Tradition Meets Modern World in Zoroastrian Funerals

Traditionally, Zoroastrianism has held very proscribed views on the disposal of the dead. Subjecting fire or earth to the presence of the dead would defile either element, so Zoroastrians would place the corpse in an open tower known as a dahkma to be consumed by the elements and by vultures.

Times, however, have changed. In many places, health codes simply cannot permit the creation of a dahkma. Dahkmas built in previous centuries were well outside of any population center, but urban congestion has expanded cities considerably, bringing the dahkmas within city limits. In addition, vulture depopulation has further eroded the system in some places: where a body was once picked clean in a day it now many take weeks or months.

As such, many Zoroastrians have had to modify their practices, embracing burial or creation despite the traditional taboos against such defilement.