Towers of Silence
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robot Adding: [[it:Torri del Silenzio]]
[[Image:BombayTempleOfSilenceEngraving.jpg|right|thumb|230px|A late 19th century engraving of a Zoroastrian Tower of Silence in [[Mumbai]].]]
{{otheruses4|the Zoroastrian structures|the Paul Scott novel|The Towers of Silence|}}
'''Towers of Silence''' are circular raised structures used by [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]] for exposure of the dead.
There is no standard technical name for such a construction. The common ''dakhma'' or ''dokhma'' (from Middle Persian ''dakhmag'') originally denoted any place for the dead. Similarly, in the medieval texts of Zoroastrian tradition, the word ''astodan'' appears, but which today denotes an [[ossuary]]. In the Iranian provinces of [[Yazd]] and [[Kerman]], the technical term is ''deme'' or ''dema''. In India, the term ''doongerwadi'' came into use after a tower was constructed on a hill of that name. The word ''dagdah'' appears in the texts of both India and Iran, but in 20th century India signified the lowest grade of temple fire (''cf.'' [[Fire temple]]).
The term "Tower of Silence" is a neologism attributed to one Robert Murphy, who in 1832 was a translator of the [[British India|British colonial government]] in India.<!-- Kotwal "The Parsi Dakhma", p=162 --> It is not the literal meaning of "Avestan (sic) ''dakhma''" as suggested by the Encyclopædia Britannica. While the stem ''dakhma-'' does exist in the [[Avestan language]], its meaning there is not conclusively established. The contexts indicate a negative connotation and that it does not signify a construction of any kind.<!-- cf Bartholomae 675,676; Hoffmann's daxme etc. --><!-- Vd. 7.55, afterbirth of a stillborn? -->
==Introduction==
Zoroastrian tradition considers a dead body—in addition to cut hair and nail-parings—to be ''nasu'', unclean, i.e. potential pollutants. Specifically, the corpse demon ([[Avestan]]: ''nasu.[[daeva]]'') was believed to rush into the body and contaminate everything it came into contact with, hence the [[Vendidad]] (an ecclesiastical code "given against the demons") has rules for disposing of the dead as "safely" as possible.
To preclude the pollution of earth or fire (see [[Zam]] and [[Atar]] respectively), the bodies of the dead are placed atop a tower—a tower of silence—and so exposed to the sun and to birds of prey. Thus, "putrefaction with all its concomitant evils" "is most effectually prevented."<ref>{{citation|last=Modi|first=Jivanji Jamshedji Modi|title=The Funeral Ceremonies of the Parsees|year=1928|publisher=Anthropological Society of Bombay|url=http://www.avesta.org/ritual/funeral.htm}}</ref>
The towers, which are fairly uniform in their construction, have an almost flat roof, with the perimeter being slightly higher than the center. The roof is divided into three concentric rings: The bodies of men are arranged around the outer ring, women in the second circle, and children in the innermost ring. Once the bones have been bleached by the sun and wind, which can take as long as a year, they are collected in an [[ossuary]] pit at the center of the tower, where—assisted by lime—they gradually disintegrate and the remaining material—with run-off rainwater—runs through multiple coal and sand filters before being eventually washed out to sea. The ritual precinct may only be entered by a special class of [[pallbearer]]s, called ''nasellars'', a contraction of ''nasa.salar'', caretaker (''-salar'') of potential pollutants (''nasa-'').
The earliest reference to ritual exposure comes from [[Herodotus]] (''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' i.140), where the historiographer describes the rites to have been secret, and "vaguely" that these first occurred after the body had been dragged around by a dog or bird. Further, the Magi (a term that eventually came to signify a Zoroastrian priest but may not have meant that in Herodotus' time) practiced this quite openly, before they finally embalmed the corpse with wax and laid it in a trench.<!-- Stausberg III 204 --><ref name=Stausberg>{{citation|last=Stausberg|first=Michael|title=Die Religion Zarathushtras|volume=III|year=2004|publisher=Kohlhammer|location=Stuttgart}}<!-- pp 204-245 --></ref>
While the discovery of ossuaries (in both eastern and western Iran) dating to 5th and 4th centuries BCE indicates that bones were isolated, that this separation occurred through ritual exposure cannot be assumed: burial mounds,<ref>{{citation|last=Falk|first=Harry|title=Soma I and II|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (BSOAS)|volume=52|issue=1|year=1989|pages=77-90}}</ref> where the bodies were wrapped in wax have also been discovered. The tombs of the [[Achaemenid]] emperors at [[Naqsh-e Rustam]] and [[Pasargadae]] likewise suggest non-exposure, at least until the bones could be collected. According to legend (incorporated by [[Ferdowsi]] into his ''[[Shahnameh]]''), Zoroaster is himself interred in a tomb at [[Balkh]] (in present-day [[Afghanistan]]).
While general exposure of the dead is attested from earliest accounts, the ritual customs surrounding that practice appear to first date to the [[Sassanid]] era (3rd — 7th century CE). They are known in detail from the supplement to the ''Sayest ne Sayest'', the two ''Rivayat'' collections, and the two ''Saddar''s. The use of towers is first attested in the 16th century.<!--Stausberg 206--><ref name=Stausberg />
==In Greater Iran==
[[Image:Tower_of_silence.jpg|thumb|Dakhmeh in [[Yazd]].]]
In the Iranian Zoroastrian tradition, the towers were built atop hills or low mountains in desert locations distant from population centers. In the early twentieth century, the Iranian Zoroastrians gradually discontinued their use and began to favor burial or [[cremation]].
The decision to change the system was accelerated by three considerations: The first problem arose with the establishment of the [[Dar ul-Funun]] medical school. Since Islam considers unnecessary dissection of corpses as a form of mutilation, thus forbidding it, there were none to be had officially, and the ''dakhmas'' were repeatedly broken into, much to the dismay and humiliation of the community. Secondly, while the towers had originally been built away from population centers, the growth of the towns led to the towers now being within city limits. Finally, many of the Zoroastrians themselves found the system outdated. Following extended negotiations between the ''anjuman'' societies of [[Yazd]], [[Kerman]], and [[Tehran]], the latter gained a majority and substituted the dakhma with a cemetery some 10 km from Tehran at Ghassr-e Firouzeh (Firouzeh's Palace). The graves were lined with rocks, and plastered with cement to prevent direct contact with the earth. In Yazd and Kerman, in addition to cemeteries, orthodox Zoroastrians continued to maintain a ''dakhma'' until the 1970s when the ''dakhmas'' were shut down by law.
==In India==
Following the rapid expansion of the Indian cities, the squat buildings are today in or near population centers, but separated from the metropolitan bustle by forest gardens. In [[Parsi]] Zoroastrian tradition, exposure of the dead is additionally considered to be an individual's final act of charity, providing the birds with what would otherwise be destroyed.
In the past several decades, the population of birds of prey on the Indian subcontinent has greatly declined, in equal parts due to a) increasing pollution, b) growth of the cities such that the natural habitat of the birds was destroyed, and c) [[diclofenac]] poisoning of the birds following the introduction of that drug for livestock in the 1990s<ref>{{citation|last=Tait|first=Malcolm|title=India's vulture population is facing catastrophic collapse and with it the sacrosanct corporeal passing of the Parsi dead|date=January 10, 2004|publisher=The Ecologist|location=London|url=http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=325}}</ref><!-- <ref>{{citation|first=David|last=Adam|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1698681,00.html| title=Cattle drug blamed as India's vultures near extinction|periodical=Guardian Unlimited| date=31 January, 2006|year=2006}}</ref>--> (diclofenac for cattle was banned by the Indian government in [[2006]]). The few surviving birds are often unable to fully consume the bodies.<ref>{{citation|author=Swan, Gerry et al.|title=Removing the threat of diclofenac to critically endangered Asian vultures|journal=PLoS Biology|year=2006|pages=e66|volume=4|issue=3|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0040066}}</ref> Parsi communities in India are currently evaluating [[captive breeding]] of vultures and the use of "solar concentrators" (which are essentially large mirrors) to accelerate decomposition.<ref>{{citation|last=Srivastava|first=Sanjeev|title=Parsis turn to solar power|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1443789.stm|date=18 July, 2001|periodical=BBC News South Asia|year=2001}}</ref>
The right to use the Towers of Silence is a much debated issue among the Parsi community (see [[Parsi]] for details). The facilities are usually managed by the ''anjuman''s, the predominantly conservative (usually having five priests on a nine-member board) local Zoroastrian associations. In accordance with Indian statutes, these associations have the domestic authority over trust properties and have the right to grant or restrict entry and use, with the result that the ''anjuman''s frequently prohibit the use by the offspring of a "mixed marriage", that is where one parent is a Parsi and the other is not.
==Bibliography==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|authorlink=Mary Boyce|title=Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices|publisher=Routledge|location=London|year=1979|id=ISBN 0-415-23903-6}}
{{refend}}
<!-- not used because they deals with the funeral rites, not the towers of silence:
* {{citation|last=Boyce|first=Mary|chapter=Death among Zoroastrians|title=Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=7.2|year=1996|location=Cosa Mesa|publisher=Mazda|chapter-url=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v7f2/v7f263.html}}
* http://www.zeelearn.com/course/funeralmgmt/html/module4d.htm
-->
==Further reading==
{{commons}}
{{refbegin}}
* [http://www.avesta.org/vendidad/vd5sbe.htm ''Vendidad'' Fargard 5, Purity Laws], as translated by [[James Darmesteter]].
* [http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2002/07/21/stories/2002072100130200.htm Extracts] from
** {{citation|last=Wadia|first=Azmi|chapter=Evolution of the Towers of Silence and their Significance|editor-last=Godrej|editor-first=Pheroza J.|editor2-last=Mistree|editor2-first=Firoza Punthakey|title=A Zoroastrian Tapestry|location=New York|publisher=Mapin|year=2002}}
** {{citation|last=Kotwal|first=Firoze M.|last2=Mistree|first2=Khojeste P.|chapter=Protecting the Physical World|pages=337-365|editor-last=Godrej|editor-first=Pheroza J.|editor2-last=Mistree|editor2-first=Firoza Punthakey|title=A Zoroastrian Tapestry|location=New York|publisher=Mapin|year=2002}}
{{refend}}
[[Category:Zoroastrianism]]
[[Category:Death customs]]
[[Category:Towers in India]]
[[Category:Towers in Iran]]
[[Category:Iranian architecture]]
[[ar:أبراج الصمت]]
[[de:Dakhmah]]
[[es:Torres del silencio]]
[[it:Torri del Silenzio]]
[[fi:Hiljaisuuden torni]]