Medical Ethics

ZOROASTRIAN BIOETHICS: THE EVOLUTION OF AN ANCIENT ETHIC TO A CODE FOR MODERN SCIENCE AND MEDICINE

Whitny M. Braun ∗

Abstract: This paper examines the emerging bioethical code of Zoroastrianism. As the oldest of the monotheistic prophetic traditions Zoroastrianism has over 3000 years of ethical writings and oral traditions, which have yet to be codified into a cohesive bioethical manifesto for the faith. The major topics in bioethics including conception, abortion, circumcision, blood, tissue and organ donation as well as euthanasia and disposal of the dead are examined with attention paid to how the tradition views these issues respective to their sacred texts and current social norms.

Keywords: Zoroastrianism, Parsis, Bioethics, Public Health, Abortion, Organ Donation, Euthanasia, Dakhmenashini,

INTRODUCTION

At first glance the world’s oldest religion and the study of the ethics of scientific advancement might not seem like they have much in common. But in reality they have everything to do with each other. Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion that brings with it the ethics and rituals of the Bronze Age into the 21st century. How does a faith tradition born out of the Central Asian Steppes over 3000 years ago adapt to the rapid advancements being made in the biosciences? Perhaps it does it the same way its younger fellow faith traditions have, by interpreting their ancient ethical codes in a

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! * M.P.H., M.A., EMT and Candidate for PhD in Theology, Ethics and Culture, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, United States of America.

! 1! manner that creates a normative ethical framework that the estimated 175,000

Zoroastrians living in the world today can operate within.1

Before examining the specific beliefs relating to such issues as abortion, organ donation and disposal of the dead it is important to understand the origins of the field of bioethics and why there is a profound need for a Zoroastrian code of bioethics.

THE EVOLUTION OF BIOETHICS

The field of “bioethics” first emerged as an academic discipline in the United

States in the 1960s in response to the rapid advancements being made in the fields of science and technology. But it was not given a name until 1970 when scientist Van

Rensselaer Potter coined the term to refer to confluence of moral, theological and legal reasoning in response to such groundbreaking advances in science as the atomic bomb, the hemodialysis machine and organ transplantation.2 No sooner had Potter fashioned the term than it was appropriated to describe a much narrower scope within the filed: “the ethical analysis of a range of moral questions posed to the medical practice by the advances in the biomedical sciences and technologies”.3

In 1971 the Kennedy Institute of Ethics was founded at Georgetown University to serve as the flagship academic center for research in the new field of medical ethics. The center’s founder chose to call it “bioethics” cementing it as a new and distinct discipline !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! 1!Numbers!based!on!the!research!of!J.!R.!Hinnels!(2000).!Zoroastrian!and!Parsi!Studies.!London,! Ashgate.! ! 2!Potter,!V.!R.!(1970).!"Bioethics,!the!science!of!survival."!Perspectives!in!Biology!and!Medicine!14:! 127M153.! ! ! 3!Jonsen,!A.!R.!(2007).!A!History!of!Bioethics!as!Discipline!and!Discourse.!Bioethics:!an!introduction!to! the!history,!methods!and!practice,!2nd!Edition.!N.!S.!Jecker.!Sudbury,!MA,!Jones!and!Bartlett! Publishers:$3M16.! !

! 2! within the academy. Shortly thereafter a formal definition was given to the term in the center’s premier publication in 1972, The Encyclopedia of Bioethics, defining it as: “the study of the ethical dimensions of medicine and the biological sciences.”4

Two years later Daniel Callahan, founder of the other major bioethics think tank,

The Hastings Center, wrote an article in which he suggested that this new field could develop into a unique and profoundly important discipline, drawing from the traditional methods of philosophical and theological analysis, sensitivity to human emotion and socioeconomic and political influences on medicine and health care.5

By the end of the 1970s the general consensus was that the discipline of bioethics should be designed to serve those who were faced with the crucial decisions that arise within medicine and by extension, measures in public health.

RELIGION AND BIOETHICS

One sub-discipline that has developed under the umbrella of bioethics is the codification of bioethical norms specific to individual faith traditions. Christians, Jews and Muslims in the United States and Europe have been the most active in the issuing of bioethical mandates, such as the 1995 papal encyclical, Evangelium Vitae6 and the

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4!Ibid,!p.!3.! ! 5!Callahan,!D.!(1973).!"Bioethics!as!a!discipline."!Hastings!Center!Studies!1:!66M73.! ! 6!The!papal!encyclical!Evangelium.Vitae!was!issued!on!March!25,!1995!by!Pope!John!Paul!II.!!It!states! the!Roman!Catholic!position!regarding!the!value!and!inviolability!of!human!life.!!The!encyclical!has! subsequently!been!used!as!the!standard!of!authority!in!all!matters!pertaining!to!abortion,!euthanasia! and!by!extension!the!destruction!of!stem!cells.! !

! 3! multiple fatawas issued by Muslim clerics since the 1980s.7 But bioethics as a discipline has been accused of being elitist in that the vast majority of research and writing in the field focuses on the Abrahamic traditions’ treatments of the various bioethical issues.

Consequently, in recent years there has been a surge in interest in the bioethical codes of

“minority groups”.

In response to the growing interest in the field of bioethics among Christian and

Jewish scholars several other scholars emerged as bioethicists for their respective faith traditions. In the 1980s Muslim scholars such as Hassan Hathout8 and Abdulaziz

Sachedina9 became recognized as leading voices in the sub-discipline of Muslim bioethics. By the 1990s Cromwell Crawford10 and Damien Keown11 had established themselves as the preeminent authorities on Hindu and Buddhist bioethics respectively.

And in the last decade others have emerged in the fields of Jain and Confucian bioethics.12

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7!See:!RisplerMChaim,!V.!(2003).!The!Right!Not!to!Be!Born:!Abortion!of!the!Disadvantaged!Fetus!in! Contemporary!Fatwas!Islamic!Ethics!of!Life:!Abortion,!War,!and!Euthanasia.!J.!E.!Brockopp.!Columbia,! SC,!University!of!South!Carolina!Press.! ! ! 8!See:!Hathout,!H.!(1981).!The!International!Code!for!Medical!and!Health!Ethics.!Kuwait,!Islamic! Organization!for!Medical!Sciences.! ! 9!See:!Sachedina,!A.!(2009).!Islamic!Bioemedical!Ethics:!Principles!and!Application.!Oxford,!Oxford! University!Press.! ! 10!See:!Crawford,!S.!C.!(2003).!Hindu!Bioethics!for!the!TwentyMfirst!Century.!Ithaca,!NY,!State! University!of!New!York!Press.! ! ! 11!See:!Keown,!D.!(2001).!Buddhism!and!Bioethics.!London,!Palgrave.! ! ! 12!See:!Braun,!W.!(2008).!"Sallekhana:!the!Ethicality!and!Legality!of!Religious!Suicide!by!Starvation!in! the!Jain!Religious!Community."!Medicine!and!Law!27(4):!913M924.!;!“Jain!Bioethics!for!the!21st! Century.”!!Medicine!and!Law,!Pending!Publication.!!Also!see:!Fan,!R.,!Ed.!(1999).!Confucian!Bioethics.! Philosophy!and!Medicine.!Dordrecht,!NL,!Kluwer!Academic!Publishers.! ! !

! 4! From a purely intellectual and philosophical standpoint the descriptive ethics of the world’s major faith traditions may have made for interesting reading, however there was a disconnect for physicians, nurses, and all other healthcare providers who were encountering members of these religious and cultural groups in the clinical setting.

Through the process of globalization healthcare providers the world over were encountering an increasingly diverse patient population and each faith tradition, ethnic group and religious denomination represented in the hospital was proving to be a brave new world of ethical norms.

The need to understand the bioethical norms of what were then termed “fringe” groups first became apparent to healthcare providers in the West when blood transfusions became a reality in the early 20th century.13 While it was hailed as a miracle of modern science it raised myriad ethical and theological questions owing to the fact that blood is so symbolically intertwined with cultural, ethnic and religious identities.

The first group to publicly admonish the practice were the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who starting in 1927 began sending out their denominational bulletin The Watchtower, which admonished the “eating of blood”.14 The concept of “eating blood” was later clarified in 1944 so as to be tantamount to transfusion:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 13!The!first!documented!successful!blood!transfusion!took!place!in!November!of!1906!when!a!young! Cleveland!surgeon,!George!Washington!Crile,!published!the!results!of!his!attempt!to!save!the!life!of!a! 23MyearMold!man!by!surgically!connecting!the!patient’s!brachial!artery!to!his!brother’s.!!For!more! information!see:!Susan!E.!Lederer!(2008).!Flesh!and!Blood:!Organ!Transplantation!and!Blood! Transfusion!in!Twentieth!Century!America.!New!York,!NY,!Oxford!University!Press.! ! ! 14!Muramoto,!O.!(1998).!"Bioethics!of!the!refusal!of!blood!by!Jehovah's!Witnesses:!Part!I."!Journal!of! Medical!Ethics!24(4):!223M231.!!It!is!also!important!to!note!that!while!the!paper!cites!Jehovah’s! Witnesses!as!the!first!group!to!admonish!the!practice!it!was!actually!the!Christian!Scientists!who!first! admonished!the!practice!by!default!due!to!their!tradition’s!belief!that!all!healing!should!be!done! through!prayer!solely.!!However,!since!Christian!Scientists!operate!on!the!a!priori!assumption!of!not! seeking!out!or!receiving!medical!care,!they!have!never!actually!formally!admonished!any!practices!in! the!same!way!the!Jehovah’s!Witnesses!have.! ! !

! 5! “Not only as a descendant of Noah, but now also as one bound by God’s law to Israel which incorporated the everlasting covenant regarding the sanctity of life- sustaining blood, the stranger was forbidden to eat or drink blood, whether by transfusion or by the mouth.”15

In time Jehovah’s witnesses began clashing with the court systems because of their refusal to accept treatment with life saving blood transfusions and then later their refusal to receive vaccinations. In the 1980s and early 1990s other religious groups began to appear in medical and legal literature for their refusal to accept medical procedures on religious grounds, such as the Hmong community’s refusal to recognize and treat epilepsy16 and the Jain practice of Sallekhana.17

In the last decade there has been an increased effort on the part of governments with socialized medical infrastructures and among both private and public institutions in the United States to research and codify as many religious and cultural group’s ethical norms as possible. The United States and European Union have had governmental bioethics panels for at least the last decade, and emerging biotechnology powerhouses

India and South Korea have begun work on establishing permanent bioethics commissions.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 15!Elder,!L.!(2009).!"Jehovah's!Witnesses!Accepting!Blood!Transfusion."!Retrieved!12!November! 2009,!from!http://www.ajwrb.org/Jehovah_s_Witnesses_Accept_Blood_Transfusion.pdf.! ! ! 16!The!Hmong!belief!regarding!epilepsy!garnered!interest!following!the!case!of!Lia!Lee,!the!infant! daughter!of!Hmong!refugees!living!in!Merced,!California!in!the!early!1990s.!!After!Lia!Lee’s!diagnosis! of!severe!epilepsy!the!family!refused!to!allow!local!physicians!to!treat!the!girl!because!in!the!Hmong! shamanistic!tradition!epilepsy!is!referred!to!as!qaug.dab.peg!(translated!in!English,!"the!spirit!catches! you!and!you!fall!down"),!in!which!epileptic!attacks!are!perceived!as!evidence!of!the!epileptic's!ability! to!enter!and!journey!momentarily!into!the!spirit!realm!and!not!as!illness.!!The!failure!to!treat! resulted!in!the!girl’s!death.!!For!more!information!see:!Fadiman,!A.!(1997).!The!Spirit!Catches!You! and!You!Fall!Down:!A!Hmong!Child,!Her!American!Doctors,!and!the!Collisions!of!Two!Cultures.!New! York,!NY,!Firrar,!Straus!and!Giroux.! ! ! 17!See:!Braun,!W.!(2008).!"Sallekhana:!the!Ethicality!and!Legality!of!Religious!Suicide!by!Starvation!in! the!Jain!Religious!Community."!Medicine!and!Law!27(4):!913M924.!

! 6! Aside from satisfying intellectual curiosity and providing an ethical basis upon which governments can better tailor their socialized medical programs, research into the bioethics of faith traditions helps healthcare providers to offer care more effectively and sensitively and it serves to protect individuals and institutions against litigation for accidental violation of patient’s freedom of religion and right to autonomy. The annals of case law in the United States and Europe are filled with examples of individuals and groups suing for exemption or special permission to practice rituals involving the body.

Examples of these special considerations range from exemption to participating in childhood vaccinations to the right to perform female circumcision.

One group that has been conspicuously absent from almost all circles of bioethical discussion is the Zoroastrian tradition. Their absence from the literature and the ongoing bioethics interfaith dialogue may owe to the fact that their numbers are small and continuing to shrink at epidemic proportions. Or it may owe to the fact that because they are an ancient faith there is an erroneous assumption that a religion so ancient cannot be compatible with modern science. Whatever the case may be, there is in fact, an unwritten bioethical code inherent in the Zoroastrian tradition and this paper will attempt to examine those ethical perspectives as they pertain to the major developmental milestones in human life.

Since there is no official governing body that dictates and issues the normative bioethics of the Zoroastrian faith tradition as a whole, “doing bioethics” for the religion poses a distinct difficulty. In order to create a bioethical code in the absence of documents specifically addressing issues such as abortion or birth control requires

! 7! examining the sacred Zoroastrian texts known as the Gathas, and using ethnographic sources such as interviews to extrapolate evidence to substantiate bioethical norms.

The sections of the paper are organized to as to address the major issues in bioethics, as they would influence the life of a Zoroastrian. Thus, the sections are organized in manner that corresponds with the order in which most individuals experience the major developmental milestone in life, beginning with conception and ending with death. However, before a careful examination of proposed Zoroastrian bioethics can begin it is important to understand the faith’s origins and subsequent evolution through the centuries.

ZOROASTRIAN ORIGINS

Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed creedal religions tracing its origins to

Central Asia at the dawn of the Bronze Age between the 15th and 13th centuries BCE.

These dates are believed to coincide with the birth of the prophet Zoroaster.18 The prophet of the faith, also known as Zarathustra or Zartosht19 was likely born in what is presently eastern Iran or Afghanistan. Over the course of the time it evolved from being an ancient cult who worshipped fire on the Central Asian Steppes to being the state religion of three of legendary Iranian empires. Its influence extended from Judaism to

Christianity to Islam and even to Mahayana Buddhism. It was persecuted under Islam in the 7th century and its followers all but stamped out. And yet in the 21st century pockets

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 18!Boyce,!M.!(1979).!Zoroastrians:!Their!Religious!Beliefs!and!Practices.!London,!Routledge,!pp.1M2.! ! ! 19!Zoroaster!is!the!name!attributed!to!him!by!the!Greeks;!Zarathushtra!is!derived!from!the!Old! Avestan!and!in!Persian!he!is!called!Zartosht!(!"!#$).! !

! 8! of Zoroastrians, still loyal to the faith remain in the mountains of Iran, in the urban sprawl of Mumbai and in Diaspora communities throughout Europe and the United States.

Today the total number of Zoroastrians in the world hovers somewhere between

145,000 and 175,00, with approximately 70% of that total population concentrated in

India where they are known as the Parsis and about 20% remaining in Iran. The last 10% is scattered throughout the North America and Europe.20

At the core of the tradition is the belief that there is one universal and transcendental God known as Ahura Mazda to whom all worship is directed. Ahura

Mazda's creation exists as asha, or truth and order. Everything else that does not fit within the rubric of truth and order, or which would be considered to be falsehood or chaos is known as druj. The universe is thus in a state of constant conflict between asha and druj. Druj is the product of Angra Mainyu or Ahriman, which is the source of all evil.

In order to follow the teachings of Zoroaster one must make the profession of faith known as the Fravarane and actively engage in “good thoughts, good words and good deeds” to ensure happiness and to keep the druj at bay.

In Zoroastrian eschatology Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail over Angra

Mainyu or Ahriman, at which point the universe will undergo a cosmic overhaul and time will end. In the final transformation, all of creation, including the souls of the dead that were damned will be reunited with Ahura Mazda returning to life in the undead form. At this point a messianic figures called a Saoshyant will bring about a final rebirth of the world in which the dead will be revived.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 20!See:!Hinnels,!J.!R.!(2000).!Zoroastrian!and!Parsi!Studies.!London,!Ashgate!and!the!2001!Census! ofIndia.!New!Delhi,!India:!Office!of!the!Registrar!General.!

! 9! Every aspect of the Zoroastrian’s life must be lived with this eschatology in mind and critical emphasis is placed on living a life that separates purity from pollution. This emphasis on elemental purity can be traced back to the two most important elements of life for the nomadic peoples of Bronze Age Central Asia: water and fire. Water made life on the arid Asian Steppes possible and fire allowed them to stay warm in the winter and cook their food. Because water and fire facilitated life they came to symbolize the divine and thus offerings were made to them. These offerings became the basis of the daily priestly act of worship, which came to be known as the yasna. In time fire came to represent a pure unadulterated substance that once lit must be kept burning and uncontaminated by the stuff of Angra Mainyu, such as dead matter known as Druje-

Nasus.

While the brief description of the origins and basic tenets of Zoroastrian given in this paper does not in any way do justice to the rich history and sophisticated theology of the tradition, the assumption is that the reader will investigate on their own the socio- historical tapestry of Zoroastrianism and forgive any shortcomings regarding the historical and theological introduction. As stated earlier, in order to navigate the multiplicity of bioethical issues it is easiest to start at the beginning with conception and birth.

BIRTH

The Embryo

! 10! In the Zoroastrian tradition a child is said to be formed, and a soul added to its body, after a woman has been pregnant for four months and ten days21. However no documented discussion exists regarding the permissibility of abortion as it pertains to before and after the date of ensoulment.22

In other faith traditions there has been some debate as to whether it is permissible to use embryos prior to ensoulment for biomedical research. Additionally there has been discussion as to whether or not the accidental or intentional destruction of a fetus in utero prior to ensoulment technically qualifies as abortion. Zoroastrianism does not seem to have come to a consensus on these matters but modern Parsis do in practice seem to regard the use of embryonic stem cell as ethically and religiously permissible. However, abortion at any stage of gestation as prohibited.23

Abortion

Abortion is generally considered to be unrighteous, an act which is both deliberately murderous and which pollutes the earth with a cadaver.24 While the practice was and is in the majority of cases heartily discouraged there are no specific spiritual or

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 21!Anquetil!Du!Perron,!Zend.Avesta,!Vol.!II,!p.!563.! ! 22!Information!based!on!a!phone!interview!conducted!Kayhan!P.!Parsi,!J.D.,!PhD,!associate!professor! of!Bioethics!&!Health!Policy!and!at!Loyola!University!Chicago!Stritch!School!of!Medicine!and! Neiswanger!Institute!for!Bioethics!and!Health!Policy.!!Interview!conducted!1!December,!2009.! ! 23!Information!based!on!a!phone!interview!conducted!Firroz!Billimoria,!MD,!attending!physician,! Loma!Linda!University!Medical!Center,!Loma!Linda,!California.!!!Interview!conducted!4!December,! 2009.! ! 24!Aaghaaee,!S.!M.!(2005).!"Abortion!and!Zoroastrianism."!Joural!of!Reproduction!&!Infertility!6(4).! !

! 11! corporal punishments prescribed in the Gathas. Interestingly, the Videvdad describes the many ways in which abortion was a sinful act:

IIa

9. 'If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered [unto a husband] or not delivered8, and she conceives by him, let her not, being ashamed of the people, produce in herself the menses, against the course of nature, by means of water and plants.

10. 'And if the damsel, being ashamed of the people, shall produce in herself the menses against the course of nature, by means of water and plants, it is a fresh sin as heavy [as the first].

11. 'If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered [unto a husband] or not delivered, and she conceives by him, let her not, being ashamed of the people, destroy the fruit in her womb.

12. 'And if the damsel, being ashamed of the people, shall destroy the fruit in her womb, the sin is on both the father and herself, the murder is on both the father and herself; both the father and herself shall pay the penalty for willful murder.

IIb

13. 'If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered [unto a husband] or not delivered, and she conceives by him, and she says, "I have conceived by thee;" and he replies, "Go then to the old woman and apply to her for one of her drugs, that she may procure thee miscarriage;"

14. 'And the damsel goes to the old woman and applies to her for one of her drugs, that she may procure her miscarriage; and the old woman brings her some Banga, or Shaeta, a drug that kills in the womb or one that expels out of the womb, or some other of the drugs that produce miscarriage and [the man says], "Cause thy fruit to perish!" and she causes her fruit to perish; the sin is on the head of all three, the man, the damsel, and the old woman.

15. 'If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered [unto a husband] or not delivered, and she conceives by him, so long shall he support her, until the child be born.

16. 'If he shall not support her, so that the child comes to grief14, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for willful murder.'

! 12! 17. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If she be near her time, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?

18. Ahura Mazda answered: 'If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered [unto a husband] or not delivered, and she conceives by him, so long shall he support her, until the child be born.

19. 'If he shall not support her....'It lies with the faithful to look in the same way after every pregnant female, either two-footed or four-footed, two-footed woman or four-footed bitch.'25

According to these passages from the Videvidad one can extrapolate that since there was a rather extensive knowledge of the ways in which one could induce abortion by ingesting certain plants, it was practiced often enough to merit discussion in the

Videvdad.

There is no current statistical data regarding the incidence of abortion among

Zoroastrians but it stands to reason that given the high socio-economic standing of most members of the Zoroastrian community and low birth rates they do not have the same incentives to abort that most women living below the poverty line or in developing nations do.

Infanticide

Infanticide is considered tantamount to abortion and thus equivalent to murder.

Disability is not considered sufficient grounds for the killing of an infant.26 However, according to texts discovered at Persepolis and Susa it appears as though during

Achameanid times women of the royal house who gave birth to sons were given twice the

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 25!Videvdad.15:.9:16.. . 26!Ibid!at!22.!

! 13! food rations.27 While there is no evidence of active infanticide of female children it does appear that at one time female children may have been discriminated against in a way that may have led to their death. But if this was the case the death rate would have likely have been quite low as the number of births of male children only slightly exceeded the number of girls born during the period.28

PUBERTY

Circumcision

Circumcision has historically been attributed to pre-Islamic pagan Arab culture.

References to it point out the fact that there was a distinction between the Zoroastrians and the pre-Islamic pagan Arabs. As far as it is possible to tell, the Indo-Europeans and by extension the Zoroastrians generally did not practice circumcision. There is also no reference to it in the literature of the ancient Indian and Iranian peoples. Neither the

Avesta nor the Zoroastrian Pahlavi texts mention circumcision or any other form of ritual alteration of the genitals, from which it may be concluded that circumcision was not practiced in Persia before the advent of Islam.29

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 27!See:!Brosius,!M.!(1998).!Women!in!Ancient!Persia,!Oxford,!Oxford!University!Press,!which!gives!a! detailed!analysis!of!the!Fortification!and!Treasury!texts.!!Also!see:!Dandamaev,!M.!&!Vladimir! Lukonin,!(1994).!The!Culture!and!Social!Institutions!of!Ancient!Iran.!Cambridge,!Cambridge! University!Press.!! 28!Ibid.!!!!!!!!!!!! ! 29!Sakurzada,!E.!and!M.!Omidsalar!(2009).!Circumcision.!Encycolpaedia!Iranica.!E.!Yarshater.!New! York,!Columbia.! ! !

! 14! At present Zoroastrians do not ritually perform circumcision, however some

Zoroastrians living in the United States may opt to have their infant sons circumcised as a preventative health measure.30

PROCREATION

Pregnancy

Pregnancy in Zoroastrianism is treated much the same as it is in all other major religions, as a blessing from the divine. In the Avesta there are no specific references made to any religiously sanctioned rites that are to be performed during the pregnancy however it is said that women, upon finding themselves with child would pray before the

Ardivisur also known as the divinity of the waters for an easy childbirth and breast milk.31

In later Pahlavi and Persian texts there is evidence that upon discovering that a woman was pregnant a consecrated fire was lit in the house and carefully maintained.

This custom has carried down through the centuries to modern day Parsis who in some circumstances still light a ritual fire during the fifth month of pregnancy in order to keep evil influences or daeves from entering the house. In at least one case in California a

Parsi family who had relocated to Beverly Hills had insisted on having a ritual fire lit inside the hospital room of a female relative who had been placed in the adult intensive care unit for observation following a diagnoses of preeclampsia. This request was denied !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 30!Ibid!at!23.! ! 31!Modi!suggests!that!the!allusion!to!these!prayers!indicates!that!in!ancient!Persia!there!may!have! been!some!formal!rituals!that!accompanied!pregnancy.!!However,!the!details!have!been!lost!to! history.!See:!Modi,!J.!J.!(1937).!The!Religious!Ceremonies!and!Customs!of!the!Parsees!(2nd!ed.).! Bombay:!Society!for!the!Promotion!of!Zoroastrian!Religious!Knowledge!&!Education.!Pp.!2M3.! !

! 15! by the hospital administration on account of the risk posed by the oxygen tanks in the room.32

Regarding the sexual ethics of pregnancy Zoroastrian men are not forbidden from having sexual intercourse with their wives after the fifth month. The wife in turn is obligated to avoid physical contact with any dead or decomposing matter, such as meat or hair and fingernail clippings or to even use a tooth pick which may contain bits of dead matter on its tip.33

Among modern Zoroastrians there are no religious rituals, aside from the occasional fire in the home that seem to still be followed. Ultrasounds, amniocentesis and all the other trappings of modern labor and delivery seem to have been adopted.

However, in Mumbai some Parsis still adhere to the traditional birthing ritual of delivering the child in the expectant mother’s parent’s house.34 If the decision is made to have the child in the home then the traditional rituals are followed in order to ensure the purity of the process. However this practice is becoming less and less common as it is becoming increasingly risky with the changing birth patterns among the Parsi community in Mumbai.

Artificial Reproductive Technology

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 32!Ibid!at!23.! ! 33!Modi,!J.!J.!(1937).!The.Religious.Ceremonies.and.Customs.of.the.Parsees!(2nd!ed.).!Bombay:!Society! for!the!Promotion!of!Zoroastrian!Religious!Knowledge!&!Education.!p.!3.! ! 34!Ibid.at!22.!

! 16! The Zoroastrians of India make for a fascinating case study of a religious/ethnic group embracing artificial reproductive technology. One look at their dwindling population numbers and it is clear why they have been the single most proactive religious ethnic group in seeking out and utilizing the host of new fertility treatments available.

While India’s population grew from 318 million in 1941 to one billion in 2001, the number of Parsi-Zoroastrians fell 39% from 114,000 to 69,000 in the same period.

According to the 2001 census, the child-woman ratio, which is a key indicator of fertility, is 578 per 1,000 in India. Among the Parsis, it is 85 per 1,000.35

A quick examination of the Parsi publications, which feature announcements of the births and deaths within the community, vividly illustrates the dramatically disproportional numbers. Kavas Panthaki, a representative for the welfare department of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat recently stated, “At the start of this decade, three people died for every child born. Now, four die for every child born,”.36

It is ironic that in a country with a population of over one billion, the Parsis have approached the Government to help them produce more children. The community, which is feared to become extinct by 2090, has sought Central help in setting up fertility clinics.37 In response the plight of the Parsis the Indian National Commission for

Minorities (NCM) has asked the Government to waive off the two-child norm for Parsis working in government offices, and particularly in the security forces. NCM chairman

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 35!Census!of!India.!(2001).!New!Delhi,!India:!Office!of!the!Registrar!General! ! 36!KumaaanaMWadia,!S.!(2008,!11!May!).!"Fertility!clinic!gives!hope,!aid!to!dwindling!Parsi! community."!Retrieved!16!October,!2009,!from!http://parsikhabar.net/fertilityMclinicMgivesMhopeM aidMtoMdwindlingMparsiMcommunity/.! ! ! 37!Khosa,!A.!(2005,!25!January).!"Parsis!ask!Centre!for!fertility!clinics."!Retrieved!16!November,!2009,! from!http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/63391/.! ! !

! 17! Tarlochan Singh, who has written to the Prime Minister, argued that allowing Parsis to have more children could be done without any controversy.38 However, allocating special assistance in the form of government funds and legislative loopholes to one religious/ethnic group opens the proverbial can of ethical worms in supposed democracy that claims complete separation of church and state.

Government interventions aside, Parsis are using their own considerable funds to move forward with attempts to increase their population through artificial reproductive technologies. For years there have been suggestions that part of the reason that Parsis have such low fertility rates is because they have been such a deeply inbred population for hundreds of years and that they are self-sabotaging their own DNA. However, the concerns over recessive genes running rampant have not stopped the Bombay Parsi

Panchayat from funding couples that wish to conceive a child. To defray the high costs associated with in vitro fertilization the Panchayat along with anonymous Parsi benefactors will sponsor up to $2,500 per couple.39

There are no religious qualms on the part of the Parsis with regard to using artificial reproductive technology. However there is some concern on the part of physicians and ethicists that the way in which Parsis are going about raising their numbers puts the children they are producing at unfair risk of being born prematurely or suffering long-term negative effects.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 38!Ibid.. ! 39!Wonacott,!P.!(2006).!Zoroastrians!Turn!to!Internet!Dating!to!Rescue!Religion:!Declining!Numbers! Threaten!Future!of!Ancient!Faith;!Fertility!Drugs!in!Mumbai.!The!Wall!Street!Journal.!New!York,!The! New!York!Time!Company.! ! ! !

! 18! Since Parsi gynecologist Anahita Pandole began treating the fertility issues of the community in 2005 she has helped produce a staggeringly high number of multiple births, beginning with the Bulsara triplets in 2006.40 Statistical evidence supports the claim that children born in multiples are less likely to have healthy birth weights, statistically more likely to have congenital and developmental deformities and have a higher incidence of chronic morbidity.41 Given the already above average prevalence of chronic illness within the Parsi community it is difficult not to question the ethics of actively producing children under high-risk circumstances.42

SICKNESS

Blood

Blood, tissue and organ donation are prohibited in the Zoroastrian tradition though receiving a transfusion of blood is acceptable.43 However, despite the orthodox stance on avoiding all blood, tissue and organ donation there has been a blood drive of

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 40!Ibid.. ! 41!See:!Schieve,!L.!A.,!H.!B.!Peterson,!et!al.!(1999).!"LiveMBirth!Rates!and!MultipleMBirth!Risk!Using!In! Vitro!Fertilization."!Journal!of!the!American!Medical!Association!282:!1832M1838;!and!Reynolds,!M.! A.,!L.!A.!Schieve,!et!al.!(2001).!"Risk!of!Multiple!Birth!Associated!with!In!Vitro!Fertilization!using! Donor!Eggs."!American!Journal!of!Epidemiology!154(11):!1043M1050.! ! ! 42!The!Parsi!population!exhibits!above!average!numbers!of!individuals!afflicted!with!multiple! sclerosis,!hypertension,!polydactylly!and!myopia.!!See:!Rosati,!G.!(2001).!"The!Prevalence!of!Multiple! Sclerosis!in!the!World:!An!Update."!Neurological!Sciences!22(2):!117M140;!Bharucha,!N.!E.!and!T.! Kuruvilla!(2003).!"Hypertension!in!the!Parsi!community!of!Bombay:!a!study!on!prevalence,! awareness!and!compliance!to!treatment."!BMC!Public!Health!3:!1M6.;!and!Jayaraman,!K.!S.!(2007).! "Database!targets!Parsi!genes."!Nature!446(7135):!475.! ! ! 43!Green,!J.!and!M.!Green!(2006).!Dealing!with!Death:!A!Handbook!of!Practices,!Procedures!and!Law.! London,!Jessica!Kingsley!Publishers.!Chapter!32:!Parsees.! ! ! !

! 19! sorts going on in Bangalore. The Zoroastrian owned Bangalore-based biotech company

Avesthagen Ltd. Is currently carrying out a large-scale study of Zoroastrians aimed at zeroing in on the sources of Zoroastrian longevity. The study is mainly targeting Parsis but attempting to collect samples from Zoroastrians the world over. The homogeneity of the group allows scientists to more easily narrow in specific genes that may be linked to longevity.44

Organ and Tissue Donation

In 2008, the Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network (MOHAN), a Chennai based

NGO began airing public service announcements in India with Bollywood star

Aishwarya Rai Bacchan calling on people to become cornea donors. Accompanying this ad campaign were teams of volunteers who went from house to house asking people to sign forms to declare themselves organ donors. This prompted discussion among the

Parsi community as to whether or not they should volunteer to become organ donors.

Many felt that it was a perfectly acceptable decision considering that Zoroastrianism promotes charitable giving. However, many others were not convinced.

The consensus among the orthodox was that organ donation is not allowed in the

Zoroastrian tradition. The rationale behind this belief is that organ donation does not constitute charity because the human body does not belong to the person but is in a sense a vessel on loan from Ahura Mazda which the soul or Ruvan is allowed to inhabit while on its journey through this world. During the journey the Ruvan is guided by the

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 44!(2008,!4!July).!Bioetech!Firm!Tries!to!Unravel!Secret!Behind!ParsiMZoroastrian!Longevity.!Indian! Express.!Mumbai,!Financial!Times!Limited.!

!

! 20! Fravashi, a sort of guardian angel, and the Baodang or “Divine Wisdom” that aids the

Ruvan in following the right path.

The Ruvan itself is believed to be composed of two parts, the supernatural core known as the Keherp and the physical outer shell known as the Tanu. As time progresses the Tanu becomes increasingly unable to regenerate and repair itself, ultimately resulting in death. Then as the Ruvan exits the physical body, Zoroastrian theology dictates that the Tanu be taken to the dakhmas, which will be discussed later, where it will be returned to Ahura Mazda in an ecologically sound manner. It is believed by many that by donating the body, and its constituent parts being given away in a piecemeal fashion, the Ruvan is kept from continuing on its spiritual journey.

In November of 2008 an article published in the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly, a

Zoroastrian newspaper published in Mumbai, encouraged all Parsis to avoid organ donation at all costs. The article likened organ donation to stealing because to donate an organ would be like stealing from Ahura Mazda.45 It also went on to point out that

Parsis, and one must assume by extension all Zoroastrians, believe in “the concept of action-reaction…the present state of a person is totally due to his/her past deeds.”

Another quote from the article, which troubled many Zoroastrians, was the following quote:

While a blind person certainly does require our help and understanding, we cannot play the part of God and try and restore his vision. That prerogative belongs to God.46

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 45!Ibid!at!22.! ! 46!Hathiram,!E.!M.!J.!(2008,!November!16).!Can!Parsis!Donate!Organs!Or!The!Body!After!Death?!JamMeM Jamshed!Weekly.!Mumbai,!Y.K.!Bhagwagar!&!Co.! ! ! !

! 21! The stance on organ donation posited in this article begs several questions. If the

Ruvan should not be parted in any way from the Tanu, then what is the Parsi position on medically necessary amputations? There is no literature currently available that suggests that Zoroastrians abstain from such interventions as the amputation of a gangrenous foot due to diabetes or a mastectomy to treat breast cancer. In fact, Parsis in Mumbai and the

United States accept surgical intervention regularly.47 So if it acceptable to separate a diseased part of the Tanu from the rest of the body if it is done prior to death then why is not acceptable to remove a healthy part of the body that will offer life enhancing benefits to another individual? Further, if one follows the line of reasoning laid forth by Ervad

Marzban J. Hathiram, the author of the article, then an individual should not even be offered the option of surgical intervention if as he says: “the present state of a person is totally due to his/her past deeds…it is God’s prerogative.”

DEATH

Euthanasia

Euthanasia or “mercy killing” is not permissible in Zoroastrianism, as it believed that only Ahura Mazda can be the giver and taker of life. Physician assisted suicide is different from euthanasia in that it most commonly implies an individual asking a physician to end their life through medical means. This too, is not permissible within the tenants of Zoroastrianism but may be allowed if it achieved through the doctrine of double effect. If a Zoroastrian is terminally ill and suffering from a tremendous amount of pain a physician may alleviate their pain with medication that may also result in their

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 47!Ibid!at!22.!

! 22! death, in which case the physician would be showing compassion to the patient, embodying “good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.” However, any other scenario that deviates from the premise of a physician ending a patient’s life via an injection of morphine for pain relief and coincidentally ending their life is absolutely prohibited.48

Disposal of the Dead

The Zoroastrians, and the Parsis in particular, have perhaps one of the most fascinating rituals in the world for the disposal of the dead. They call it Dakhmenashini, which is derived from the Gujarati term49 for the ancient Zoroastrian ceremony for the disposal of the dead in hilltop enclosures known as dakhmas. Characterized by the placement of the deceased in exposed barren locations where vultures and other animal scavengers rapidly decompose the flesh of the dead body, the practice continues today among the Zoroastrians of India, known as Parsis, whose funerary enclosures are more commonly known as the Towers of Silence.50

Some historical exposition on the Parsi migration to India is useful in understanding the context of the practice. The traditional date for the Parsis’ arrival in

Gujarat from Khorasan is sometime between the eighth and tenth century. A thousand years later some began to migrate to Mumbai when, in 1661, the city passed into the hands of British. In an effort to bring craftsman and traders to the newly British economic post, the British in 1673, offered over a fifty-seven acres parcel of land in

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 48!Ibid.at!22.! ! 49!(based!on!New!Persian)! ! 50!It!was!practiced!in!Iran!until!the!midM1960s,!when!the!Tehran!Anjuman!implemented!burial!in!an! aramgah!throughout!Iran.!!! !

! 23! Malabar Hill to the Parsi community for the establishment of their first dakhma .51 The incentive of land for the dakhma encouraged more Parsis to relocate to the burgeoning commercial center. The ability to erect a dakhma, a Tower of Silence, in Malabar Hill is arguably the bedrock upon which the Parsi community of Mumbai was built and thus could be said to hold similar significance for Parsis that Plymouth Rock holds for

Americans.

The Towers of Silence are also cultural icons. Descriptions of dakhmas first piqued the interest of Europeans when in 1350 Dominican friar Jordanus traveled through

Gujarat on his way to the Malabar Coast. During his travels he encountered Parsis and wrote of them, “There be also other pagan-folk in this India who worship fire; they bury not their dead, neither do they burn them, but cast them into the midst of a certain roofless tower, and there expose them totally uncovered to the fowls of heaven,”.52 In

1870 famed Oxford Sanskritist Sir Monier Monier-Williams wrote of the Towers of

Silence, “Though wholly destitute of ornament, and even of the simplest moulding, the parapet of each Tower possesses an extraordinary roping which instantly attracts and fascinates the gaze. It is a coping formed, not of dead stone, but of living vultures. These birds, on the occasion of my visit, had settled themselves side by side in perfect order, and in a complete circle around the parapets of the Towers, with their heads pointed inwards, and so lazily did they sit there and so motionless was their whole mein that,

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 51!Taraporavela,!S.!(2000).!Zoroastrians.of.India:.Parsis:.A.Photographic.Journey.!Mumbai:!Good! Books.! ! 52!Jordanus.!(2001).!Mirabilia.Descripta:.The.Wonders.of.the.East!(H.!Yule,!Trans.).!London:!Elibron! Classics,!Adamant!Media!! !

! 24! except for their color, they might have been carved out of the stone-work.”53 In his writings he also described to European audiences how it took vultures less that five minutes to consume the flesh of a new corpse. The 1972 best selling novel The Towers of Silence by Paul Scott uses the corpses being picked away by the vultures as a metaphor for India under British rule.

For travelers visiting Mumbai the loveliest area to visit is Malabar Hill, where opulent mansions and modern skyscraper apartment complexes house the rich and famous. But perhaps the greatest draw is the incongruous jungle of date palms and banyan trees, bordered by two concentric walls that sits atop the hill. Inside the walls, amid the trees, are the six low, stadium-like enclosures popularly known as the Towers of

Silence and it is to these structures that the city's powerful community of Parsis bring the bodies of their dead, exposing them to the air so that scavenger birds can pick the corpses clean. For over 300 years these sacred towers reserved for a sacred rite have served the

Parsi community, but the day may come very soon when these edifices become obsolete.

In the early 1990s Parsis began seeing a noticeable decline in the number of vultures that came to feed at the towers. Initial speculation was that perhaps the birds had changed migratory patterns or perhaps had found a more plentiful source of food elsewhere. However ornithologists began reporting the disappearance of the vulture from many parts of India. By 1997 Vibhu Prakash, a scientist at the Bombay Natural History

Society (BNHS) recorded about forty vulture deaths in a colony in Keoladeo National

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 53!MonierMWilliams,!M.!(1891).!Modern.India.and.the.Indians:.Being.a.Series.of.Impressions,.Notes.and. Essays.!Retrieved!15!October!2008,!from! http://books.google.com/books?id=HI1CAAAAIAAJ&dq=Sir+monier+Williams+Modern+India+and+I ndians&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0.!

! 25! Park, south of New Delhi, nearly 700 miles away from Bombay.54 The behaviors he observed in the vultures of Keoladeo began being seen in vultures all over the country.

Ornithologists were reporting that many vultures exhibited strange behavior before dying, hanging their heads so low that their beaks rubbed against their bellies before toppling off their perches and falling to their deaths. In November of the following year the BNHS sent warning to various organizations around the world of the precarious nature of the health of the South Asian vulture population, particularly the rapidly diminishing numbers of the Oriental white-backed vulture (G. bengalensis), prompting the IUCN to classify the species as critically endangered.55

With the cause of the decline in the vulture population still a mystery Parsis began discussing the possible end of the orthodox practice of Dakhmenashini. Alternative options for disposal of the dead were put forth by members of the Mumbai Parsi Council known as the Panchayat, such as the method of stone-encased burial which the

Zoroastrians of Iran, Sri Lanka, England and the Unites States use, as well as the practice of cremation used by the majority of the Hindu population. However, these discussions seemed to pertain to a hypothetical issue that may or may not have to be dealt with in the distant future. Perceptions began to change when in the 1990s residents of the new high- rise apartments, particularly the Spenta apartment complex being constructed facing the

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 54!Bodio,!S.!(2001).!India's!Disappearing!Vultures.!Atlantic.Monthly,.288(2),!3.! ! 55!BNHS.!(2006M2007).!Vulture!Conservation!Breeding!Programme!of!BNHS.!Vulture.Conservation!!! Retrieved!15!October,!2008,!from! http://www.bnhs.org/article.php?cid=MjI%3D&sid=MjU3&aid=MjYz&t=Mg%3D%3D&PHPSESSID= 231e7feb27e40cd379dc41933f77be5a;!and!TPF.!(2008,!July!2008).!The!Peregrine!Fund:!World! Center!for!Birds!of!Prey,!Asian!Vulture!Population!Project.!!!Retrieved!11!October!2008,!from! http://www.peregrinefund.org/vulture/.! ! !

! 26! Towers of Silence in the posh Malabar Hill neighborhood, began complaining to the

Bombay Municipal Corporation they could see vultures circling above the complex through their apartment windows.56 By 2000 the same residents were complaining that there were not enough vultures to consume the number of corpses and the dreadful stench of decomposing bodies that was emanating from Doongerwadi Hill, where the Towers of

Silence are located.57 The Bombay Municipal Corporation investigated the Doongerwadi and declared it not to be a public health concern. However, Berjis Desai, a lawyer for the community is quoted in The Hindustan Times of November 21, 2006 as stating, "We've decided to send a legal notice to the BMC [Bombay Municipal Corporation] for shoddy investigation without going inside the wells where bodies are actually disposed...if the

BMC fails to respond we will file a writ petition.”58 While concerns over the smell and public health safety were being bounced back and forth between the Malabar Hill community and the Bombay Municipal Authority, dissent would come from within the

Parsi community as well.

The event that catapulted the debate over the future of the Towers of Silence onto the international stage occurred when in October of 2006, 65-year-old Dhan Baria released photographs of bodies inside the Towers of Silence in various states of decay to the public. The release of the photographs, which included images of Baria’s own mother, who died in November 2005, coupled with exponentially growing complaints from Mumbai residents over the odor emanating from the Towers of Silence sparked a !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 56!Dalal,!H.!(2006).!Reader's!Forum:!"Hurting!the!Feelings".!Parsiana,.29(7),!4M6.! Economist.!(2007,!13!January).!Vultures.!The.Economist,.382,!39.! ! 57!McKinnon,!I.!(2000,!20!November).!Vultures!dying,!culture!in!decay..The.Australian,!p.!10.! ! 58!Dadrawala,!N.!H.!(2006).!Editorial!Viewpoint:!A!Loss!of!Dignity.!Parsiana,.29(10),!2M8,!40.! !

! 27! controversial debate over whether Parsis should be legally allowed to continue practicing their ancient religious funerary rituals in spite of growing public health concerns and dissent within the faith community.

The fundamentals of the practices of Dakhmenashini are believed to be as old as the Zoroastrian faith itself.59 The earliest reference to an Iranian practice of exposure of the dead is found in the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus, which echoes the recommendations of the Young Avestan Videvdad. According to Zoroastrian belief a dead body is considered to be a highly polluting substance and must be dealt with in such a way as to prevent the pollution of the earth and the waters flowing underneath it. For the earliest Zoroastrians living in Iran water was drawn almost entirely from wells, thus the water table had to be kept clean so as to avoid the spread of disease, which was associated with Druje-Nasus, the evil force of decomposition, which served as the origin of every conceivable form of disease. Thus, the Zoroastrians believed that the ultimate form of disposal of the dead was to place the body atop a bed of stone in a specially constructed roofless structure located in an isolated location far from human dwellings.

This structure, known as the dakhma, allowed the sun’s rays and vultures to work in tandem with other wild beasts and the elements to rapidly decompose the body. After thirty days only the bones of the body remained, which in the Parthian period, and amongst the Sogdian Zoroastrians, were collected and placed in ossuaries called

Astodans. The Astodans were then placed in mausoleum-like tombs, where according to

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 59!Boyce,!M.!(1979).!Zoroastrians:.Their.Religious.Belief.and.Practices.!New!York:!Routledge.! !

! 28! Zoroastrian tradition, king and beggar alike were placed side by side, reminding the living that “death levels all”.60

When Zoroastrians from present day Iran immigrated to India over a thousand years ago they constructed rounded enclosures called dakhmas near their new settlements in the state of Gujarat. These particular Zoroastrians became known as Parsis, ostensibly because of their Persian origins, and their dakhma, meaning “a place for the dead”, was replaced in popular Mumbai usage with the term Doongerwadi derived from the name of the hill in the city upon which one of these structures was built. However, the name that has been most often associated with these dakhma, at least in the West, is the “Towers of

Silence” given by British Colonial official Sir Robert Murphy in 1832.61

While travelers and scholars across the centuries, from Herodotus to Sir Robert

Murphy have been fascinated by the mysterious Towers of Silence for millennia, these edifices have always been closed to outsiders and the rituals and rationale associated with

Dakhmenashini have been largely unknown. However, in order to understand the Parsi commitment to Dakhmenashini it is important to understand just how and why consignment of the dead to a dakhma is practiced.

The Death Ritual

When a Parsi dies in Mumbai, the Towers of Silence are notified and a hearse is sent to take the body to one of the bangli, the buildings for funerary purposes situated in

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 60!Modi,!J.!J.!(1928).!The.Funeral.Ceremonies.of.the.Parsees:.Their.origin.and.explanation.(Fourth. Edition).!Bombay!Anthropological!Society!of!Bombay;!Rustomjee,!F.!(1964).!Zoroastrian.Ceremonies. for.the.Disposal.of.the.Dead.&.Towers.of.Silence.of.the.Parsis.!Colombo:!The!Nadaraja!Press.! ! 61!Ibid!at!35.! !

! 29! the area of the Towers. Before the hearse arrives close relatives ritually bathe the deceased with a sprinkling of water and gaomez62. The body is then dressed in an old but freshly laundered suit of white clothes and the kusti63, or sacred thread, is tied around the corpse’s waist. As the kusti is wrapped around the body a relative recites the prayer of

Nirang-i-Kusti or the Ahura Mazda Khudae prayers.64 At this time the relatives pay their final respects to the deceased and the body is believed to fall under the influence of

Druje-Nasus.

Zoroastrians believe that when death occurs Nasus or Druje-Nasus the she-demon of decay invades the corpse making it Riman – polluted, diseased, infected.65 The body becomes the ultimate medium of pollution and decay or Nasa, meaning, “dead matter”.66

The more righteous the person the more aggressively the Druje-Nasus attacks the body, thus Zoroastrians believe it necessary to avoid touching the body of the deceased to protect themselves from disease and infection.

When the hearse arrives from the Towers of Silence two body-bearers, known as nasasalars, cleanse themselves with ceremonial baths then don their special white cotton shirt called the sudreh and tie the sacred kusti, around their waist while reciting formal

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 62!Gaomez!is!unconsecrated!cow’s!urine.!!In!the!Zoroastrian!tradition!water!must!be!kept!absolutely! pure,!meaning!that!fecal!material,!blood!and!most!importantly,!dead!body!cannot!come!into!direct! contact!with!a!sources!of!water!such!as!a!lake,!stream!or!well.!!The!water!must!be!fetched!from!the! source!used!to!clean!and!then!sterilized!with!cow’s!urine!which!is!contains!high!concentrations!of! ammonia.! ! 63!The!Kusti!is!made!of!72!fine!white!woolen!threads,!which!represent!the!72!chapters!of!the! Zoroastrian’s!sacred!book!the!Yasna.!!It!is!tied!around!the!waist!three!times,!tied!twice!in!a!double! knot!in!the!front!and!the!back!and!the!ends!of!the!kusti!hang!down!the!back.!!! ! 64!Ibid!at!35.! ! 65!Antia,!K.!H.!(2005).!A!Guide!to!Funeral!Ceremonies!and!Prayers.!Fezana.Journal,.18(4),!53M70.! ! 66!Boyce,!M.!(1989).!A.History.of.Zoroastrianism:.The.Early.Period!(Vol.!I).!Leiden:!E.J.!Brill.!

! 30! prayers. They also cover their hands and feet in white muslin cloth known as the dastana. The nasasalars enter the room in which the deceased is lying and the family exits, leaving their deceased loved one in the care of the nasasalars. They place a white sheet on the ground onto which they place the body. Then a long white shroud is placed over the corpse revealing just the head and face, and strips of white cotton tied at five points of the body: the neck, the two arms, the waist, the knees and the big toes of the feet. Finally a piece of white muslin is placed over the head to keep noxious fumes from escaping from the mouth of the corpse.67 The nasasalars then lift the body and move it to a stone slab positioned in the front of the house, careful to never allow the body to point north. The tradition of not facing the body towards the north is believed to derive from the Indo-Aryan belief that north is the direction from which the winter, Ahrimanic68 forces and the enemies of the past came.69 In fact, the Vendidad (VII, 2, 5), the sacred scripture of the Zoroastrian tradition says that the she-demon Druje-Nasus travels from the north in the form of a fly.

Once the body is placed on the stone slab one of the nasasalars draws three circles around the body with an iron nail known. These circles, known as kashas, which resemble a sort of chalk outline at a crime scene, symbolize that the ground within the circle contains the infection and pollution of the corpse. The rationale for drawing the

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 67!Rustomjee,!F.!(1964).!Zoroastrian.Ceremonies.for.the.Disposal.of.the.Dead.&.Towers.of.Silence.of.the. Parsis.!Colombo:!The!Nadaraja!Press.! ! 68!Ahriman!is!the!Middle!Persian!equivalent!of!the!Avestan!Angra.Mainyu!which!is!believed!to!be!the! very!first!personification!of!the!“Devil”.!!According!to!the!most!ancient!Zoroastrian!texts,!the!Gathas,! Ahriman!led!the!opposition!to!the!righteous!God!Ahura.Mazda,!also!known!as!Ohrmazd,!setting!the! stage!for!a!Zoroastrian!dualistic!form!of!religion.! ! 69!Ibid!a!65.!

! 31! kashas is to avoid the pollution of the earth from the putrid liquids that may ooze from the corpse and thus protect the health of other people who live in the home.70

At this point a dog is brought in to walk around the body to confirm that the person is actually dead. This part of the ritual is known as the Sagdid, “Sag” meaning dog and “did” meaning sight.71 The dog must be a “four-eyed dog” meaning a dog with markings or spots above both eyes because such dogs are believed to be able to more acutely detect the presence of Druje –Nasus, the evil influence of decomposition. If the dog does not react the body is deemed to be dead and the nasasalars have a vase with a small fire of frankincense and sandalwood brought into the room.

The corpse can only be removed from the house during daylight hours. An hour or so before the body is removed from the home the nasasalars begin reciting a series of prayers. Half way through the prayers they pause to move the body from the stone slab to an iron bier and then continue with their prayers. When they are finished the dog is brought out once more to perform a final Sagdid and relatives and friends are allowed one final look at the deceased. When all have finished paying their final respects to the corpse the nasasalars finally cover the face of the corpse and carry the body to the

Towers of Silence at Doongerwadi Hill. The nasasalars remove the clothing from the corpse, destroying the clothes with sulphuric acid outside the Towers of Silence later, and place the body in the towers for exposure.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 70!Modi,!J.!J.!(1937).!The.Religious.Ceremonies.and.Customs.of.the.Parsees!(2nd!ed.).!Bombay:!Society! for!the!Promotion!of!Zoroastrian!Religious!Knowledge!&!Education;!Rustomjee,!F.!(1964).! Zoroastrian!Ceremonies!for!the!Disposal!of!the!Dead!&!Towers!of!Silence!of!the!Parsis.!Colombo:!The! Nadaraja!Press.! ! 71.Ibid.at.35..

! 32! There are three towers or dakhmas at the Towers of Silence complex at

Doongerwadi Hill. The inner sanctum of a tower is approximately 150 feet in circumference and lined with large stone slabs. There are footpaths, which allow the nasasalars to navigate through the corpses without touching the bodies. And in the center of the tower is a deep well filled with lime and phosphorous where the dry bones are deposited to crumble away into dust. Under ideal conditions vultures immediately descend upon the fresh corpse devouring an adult’s body within the hour and what is left of the bones is brushed into the well in the center of the tower where, according to

Zoroastrian theology the rich and the poor, the King and the slave meet on equal level in death.72

As purity is absolutely central to Zoroastrian theology great pains are taken to make sure that even the rainwater that falls on the bodies inside the towers is purified.

The well in the center of the tower is engineered so that it has holes through which the rain water drains out into four underground cisterns which have a thick layer of sand, topped with charcoal and sandstone which act as a filter to cleanse the water before it is drained out to the ground.73

Because earth, water and fire are sacred to the Zoroastrians this funerary ritual is the only means by which they believe they can dispose of their dead in way that does not contradict their faith. Ask any truly orthodox Zoroastrian why Dakhmenashini is superior to other forms of disposal of the dead and essential to the practice of the faith and they will have no shortage of answers for you. A vulture rapidly devouring the flesh

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 72!Modi,!J.!J.!(1937).!The.Religious.Ceremonies.and.Customs.of.the.Parsees!(2nd!ed.).!Bombay:!Society! for!the!Promotion!of!Zoroastrian!Religious!Knowledge!&!Education.! ! 73!Ibid..!

! 33! of a corpse is seen to be infinitely more sanitary than decomposition by insects after the burial process. Cremation is unacceptable for a truly orthodox Zoroastrian because fire is should never be contaminated by dead flesh. Burial at sea or setting the body adrift in the

River Ganges, such as many Hindus unable to afford cremation do, is an abomination as water is also a sacred. This preoccupation with purity and containment of pollution is why the dakhmas are to be built far from where humans live and built of the hardest and strongest materials and why Dakhmenashini is the only means of disposal of the dead an orthodox Zoroastrian will practice.

Observance of the purity laws is tied to the journey of the soul after death.

Zoroastrians believe that for the three days immediately following death the soul remains in this world near the body, but on the dawn after the third night, according to the

Vendidad the soul passes out of this world and must cross the bridge known as Chinvat guarded by the angle Mithra. The soul is asked to account for his or her deeds in the material world and if his or her good deeds outweigh the bad then the soul is allowed to cross the bridge into Paradise. If the misdeeds outweigh the good deeds then the soul is cast down into the depths of Hell. This belief in the soul’s journey across the bridge of

Chinvat makes the importance of observing the rules and rituals of Dakhmenashini of paramount importance. The passage of the soul must be assisted by the careful execution of the Zoroastrian funerary rituals. If the Parsis of Mumbai are forced to end their rituals of Dakhmenashini it would not simply mean adjusting to a new order of things, it means possibly interfering with the journey of the eternal soul. Just as Christians fear that their soul will wander the earth without a Christian burial, so too do the Parsis feel about

Dakhmenashini.

! 34! The true dilemma of this situation is that an essential ingredient of

Dakhmenashini is the presence of the vultures. So what does a religious tradition do when an essential element of their faith simply ceases to exist?

ECO-ETHICS

Vulture Extinction

When the vultures of India and neighboring countries of Pakistan and Nepal started dying the initial assumption was that pesticides used in India’s booming agribusiness sector were harming avian populations the same way they had in the United

States. However this did not seem like a likely scenario because although India uses massive quantities of DDT every year, DDT breaks down quickly in hot climates and damages the structural integrity of bird eggs rather than causing high rates of morbidity and mortality in adult birds. Further, tissue analysis of the Indian vultures revealed only low levels of DDT metabolites.74

In 2000 scientists from the University of California system and the Peregrine

Fund were attempting to evaluate the problem by collecting tissue samples from the birds in Rajasthan, West Bengal and other parts of India and Nepal when they ran into bioethical red tape. The Indian government has a ban on the removal of genetic material from the county which was put in place with the intent of keeping pharmaceutical companies from taking indigenous plant and animal species out the country and patenting the genomes of the various organisms.75 To circumvent the problem, tissue samples were taken from neighboring Pakistan. The results of the Pakistani vulture tissue samples !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 74!Bodio,!S.!(2001).!India's!Disappearing!Vultures.!Atlantic!Monthly,!288(2),!3.. ! 75!Ibid.!

! 35! showed signs of avian gout, a dysfunction of the kidneys that can be associated with lack of water. But all of the birds sampled had ample access to water, leaving scientists with even more questions.

Over the last decade the populations of the Oriental White-backed vulture (G. bengalensis), the Long-billed Vulture (G. indicus) and the Slender-billed Vulture (G. tenuirostris) have declined by more than 95% in India, Pakistan and Nepal (Oaks et al.,

2004; Pollard, 2004). A three year study conducted by bird virologist Lindsay Oaks of

Washington State University and the Peregrine Foundation has found that the cause of the death of the vulture in South Asia is the chemical compound diclofenac.76

Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat conditions such as arthritis, acute injury, and menstrual pain in humans. Diclofenac has been used in India since the early 1990s because it is a cheap and effective painkiller used to treat lameness and other ailments in livestock. While there are no official or reliable numbers regarding just how much diclofenac is administered annually, anecdotal evidence of Hindus administering diclofenac to ailing cows, which they hold sacred, are quite prevalent. The use of diclofenac is also quite often used for less altruistic purposes.

A cow on diclofenac may be on its last legs, but the drug will allow the animal to work a little longer before it shuffles off to its final resting place at the local carcass dump. 77

The vultures then eat the carcasses of animals that have been administered the veterinary diclofenac, accumulating the chemical in their bloodstream. The accumulation of diclofenac causes renal failure, which leads to gout and eventually death for the vulture.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 76!Pollard,!S.!(2004).!Scavengers!at!Death's!Door.!Natura.Australia,.28(3),!68M69.! ! 77!Ibid.!

! 36! The disappearance of the vitally necessary South Asian vultures is perhaps the most dramatic decline of a wild animal in history.78 Once numbering in the tens of millions, these birds are now facing extinction and with their end so too will come the end of the Parsi ritual of Dakhmenashini. At first glance, the loss of a relatively unpopular bird and the end of an obscure religious ritual does not seem to merit the international attention and financial support from research institutions the world over that it has received. But perhaps the reason this situation has received so much attention is because the disappearance of the vulture, the widespread use of diclofenac, the complaints concerning corpses rotting in downtown Mumbai, and the potential end of a centuries old religious practice combine to create a snapshot of the confluence of religious studies, public health practice and environmental research in the twenty-first century. Despite the Bombay Municipal Commission’s ruling that Dakhmenashini and

Doongerwadi pose no threat to public health safety there is evidence to suggest otherwise. In fact it represents a far greater public health crisis than many might imagine.

PUBLIC HEALTH ETHICS

The near extinction of the vulture in India could simply be dismissed as another sad example of yet another species disappearing from the planet, making bird watching a whole lot less enjoyable for birders. The impact of the vulture’s demise on the Parsis could also be dismissed as the stuff of a National Geographic article or human-interest piece on a network news magazine program documenting the end of a cultural era.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 78!McGrath,!S.!(2007).!The!Vanishing.!Smithosonian,!37(11),!64M71.! !

! 37! However, to dismiss both matters as inevitable and isolated phenomena is to fail to see the greater public health significance.

Simply put, an increase in uneaten carcasses poses a direct threat to human health because the carcasses of animals, including the human variety, provide a breeding ground for potentially pathogenic bacteria. These bacteria are the potential source of direct or indirect infections. The carcasses are also sources of disease, such as anthrax in bovine carcasses. 79 In devouring carrion rapidly and efficiently, vultures cleanse the environment and protect humans, livestock and wildlife from infections and other disease. So while the vulture is an almost universally disliked creature, its demise is highly problematic and dangerous for the human population, namely because the demise of one predator leaves a void to be filled by another. In this case, decreasing numbers of vultures have resulted in increasing numbers of feral dogs, rats and other smaller scavenger animals that are vector for disease.

The loss of the vultures may have indirectly claimed the lives of almost 50,000 people. Using statistical analysis of existing epidemiological data scientists at the

University of Bath have estimated that the decline of the vulture increased the feral dog population by at least 5.5 million between 1992 and 2006. As vulture numbers crashed, the population of feral dogs across India surged, feasting upon cattle carcasses that would otherwise have been stripped bare by birds. Many of these dogs carry rabies and on average in India 123 people die of rabies for every 100,000 dog bites. These statistics

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 79!Markandya,!A.,!Taylor,!T.,!Longo,!A.,!Murty,!M.!N.,!Murty,!S.,!&!Dhavala,!K.!(2008).!Counting!the!cost! of!vulture!declineMAn!appraisal!of!the!human!health!and!other!benefits!of!vultures!in!India.!Ecological. Economics,.67(2),!194M204;!and!Pain,!D.,!Cunningham,!A.!A.,!Donald,!P.!F.,!Duckworth,!J.!W.,!Houston,! D.!C.,!Katzner,!T.,!et!al.!(2003).!Causes!and!effects!of!temporospatial!decline!of!Gyps!vultures!in!Asia.! Conservation.Biology,.17,!661M671.! !

! 38! would indicate that at minimum 47,300 people died as a result of the loss of the vulture population.80 Factoring in the costs of treating bites from rabid dogs, disposing of the bodies of those who have died of rabies, as well as financing a host of other programs associated with the use of diclofenac have cost the Indian public health authorities over

$34 billion in the last decade.81

RELIGIOUS TRADITIONALISM VS. MODERN PRAGMATISM

In 2001, three years before diclofenac was positively identified as the cause of the epidemic of vulture deaths, the Parsis decided that it was time to take matters into their own hands and employ modern technology to save an ancient ritual. The Parsi

Panchayat, which is the Parsi communities social governing body, paid to have eight solar reflectors installed over the top of the 30-foot towers at Doongerwadi Hill. The reflectors focus the sun’s rays, raising temperatures inside the towers to around 347°F

(175°C), speeding the rate of decomposition.82 At the same time they began construction on an aviary next to the dakhmas to provide a safe breeding ground for the vultures.

To assist with the development of the aviary the Panchayat brought in Jemima

Parry-Jones a raptor expert and director of the National Birds of Prey Centre in England, to see what could be done. Initially the Parsis had wanted to build an aviary over the towers, raising the vultures in captivity to eat their dead. But once diclofenac was isolated as the cause, Parry-Jones returned to the Parsis and told them an aviary was out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 80!Markandya,!A.,!Taylor,!T.,!Longo,!A.,!Murty,!M.!N.,!Murty,!S.,!&!Dhavala,!K.!(2008).!Counting!the!cost! of!vulture!declineMAn!appraisal!of!the!human!health!and!other!benefits!of!vultures!in!India.!Ecological. Economics,.67(2),!194M204.! ! 81!Walker,!M.!(2008).!Vulture!catastrophe!becomes!human!tragedy.!New.Scientist,.198(2668),!14.! ! 82!Ahuja,!A.!(2001,!6!August).!Why!we!should!feel!sorry!for!the!vultures..The.Times,!p.!11.! !

! 39! of the question. With hundreds of forms of diclofenac regularly prescribed to people on their deathbeds, it would have been the equivalent of laying out poisoned bait. The

Panchayat responded by declaring a plan to make the Parsis diclofenac free. With diclofenac-free Parsi corpses the aviary could be built over the dakhmas and hopefully the birds would flourish.83

In 2005, four years after construction began on the solar panels and the aviary, and a year after diclofenac was identified as the cause of the disappearance of the vultures Dhun Baria laid her eighty-five year old mother Zargis Baria to rest at

Doongerwadi Hill. Dhun Baria returned regularly to the towers to pray. She believed, like most in her community, that the solar devices had decomposed her mother’s body within the required four days to completely free her spirit. But on her visits she overheard the gossip of the body bearers or nasasalars as they spoke of the bodies piling up. Concerned, Baria hired a photographer to confirm the rumors. Sneaking into the inner sanctum, where only the nasasalars are allowed, the photographer took horrific pictures of the bodies—eyes gouged out by crows—in varying states of decay. Baria was interviewed by the press and quoted as saying “There are thousands of bodies rotting on the site. There are no vultures at all and without the vultures, it doesn’t work. The solar collectors don’t work. Nothing is working. My mother’s body was there for a year and a half, naked and exposed,”.84

The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad applied for permission from the Indian government in September of 2006 to begin breeding vultures !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 83!Subramanian,!M.!(2008).!Towering!Silence![Electronic!Version].!Search.Magazine.!Retrieved!29! October!2008!from!http://www.searchmagazine.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/MayM June%202008/indexMmj08.html.! 84!Ibid.! !

! 40! in captivity. Rather than breeding the vultures at Doongerwadi Hill scientists at the

CCMB wanted to attempt to breed the vultures at the Nehru Zoological Park in

Hyderabad. While artificial insemination has been successful in other large birds, such as the Houbara bustards and whooping cranes, as of 2006 little to nothing was known about the reproductive behaviors of vultures. However, since in a trial program the centre had had a 65% success rate raising pigeons in captivity they felt confident they could do the same with vultures.85

A milestone was reached in January of 2007 when two oriental white-backed vultures hatched in captivity for the first time in Haryana, India as part of the Center for

Cellular and Molecular Biology’s vulture breeding program.86 The breeding center, in

Pinjore, Haryana, is one of two set up to house birds caught to protect them from diclofenac. The other is at the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal. The work being conducted at these two centers in cooperation with Indian and Pakistani governments to end the use of diclofenac will help the South Asian vulture from going the way of the dodo. However, it remains to be seen whether the arrival of these baby vultures will keep the practice of Dakhmenashini from being extinguished.

It may be the case that Dakhmenashini cannot continue, but for reasons other than the disappearance of the vultures. The Parsis themselves are facing extinction. While the

Parsi community has never been large, the 2001 Indian census put the total number of

Parsis at just 69,601, that is less than one percent of the total Indian population.87 That

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 85!O'Connor,!A.!(2006,!30!September).!Insemination!hope!for!dying!vultures..The.Times,!p.!46.! ! 86!Economist.!(2007,!13!January).!Vultures.!The.Economist,.382,!39.! ! 87!Ibid!at!35.!

! 41! figure is down from 76,382 in 1991.88 A study by the National Commission for

Minorities on Parsi Birth Rates has found that rates have declined by 40% between 1941 and 2001. The major reasons identified for the decline in birth rates was late and non- marriages due to increasing urbanization, education, westernization and the economic independence and emancipation of women. The number of women between 15 and 44 years of age who have married has been steadily falling as well. Between 1961 and 1999, inter-marriage rates within the Parsi community have dropped to only 35%, meaning only

35% of marriages entered into by a member of the Parsi community is to another Parsi.

Further contributing to the decline in Parsi numbers are the death rates. The death rate is 16 to 18 per thousand as opposed to 9 per thousand in the general population, which implies that Parsis lose 10 persons per thousand per year. For a population of

69,000, that amounts to 690 annually or a loss of 6,900 in a decade.89 The Bombay Parsi

Panchayat reports that about three bodies are taken daily to Doongerwadi. With this rate of attrition it is no wonder that many Parsis refer to themselves as a culture on the brink of extinction.

In an effort to keep their numbers up the Panchayat is now paying couples to have children. Couples are paid 1,000 rupees per month for a third and all subsequent children. The stipend is guaranteed until the child reaches the age of eighteen. Currently there are 137 children in Mumbai receiving the stipend.90 However, unless more Parsis marry and all Parsi couples begin having large families it is statistically unlikely that

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 88!Mohapatra,!S.!(2008,!26!March).!Parsis!pay!couples!for!third!child!as!numbers!dip..Hindustan. Times.! ! 89!UNESCO.!(2008).!The!UNESCO!Parsi!Zoroastrian!Project:!Demographics.!!!Retrieved!30!October! 2008,!from!http://www.unescoparzor.com/project/demographics.htm#2001.! ! 90!Ibid.at!88.!

! 42! these measures by the Panchayat will do much to correct the population plummet in the

Parsi community.

On November 6, 2006 a meeting of the Parsi community was held at the Faramji

Cawasji Institute Hall in Mumbai. At the meeting scientist and religious scholars Drs.

Aramaity Dhalla and Adi Doctor gave an impassioned speech on the importance of maintaining the tradition of Dakhmenashini based on scientific knowledge and religious scripture. Doctor invoked the categorical injunctions of the Vendidad, chapter and verse, to emphasize the importance of keeping with the orthodox ways. An attendee of the meeting, Dastur Peshotan Hormazdiar Mirza stated, “There is no substitute nor compromise in the matter of Dakhmenashini, which is an integral part of the Zoroastrian religion…and therefore those entrusted to maintain our dakhmas and our Doongerwadi property are duty bound to make the system work under all circumstances and at all costs”.91

While there are many in the Parsi community who hold strongly to the belief that

Dakhmenashini must continue at all costs, there is a sizeable portion of the Parsi community that does not. In a letter to the editor of the June 7th, 2008 issue of Parsiana magazine, Feroza H. Seervai made an argument against keeping the practice. She wrote,

“The Zoroastrian religion denounces filth. The erstwhile successful system never created filth, which was he strongest reason for the custom to be approved by all Zoroastrian

Parsis. Now this system, without the essential ingredient of vultures, is perpetuating filth

– and doing so in the name of religion. It is a shame.”92

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 91!Sethna,!D.!N.!(2007).!Readers!Forum:!"Deadly!Campaign".!Parsiana,.29(11),!6.! ! 92!Seervai,!F.!H.!(2008).!"The!lawMfull!legend".!Parsiana,!30(21),!4.! !

! 43!

THE ETHICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Public health as a professional and academic discipline is fraught with ethical dilemmas. However, they usually have to do with issues of personal autonomy or corporate responsibility, such as a lone person who refuses compulsory vaccination or a corporation who dumps toxic waste into a public water supply. However, when religion and cultural customs are added into the mix the ethical dilemmas can become so multi- faceted that the issues become bogged down in a quagmire that results in an outcome that is detrimental to all parties involved. India is a hotbed of activities, which demonstrate the conflict between ancient cultural and religious practices pitted against the social, environmental and technological changes of the twenty-first century. Evidence of this is seen in the practice of Sati among the Hindus, ritual starvation known as Sallekhana among the Jains and ritual starvation and emoliation by Theravada Buddhists.93

The World Health Organization, which sets the standards for public health professionals internationally, has defined health as “a dynamic state of social, physical and mental well-being, not just the absence of disease and disability.” Operating under this definition how do we find a balance between respecting the religious beliefs, arguably the mental and social well being of the Parsis, with the physical well being of the greater community of Mumbai? Further, the presence of disease and disability as a result of rabies and other vector-borne diseases, which are in turn a direct result of the disappearance of the vulture population, is surely evidence that there is an imbalance in the state of well being of the population of South Asia. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 93!Braun,!W.!(2008).!Salleklhana:!The!Ethicality!and!Legality!of!Religious!Suicide!in!the!Jain!Religious! Community.!The.International.Journal.of.Medicine.and.Law,.28(4).! !

! 44! So what can be done? Is there a solution for the problem facing the Parsis?

Perhaps a pragmatic approach combining scriptural interpretation and some business negotiation is what is most ethically appropriate.

The Vendidad reads, “Oh Holy Creator of the material world! Where are we to carry the bodies of the dead? Oh Ahura Mazda! Where are we to place them?” Ahura

Mazda replies, “O Spitama Zarathustra! Place them on the most elevated place!”

(Vendidad, VI 44-45). The Vendidad goes on to insist that the dead be placed in high, dry and deserted places where the bones can be bleached by the sun and allowed to crumble to dust.94 Drawing from the scriptures and tradition the dakhma should be built on an elevated and isolated piece of land, far from any human dwellings. The dakhmas are to be located with purity in mind, allowing for the respectful disposal of the dead while ensuring that no harm or injury comes to the living.95 Clearly, injury and harm is coming to the living the dead are not being respectfully disposed of. Further, the dakhma in Malabar Hill, Doongerwadi, is no longer located in an elevated or isolated. However,

Doongerwadi Hill is located in the most expensive real estate district in the world.

Perhaps a possible solution for the Parsis is to sell the property on which the

Towers of Silence are located. The price per square foot of real estate in Malabar Hill averages between $1,400 and $2,000.96 It would be difficult to estimate the real estate value of the 54-acre complex, but if current values were applied Doongerwadi would be

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 94!Huff,!D.!(2004).!Archaeological!Evidence!of!Zoroastrian!Funerary!Practices.!In!M.!Strausberg!(Ed.),! Zoroastrian.Rituals.in.Context!(pp.!593M630).!Leiden:!Koninklijke!Brill.! ! 95!Ibid!at!33.! ! 96!Indira,!L.!(2008).!Real!Estate:!Home!is!Where!the!Money!Is![Electronic!Version].!Businessworld. Retrieved!19!November!2008!from!http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/Infrastructure/HomeM IsMWhereMTheMMoneyMIs.html.! !

! 45! at the very least be worth over 3 billion dollars. Assuming the Parsi Panchayat could sell the property, which seems likely considering that three of the richest men in India have built multi-million dollar homes next to the Towers of Silence, the Parsis could use the money to purchase acreage on an elevated and isolated location somewhere outside the city for much less than 3 billion dollars and put the remaining funds towards research and development for vulture breeding programs and towards Parsi cultural preservation programs. The benefits of this approach could theoretically have a trickle down effect.

By successfully breeding vultures in captivity and increasing the vulture population, the number of feral dogs and rodents should decrease as the vultures take back their share of the food supply. This should result in a lower incidence and prevalence of rabies and other vector-borne diseases, which will not only help the Parsis but all of the South Asian population.

Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, the head of the Department of Behavioral Health at

Pennsylvania State University wrote in his 2007 book, Healing Our Differences: The

Crisis of Global Health and the Politics of Identity:

Any attempt to provide health solutions for a given community or society

must take into serious consideration cultural factors as well as the present stage of

transformation of the society. Thus, the degree to which new programs are

adopted is dependent on the extent to which they are culturally appropriate.

So is the proposition of selling the Towers of Silence complex at Doongerwadi Hill culturally appropriate? That may depend on leadership of the Parsi community. The sitting Bombay Parsi Panchayat trustee Dinshaw Mehta is in favor of keeping the current

! 46! system of Dakhmenashini in place. He has told members of the Parsi community that the

Panchayat is spending over Rs 60,000 a month for three consultants to ensure that the solar panels over the dakhmas function properly. But his words have been met with criticism and he is currently being challenged for his political position. If his opponents win it is possible the Bombay Parsi Panchayat may choose to abandon the current ritual of Dakhmenashini and opt instead to move the community towards alternative forms of disposal of the dead. However, if they do so, who will fund the research necessary to resurrect the vulture population. Perhaps the Parsis have an ethical obligation to the larger Indian community to abandon Doongerwadi Hill, but not Dakhmenashini.

CONCLUSION

This paper sought to examine the emerging bioethical code of Zoroastrianism. As stated earlier in the article, as the oldest of the monotheistic prophetic traditions

Zoroastrianism has had over 3000 years of ethical writings and oral traditions which have yet to be codified into a cohesive bioethical manifesto for the faith. As evidenced by the dwindling numbers of the Zoroastrian populations around the globe it is imperative that even if there is no practical need to establish a framework for Zoroastrian bioethics, there is an intellectual need and this work must be done…even if only it is to preserve it as a record of this amazing tradition for posterity.

! 47!