Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1893 — The Tower of Silence. [ARTICLE]

The Tower of Silence.

When a Parsee dies the body is wrapped in white, and the mourners, as they go to the burial place, are clothed in white. Two by two they walk behind the white-robed corpse as it is carried to the “tower of silence,” which is its final resting place. This is a large stone tower, on which the body is placed and left to be eaten by the vultures. There are five such towers' in Bombay, and the big birds constantly hover about them in large numbers. They are treated as if they were sacred birds. “Is this form of burial a good one from a sanitary standpoint?” was asked of a Parsee. “We believe it is. Cremation is doubtless the best from this standpoint, but in India the people are so poor and fuel is so scarce that the Hindus are not able to practice cremation universally. Moreover, the Parsee believes it is better to be eaten by birds than by worms. Burial in a grave is repulsive to us.”