The Free Press Journal

Parsi cremations soar in 8 years

Before the prayer hall was set up, it is estimated that 7-8% of funerals among Parsis in Mumbai were cremations; The Prayer Hall Trust says 15-20% funerals now take place in crematoriu­ms

The prayer hall at the Worli municipal crematoriu­m, which offers a place for the after-death rites of ParsiZoroa­strians who do not want to be interred in the Tower of Silence, or Doongerwad­i, on Malabar Hill, has completed more than eight years, but opinion is divided on the facility’s success, though the number of Parsis opting for cremations has nearly doubled during the period.

Before the prayer hall was set up, it was estimated that 7-8% of funerals among Parsis in Mumbai were cremations. The Prayer Hall Trust estimates that between 1520% of all funerals now take place at crematoriu­ms. Data on funerals at the prayer hall show that the number of cremations has grown from 33 in 2015, the year when the prayer hall was set up to 90 in 2019 and 66 in 2020. Data for subsequent years is not available.

Dinshaw Tamboly, a former trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), who is now a member of The Prayer Hall Trust said that out of the average 650 funerals in Parsi-Zoroastria­n community in Mumbai annually, between 100 and 120 were cremations.

The need for alternate funeral arrangemen­ts was felt after the decimation of India’s vulture population. Bodies that were interred in the Dakhmas, or Tower of Silence, in a system called Dokhmenash­ini, to be eaten by carrion birds, were not being disposed of fast enough, creating unhygienic conditions.

Though it opened in August 2015, the prayer hall project had its beginnings in the 1980s when JRD Tata, the patriarch of the Tata Group, called up the then Municipal Commission­er Jamsheed Kanga about a suitable crematoriu­m in Mumbai for the funeral of his brother D R D Tata. Many dignitarie­s were expected at the funeral and most of the city’s municipal crematoriu­ms were in a shabby condition.

The Dadar crematoriu­m was chosen for the Tata funeral. Still, a search continued for an alternate place for funerals of Parsi-Zoroastria­ns who did not want to be interred at the Dakhmas. Tamboly, trustee of The Prayer Hall who was a trustee of the BPP, the apex community trust that manages the Tower of Silence cemetery, between 1996 and 2008, said that there was a debate in the trust about whether alternate funeral methods like cremation should be allowed at the

cemetery. The idea was rejected after opposition from the clergy and orthodox community members. Those wanting an alternate funeral method were asked to make their arrangemen­ts.

The Worli municipal crematoriu­m, which had space, was chosen as the site for The Prayer Hall, which was registered in August 2013. The A H Wadia Trust gave a founding grant of Rs1.5 crore.

Framroze Mirza, the Zoroastria­n priest in charge of the religious services at the prayer hall said that there was a spike in the number of cremations during the Covid epidemic when bodies of those who succumbed to the disease were not allowed to be interred in the Tower of Silence. “Otherwise the number of funerals at the prayer hall has been fluctuatin­g. In some months there are eight to 10 funerals, but there are months where there are only one or two ceremonies,” said Mirza who is assisted by two other priests.

Though the number of funerals is not high, the prayer hall has fulfilled the needs of those who wanted an alternate method of funerals, said Tamboly. “It is a service that has been provided because people wanted it. The Bunglis (prayer halls) at the Tower of Silence could be used because it was out of bounds for those who opted for cremation,” said Tamboly.

Jehangir Patel, editor of the community magazine Parsiana, said, “The facility has been a real blessing to people who wanted an alternativ­e to Doongerwad­i. Earlier, they (The Tower of Silence) would not allow even prayers of cremated persons to be done at the prayer halls in Doongerwad­i. It was a nightmare for families of those who opted for cremation”. He said, “The number of people cremated may not have increased, but the quality of life for families of those opting for cremation has improved. The services at the Prayer Hall are institutio­nalised and getting a Hall or a priest for the postfunera­l rites is not a problem anymore.