In 1876, The Times of London described that scene at a dakhma, known in the West by its ominous translation, tower of silence. That day, swarms of vultures devoured a human body down to its skeleton in minutes. This consumption is exactly what the Parsis (descendants of the Iranian followers of Zoroastrianism) desire for their corpses. The religion regards the elements—earth, fire, water—as sacred, not to be defiled by an unclean dead body. Cremation and burial are off-limits as disposal options.
