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Did you know that there's a tower in India dedicated to placing dead bodies?
Located on top of Malabar Hill, Mumbai, the Tower of Silence, also known as Dakhma, is roofless and measures 8m high and 30m wide.
Almost 1,000 bodies were once laid to rest there. With its open roof, the tower left room for scavenger birds to feed on the remains.
The Tower of Silence belongs to followers of Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest religions, which originated in Persia back in the 6th century BC
Zoroastrians fled from Iran to India between 785 AD and 936 AD to escape persecution. That was how their community first took root in India.
They believed that the four elements — earth, fire, water, and air — are sacred and must never be polluted. To them, burial contaminates the soil, while cremation pollutes the fire.
So, to protect these sacred elements, they practised dokhmenashini, the ritual of placing the deceased atop the tower to be purified by the sun and vultures.
Today, the Tower of Silence remains unused and closed to the public
With Mumbai's rapid urbanisation and the decline of scavenger birds, the tower now stands empty and closed to the public to preserve its sanctity.
It is also reported that vultures in India are 99% extinct as they are poisoned by livestock medicine left in animal carcasses.
