Three years on, only 247 Parsi cremations at Worli prayer hall
MUMBAI: More than three years after Parsi-zoroastrian philanthropists built a prayer hall at the municipal crematorium in Worli as an alternative to the Tower of Silence cemetery, nine out of 10 funerals have been done in the traditional way.
According to a report in community magazine Parsiana, which quoted data provided by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), custodian of Parsi properties in the city, 720 deaths were reported in the community during 2018, out of which 647 bodies were consigned to the dakhmas, or the Tower of Silence and 73 were cremated. In 2017, the number of bodies taken to Towers of Silence was 676 while 77 bodies were cremated, which is lesser than the 97 bodies cremated in the year 2016. Around 677 bodies were disposed by traditional method in 2016.
The Worli Prayer Hall (WPH) was opened in August 2015 after a group of Parsi-zoroastrians campaigned for alternative methods of funerals.
Explaining why a majority still opted to choose Doongerwadi, Yazdi Desai, chairperson of BPP said, “As per our religion, death is the work of evil and it enters the corpse when someone dies, and fire is the son of God. So how can we put a corpse of evil in fire? So, cremation is a sin in our religion and the only allowed method of disposal is to opt for dakhmas.” Other community members pointed out that the number of cremations has been growing. Jehangir Patel, editor of Parsiana, said that before 2015, barely 6% of the Parsi population in the city opted for cremation, which has increased to around 12% in the past three years. “Before the prayer hall was constructed, it was a tedious procedure for the community members because traditional funeral prayers last for four days after a death, so in other places (where the families were cremating the bodies of their loved ones) the family had to then look for a hall tol hold these prayers,” said Patel.
Traditionally, bodies consigned to the dakhmas are disposed of by the sun and carrion birds. However, a sharp decline in the number of vultures has jeopardised the ancient system of sky burials. The coordinator of WPH, however, said, “The number of bodies received has been average, they have neither increased or decreased, because people have a particular mindset and those who opt for cremation will opt for it, while others would take the body to Doongerwadi,” said the coordinator.