What do zoroastrians do with their dead??

Question

I have heard some grim things but maybe what I have heard is wrong. So what exactly do they do with their dead???

I heard and I also read on a website that they take the dead into a black tower or something and they leave the bodies for birds to eat. I have no idea if this is true, sounds gruesome! I can't rememebr what website it was so I can't post a link here, sorry.

James, that what I read on that website

Answer 1

As soon as the breath has left it, the body is regarded as impure, for it begins then to decay and to fall to pieces. It has therefore to be destroyed as soon as possible and in a manner as may be the least harmful to the living. Dead matter ver soon becomes a centre of corruption and hence in the disposal of a dead body care has to be taken that none of the pure Elements of Ahura Mazda are contaminated. The Mazda worshipper is enjoined 'to expose the dead body to the Sun'. Hence the body is not to be burnt, neither is it to be buried, nor thrown into water. Therefore the structures known as the 'Towers of Silence' are erected, wherever Parsis are congregated in any numbers, in which the dead are exposed without violating either the sence of decency and propriety, or any of the well thought out rules of the Zoroastrian religion.

These Towers of Silence are usually of a squat cylindrical shape, about 20 to 30 feet high, enclosed all round by a thick wall and open to the sky. The only entrance left is an iron gate situated on the eastern side of the wall, which is kept securely locked. Inside the Tower is a platform of solid masonry divided into three concentric rings, and right in the middle is a deep circular pit going down into the earth right up to the foundations. This pit also is constructed of solid masonry. The inner platform is made to slope uniformly and gently towards the central pit. In each of the three concentric rings shallow depressions of three different sizes are arranged radially. The outermost ring contains the largest of these and they are meant to receive the bodies of men, the middle ring has somewhat smaller depressions, which are meant for women, and the innermost ring contains the smallest sized depressions and these are meant for the bodies of children. Between these three rings there are narrow raised ledges running all round, separating them one from the other; and these serve as paths along which any part of the interior may be approached without stepping over the bodies already exposed there. There are also narrow channels connecting each of the depressions with the central pit, along which all fluids may ultimately drain into it. The bottom of the central pit is covered over with layers of sand and charcoal so as to make it a perfect filter; and from here also radiate four underground channels, which also contain filter beds. These channels ultimately lead deep down into the soil, and thus all fluids that ultimately enter the soil have been thoroughly filtered and rendered harmless.

Soon after the spirit has departed, the body is bathed and dressed in old worn out garments of white cotton. After the sudreh is put on, the nearest male relation (usually the eldest son) puts on the kusti reciting the appropriate prayers. The entire body is then swathed in a long white robe only the face and the ears showing. In the meanwhile a room in the house has been washed and in a corner sand is sprinkled on the floor or slabs of stone are laid thereon, and on this the body is reverently deposited, until the hour of its removal has come. The body cannot be carried to the Tower except in the daylight hours and the usual time for the funeral is either in the morning or in the afternoon. As long as the body remains in the house a priest sits near reciting prayers, and keeping alight a fire in which incense and sandalwood is constantly burnt. None but the two Naseh-salars (corpse-bearers) can henceforth touch the body, and none may approach within three paces of the dead.

At the time appointed the two Naseh-salars come in with an iron bier, on which the corpse has to be carried; and two priests stands at the door of the room and, facing the departed, recite aloud the Ahunavaiti Gatha (Yasna, xxviii-xxxiv), When the recital is over the assembled friends and relations take the last leave of the departed, bowing low before the dead. Then the bier is covered over with a white sheet and carried out. There are other men to help the two 'corpse-bearers', but these may not touch anything except the long handles of the bier. It may also be noted that the carriers of the body, the priests who say the prayers and the friends who follow up to the Tower of Silence, must be dressed in white, and they must always go in pairs, holding a white handkerchief between them. The colour of the dress indicates Purity and the going in pairs implies mutual help in the hour of sorrow. Arriving at the Tower the procession halts a certain distance from it, the bier is laid down, and the face is exposed for the last time. All assembled bow low in the last salutation; and then the two 'corpse-bearers' carry the bier into the Tower. None but these two may go inside. There the body is placed within its proper ring and denuded of all its clothing. For naked were we born into the world and naked must we go out of it.

The Tower of Silence, being open at the top, gives free access to birds of prey-the creatures meant by God to devour dead bodies. Incidentally it also emphasises the Zoroastrian virtue of charity even in death by feeding the birds with our cast-off bodies. In town where there is a considerable Zoroastrian population such birds are encouraged to build their nests in the vicinity of the Towers. In places like Bombay the birds finish off the flesh within half an hour, and the bones are completely bleached by the sun and the air within a few days. These are then collected together and deposited within the central pit, where they crumble to dust. Thus rich and poor, saint and sinner, man, woman and child all find the same level at the long last and mingle their dust together. No monument is erected so that the rich may be marked out from the poor even in death.

The rain washes out the Tower and the water running into the pit is filtered through the bone dust thre and through the filter beds, and through the four channels and ultimately reaches the soil pure and clear.

The hygienic value of this system has been proved amply through centuries of usage. The Towers, as has been enjoined, are built upon an eminence near the town, but far from human habitation. This is to ensure that any possible stench may not offend the living. But even in places like Bombay and Calcutta, where the Towers are now surrounded by dwelling houses, there has been any complaint of any smell or of any other sort of nuisance

Answer 2

What have you heard?

I think they bury it... like we do...

EDIT:
Here's what wikipedia says about it...
Death and burial: Religious rituals related to death are all concerned with the person's soul and not the body. Zoroastrians believe that on the fourth day after death, the human soul leaves the body and the body remains as an empty shell. Traditionally, Zoroastrians disposed of their dead by leaving them atop open-topped enclosures, called Towers of Silence, or Dokhmas. Vultures and the weather would clean the flesh off the bones, which were then placed into an ossuary at the center of the Tower. Fire and Earth were considered too sacred for the dead to be placed in them. While this practice is continued in India by some Parsis, it had ended by the beginning of the twentieth century in Iran. In India, burial and cremation are becoming increasingly popular alternatives.

Answer 3

Any individual who says that Zoroastrianism might no longer exist to any extent further is an illiterate idiot, that's mainly embarrassing given how swiftly you can be in a position to seem up Zoroastrianism on Wikipedia or anything. About your problem...It relatively is practically inconceivable to intervene along with your sister's problems of the heart. You would ought to ask your sister readily if her boyfriend's family will receive your household, if she marries this boy. That would positioned your issues into standpoint for her. Believe carefully approximately your designated matters, and cause them to transparent in your sister with out pressuring or seeming indignant (such feelings can reason resentment from her). It might not be easy, and you can need to accept her last alternative at the subject. Just proper good fortune, i am hoping it all seems good for you ultimately.

Answer 4

They used to, and in many parts of the world still do, put the dead bodies on a "Tower of Silence" and feed them to vultures because they thought that burying a body would pollute the earth. The ledge on the Tower of Silence had a crevice through which bones fell into a well.

Because of the influence of Islam, that practice eventually ended in Iran.

Answer 5

I learned last year in several of my religious studies classes that there are maybe -maybe (I'd italicize this word if I could)no more than a thousand Zoroastrians left in the world. It is one of the oldest religions, but it is going away fastly.

They are a very very orthodox religion that keeps to their traditional way of doing things. I would suggest rather than reading something off an internet site that isn't a .edu or maybe -maybe (again) a .org if it is a very credible site, that you go to your local/college library and do a search for some scholarly writings or original texts about Zoroastrian burial rituals, or Zoroastrian and death, etc. to truly find out what their practices were and are today.

Answer 6

Put corpses reverently in roofless Towers of Silence so that they will not pollute earth or fire with corruption( in India and Iran ,anyway). Yes, the crpses may be eaten by carrion eaters(like vultures) but that is seen as natural

Answer 7

Historically, they left them exposed in open roofed "Towers of Silence" for vultures, etc. to eat.
Some are moving away from that practice, though.

Answer 8

It has been practised in the south eat asia as well.