Karachi A local located in Mahmoodabad The Persians The “Minar Khumushan” or “Tower of Silence” or “Tower of Silence” known as “Dakhma” in Persian, built about 164 years ago in Dinsha B Avari Colony, is one of the few places in the world where Zoroastrian (Persian) ) place the dead of religion.
According to Chairman of Karachi Parsi Anjuman Trust Fund, Dinsha B. Awari, Minar Khumushan in the colony was built in 1860, for the protection of which a residential colony was also built.
Speaking to Independent Urdu, Dinsha B. Awari said: ‘This method of burial under the Zoroastrian faith was practiced 8000 years before Christ. This means that for the last 10,000 years Zoroastrians have been burying their dead in this way.’
Parsis are followers of the ancient Iranian prophet Zoroaster (Zoroaster in Persian and Zoroaster in Greek). Those who bury their loved ones in the open sky on the Dakhma.
Minar Khumshan is a round tower-like building on a raised platform, with an open roof. The dead body is kept on the open roof above this tower. Earlier, the dead were eaten by vultures or other birds. But since there is no vulture now, the body of the dead decomposes due to the heat of the sun. Dakhma is built in cities where there is a Parsi population. Where there is no dakhma, there are Parsi cemeteries, in which the dead are buried.
According to Dinsha B. Awari: ‘According to our belief, the main elements of this world – earth, water, air, plants – have been created by nature. So don’t spoil them. So instead of burying or cremating the dead, we put them on the Tower of Silence. In the past, vultures and other birds consumed the dead in a short period of time.
‘But after the extinction of donkeys, now only in the light of the sun, the body dies in a few days. This minaret of Karachi used for burials in this way, Khumushan or Dakhma, is one of the few places in the world where burials are still carried out today.
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At present, there are two or three other minarets in Mumbai and India apart from Karachi. There is no minaret in Iran. There the Parsees bury their dead.’
According to Dinsha B. Avari, a person of any religion cannot change his religion and become a Zoroastrian (Parsi) and if a Parsi marries a person of another religion, he is excluded from the Zoroastrian faith.
Dinsha B. Awari said that at present there are only 120 thousand people who believe in Zoroastrianism in the whole world, while there are only 750 Parsis in Karachi. In the 1950s, there were 25,000 Parsis in Karachi alone.
“One family Bhandara family in Rawalpindi and 10 to 15 Parsis in Lahore, while there are two families in Quetta. Parsis are 100% literate and there are no better employment opportunities, so most of the Parsis have gone to Europe, America, Canada and other countries in search of better employment.’
He added that ‘Parsi people easily adopt the culture of the place they go. Therefore, Parsis settle easily everywhere in the world.’
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2024-08-31 07:59:10
