder with a bit of salt and pepper works better than lime. Lime is just too light of a flavor...

[ZULU]

Not to worry.

Once the Muslims take over, as in they did in Iran, all Zoroastrians will be forced to become Muslims or die - along with all Hindus, etc. (Sarcasm)

[308MBR]

LOL You're soooo bad!

[Dustbunny]

They could import vultures, that would solve the problem, maybe.

[stultorum]

"Every culture is different.

True. And, Western Christian culture is overall much superior to the others.

[Thombo2]

Thanx for the info.That's pretty involved.

[SunkenCiv]

[31R1O]

Circle of life.

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken;for you are dust,and to dust you shall return.

Genesis 3:19