Even To Be Near One Of Them Is A Degradation.
Entering The Tower With A Corpse, Covered, Whatever May Have
Been
its rank or position, with old white rags, they undress it and place
it, in silence, on one of
The three rows presently to be described.
Then, still preserving the same silence, they come out, shut the
gate, and burn the rags.
Amongst the fire-worshippers, Death is divested of all his majesty
and is a mere object of disgust. As soon as the last hour of a
sick person seems to approach, everyone leaves the chamber of death,
as much to avoid impeding the departure of the soul from the body,
as to shun the risk of polluting the living by contact with the dead.
The mobed alone stays with the dying man for a while, and having
whispered into his ear the Zend-Avesta precepts, "ashem-vohu"
and "Yato-Ahuvarie," leaves the room while the patient is still
alive. Then a dog is brought and made to look straight into his
face. This ceremony is called "sas-did," the "dog's-stare." A
dog is the only living creature that the "Drux-nassu" - the evil
one - fears, and that is able to prevent him from taking possession
of the body. It must be strictly observed that no one's shadow
lies between the dying man and the dog, otherwise the whole strength
of the dog's gaze will be lost, and the demon will profit by the
occasion. The body remains on the spot where life left it, until
the nassesalars appear, their arms hidden to the shoulders under
old bags, to take it away. Having deposited it in an iron coffin -
the same for everyone - they carry it to the dakhma. If any one,
who has once been carried thither, should happen to regain
consciousness, the nassesalars are bound to kill him; for such
a person, who has been polluted by one touch of the dead bodies
in the dakhma, has thereby lost all right to return to the living,
by doing so he would contaminate the whole community. As some
such cases have occurred, the Parsees are trying to get a new law
passed, that would allow the miserable ex-corpses to live again
amongst their friends, and that would compel the nassesalars to
leave the only gate of the dakhma unlocked, so that they might
find a way of retreat open to them. It is very curious, but it
is said that the vultures, which devour without hesitation the
corpses, will never touch those who are only apparently dead, but
fly away uttering loud shrieks. After a last prayer at the gate
of the dakhma, pronounced from afar by the mobed, and re-peated
in chorus by the nassesalars, the dog ceremony is repeated. In
Bombay there is a dog, trained for this purpose, at the entrance
to the tower. Finally, the body is taken inside and placed on one
or other of the rows, according to its sex and age.
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