Tower of Silence: Parsi Community's Sky Burials Losing Ground To Cremation

Ratan Tata, chairman emetitus of Tata Group, is among many eminent Parsis who, in recent years, have opted to be cremated and not consigned to the Tower of Silence at Malabar Hill.

In April, for the first time in the recorded history of the 350-year-old Bombay Parsi Punchayet, the central trust of Parsi-Zoroastrians, the body of its former chairman Minoo Shrofl was cremated at Worli and not given a traditional funeral.

In 2022, the body of Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of Tata Sons who died in a car accident, was cremated at the same cemetery. The Tower of Silence was built more than three centuries ago by Parsi philanthropists who wanted to replicate the sky burials of ancient Persia from where they had come to India a millennium ago.

When India’s vulture population was nearly decimated in the late twentieth century, the efficacy of the system was severely tested. As bodies took longer to decompose in the absence of carrion birds, a group of prominent Parsis campaigned for a crematorium in the 50-acre wooded Malabar Hill cemetery, but their request was rejected.

The management of the Tower of Silence even banned families of those who opted for cremation from using their prayer halls for the four-day afterdeath rituals. A member of the Prayer Hall Trust told FPJ that when the bunglis (prayer halls) at the Tower of Silence became out of bounds for those who opted for cremation, they had to create an alternative space.

The prayer hall at the Worli municipal crematorium was the result. It was established in 2015 with the help of former municipal commissioner and fellow Parsi Jamshed Kanga. Funerals could be conducted at the municipal crematorium and the prayers at the hall.

The hall is not exclusively used by Parsis and is available to other groups. Though opinion varies on the facility's success, the number of Parsis opting for cremations has nearly doubled since its inception. The Prayer Hall Trust, which manages the facility, said that out of the average 650 funerals in Parsi Zoroastrian community in Mumbai annually, between 100 and 120 were cremations.

Before the Prayer Hall was set up, it is estimated that 7-8% of funerals among Parsis in Mumbai were cremations. It is now estimated that between 15-20% of all funerals now take place at crematoriums.