Gute body wrapping Photos:
Raj and Bob at the Hanging Gardens
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From Wikipedia -
The Hanging Gardens in Mumbai, India, also known as Ferozeshah Mehta Gardens, are terraced gardens perched at the top of Malabar Hill, on its western side, just opposite the Kamala Nehru Park. They provide sunset views over the Arabian Sea and feature numerous hedges carved into the shapes of animals. The park was laid out in 1881 over Bombay’s main reservoir, some say to cover the water from the potentially contaminating activity of the nearby Towers of Silence.
Tower of Silence
A Tower of Silence or Dakhma (Persian: دخمه) is a circular, raised structure used by Zoroastrians for exposure of the dead.
There is no standard technical name for such a construction. The common dakhma or dokhma (from Middle Persian dakhmag) originally denoted any place for the dead. Similarly, in the medieval texts of Zoroastrian tradition, the word astodan appears, but which today denotes an ossuary. In the Iranian provinces of Yazd and Kerman, the technical term is deme or dema. In India, the term doongerwadi came into use after a tower was constructed on a hill of that name. The word dagdah appears in the texts of both India and Iran but, in 20th century India, signified the lowest grade of temple fire.
The term "Tower of Silence" is a neologism attributed to one Robert Murphy, who, in 1832, was a translator of the British colonial government in India. It is not the literal meaning of "Avestan (sic) dakhma" as suggested by the Encyclopædia Britannica. While the stem dakhma- does exist in the Avestan language, its meaning there is not conclusively established. The contexts indicate a negative connotation and that it does not signify a construction of any kind.
Introduction
Zoroastrian tradition considers a dead body – in addition to cut hair and nail-parings – to be nasu, unclean, i.e. potential pollutants. Specifically, the corpse demon (Avestan: nasu.daeva) was believed to rush into the body and contaminate everything it came into contact with, hence the Vendidad (an ecclesiastical code "given against the demons") has rules for disposing of the dead as "safely" as possible.
To preclude the pollution of earth or fire (see Zam and Atar respectively), the bodies of the dead are placed atop a tower – a tower of silence – and so exposed to the sun and to birds of prey. Thus, "putrefaction with all its concomitant evils" "is most effectually prevented."
The towers, which are fairly uniform in their construction, have an almost flat roof, with the perimeter being slightly higher than the center. The roof is divided into three concentric rings: The bodies of men are arranged around the outer ring, women in the second circle, and children in the innermost ring. Once the bones have been bleached by the sun and wind, which can take as long as a year, they are collected in an ossuary pit at the center of the tower, where – assisted by lime – they gradually disintegrate and the remaining material – with run-off rainwater – runs through multiple coal and sand filters before being eventually washed out to sea. The ritual precinct may be entered only by a special class of pallbearers, called nasellars, a contraction of nasa.salar, caretaker (-salar) of potential pollutants (nasa-).
The earliest reference to ritual exposure comes from Herodotus, where the historiographer describes the rites to have been secret, and "vaguely" that these first occurred after the body had been dragged around by a dog or bird. Further, the Magi (a term that eventually came to signify a Zoroastrian priest but may not have meant that in Herodotus’ time) practiced this quite openly, before they finally embalmed the corpse with wax and laid it in a trench.
While the discovery of ossuaries (in both eastern and western Iran) dating to 5th and 4th centuries BCE indicates that bones were isolated, that this separation occurred through ritual exposure cannot be assumed: burial mounds, where the bodies were wrapped in wax, have also been discovered. The tombs of the Achaemenid emperors at Naqsh-e Rustam and Pasargadae likewise suggest non-exposure, at least until the bones could be collected. According to legend (incorporated by Ferdowsi into his Shahnameh), Zoroaster is himself interred in a tomb at Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan).
While general exposure of the dead is attested from earliest accounts, the ritual customs surrounding that practice appear to first date to the Sassanid era (3rd – 7th century CE). They are known in detail from the supplement to the Sayest ne Sayest, the two Rivayat collections, and the two Saddars. The use of towers is first attested in the 16th century.
In India
Following the rapid expansion of the Indian cities, the squat buildings are today in or near population centers, but separated from the metropolitan bustle by forest gardens. In Parsi Zoroastrian tradition, exposure of the dead is additionally considered to be an individual’s final act of charity, providing the birds with what would otherwise be destroyed.
In the past several decades, the population of birds of prey on the Indian subcontinent has declined by 99.9% (as of 2008) primarily due to diclofenac poisoning of the birds following the introduction of that drug for livestock in the 1990s (diclofenac for cattle was banned by the Indian government in 2006). The few surviving birds are often unable to fully consume the bodies. Parsi communities in India are currently evaluating captive breeding of vultures and the use of "solar concentrators" (which are essentially large mirrors) to accelerate decomposition. Some have been forced to resort to burial, as the solar collectors work only in clear weather. Vultures formerly disposed of a body in minutes, and no other method has proved fully effective.
The right to use the Towers of Silence is a much debated issue among the Parsi community (see Parsi for details). The facilities are usually managed by the anjumans, the predominantly conservative (usually having five priests on a nine-member board) local Zoroastrian associations. In accordance with Indian statutes, these associations have the domestic authority over trust properties and have the right to grant or restrict entry and use, with the result that the anjumans frequently prohibit the use by the offspring of a "mixed marriage", that is, where one parent is a Parsi and the other is not.
An end to following fates wind
Bild von wit
Geoffrey de Mandeville was made the first Earl of Essex in the 12th Century, at the time of King Stephen. He changed loyalties between the Empress Matilda and King Stephen according to whoever looked to be the stronger party. Initially he supported Stephen but switched when Stephen was defeated, before switching back later when he heard of Stephens imminent release. When Stephen ceased some of his castles he rebelled and was declared an outlaw, this meant that he was excommunicated from the church. Finally Stephen laid siege to him and he was hit by an arrow in an ensuing fight and killed. As an ex communicant he was not allowed a burial and his body was wrapped in lead and taken to the Temple church in London and later buried there. This effigy was then placed on the floor above the site where his body was laid.
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