On June 1, a 55-year-old Parsi man from Grant Road succumbed to COVID-19. His body was carefully wrapped in a sealed bag and taken to the electric crematorium in Chandanwadi, in compliance with the infection control protocol in place.
This, however, denied him the traditional funeral of the Parsi community, wherein the dead are consigned to the Towers of Silence or dakhma s, exposed to scavenger birds and the sun. For the religious Parsis, the outbreak has posed a serious question regarding disposing of their dead, with the government guidelines only mentioning cremations and burials for deceased who have the infection.
Two senior priests have now urged the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) to discuss with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) about the possibility of ensuring rightful final rites for community members.
While there are no accurate numbers, community members estimate fewer than a dozen Parsi deaths due to COVID-19 in Mumbai. “The dakhma s are the safest place to consign the dead. It is the responsibility of the BPP to educate the civic officials about this particular method and that there is no fear of the spread of the infection through such disposal,” Parsi priest Dr. Pervez Bajan told The Hindu . Dr. Bajan has written to the BPP along with another priest, Dr. Rooyintan Peer.
According to Dr Bajan, the dakhma s have existed for over 250 years and were used even when the deadly bubonic plague spread in the city in 1896-97. At the time, over 250 Parsis lost their lives, and in the second wave that surfaced a few years later, nearly 800 Parsis had died.
The priests wrote, “Interestingly, the present government of Maharashtra has invoked the [Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897], which was precisely promulgated to fight the said deadly plague, in order to combat the present pandemic.”
The letter added, “It is therefore very likely that the full text of that Act must be available with the [government] and the BMC, and we request the respected trustees kindly to procure a copy of the said Act, wherein detailed protocol must have been mentioned to handle the dead bodies, including those of the members of the Parsi community.”
Cremation is not new for Parsis. Over the years, many Parsis have opted for it as an alternative. “The number of Parsis who opt for cremation is around 12 to 13%,” said Jehangir Patel, editor of Parsiana , a community magazine.
He said Parsis are told, and many believe, that if the body is not consigned to the Towers of Silence, the soul will remain stranded in the space between this world and the next. “But where there are no dakhma s, burial and even cremation is permitted. In Karachi, a Parsi can opt for the tower or burial/cremation. In Iran, the towers lie unused and corpses are buried,” Mr. Patel said.
In March, civic officials visited Doongerwadi in Malabar Hill, which houses the towers, and informed that bodies of Parsis who die of COVID-19 would not be sent there. “Our system of disposal requires various touch points with the body during the rituals, and it was not possible to expose our pallbearers at Doongerwadi to the spread of the virus,” a notification issued by the BPP said. It added that they had decided to follow the government guidelines for now.
But some community members are of the view that the BPP should move the courts against such a rule.
