towers of silence.jpg
Another view from Peter and Indira's window. I was surprised to see such a large expanse of trees right in the middle of Bombay, in the prime real estate area of Malabar Hill no less. I found out that this is a tract of land that belongs to the Parsi community and houses their Towers of Silence. It is a Zorastrian tradition to expose bodies of the dead to birds of prey and the elements so that the unpure dead bodies don't contaminate the the earth... this area is where those bodies are placed. They are left on the roofs of the towers for long periods of time until they just become bleached bones. The towers of silence are completely off limits to everyone but a particular class of people who are authorize to deal with the bodies.