What’s in a name? Plenty if it’s "Parsi Smashan Bhoomi,” the Marathi word that was inscribed on a wooden painted board at the entrance of Doongerwadi at Kemp’s Corner. Critics from the traditionalists’ camp claimed the word implied a crematorium, while the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), which manages the 50 to 55 acre Doongerwadi estate, claimed it denotes cemetery.
Board at the entrance of Doongerwadi
Wikipedia states the word "shmasha” has its origins from Sanskrit with "shma” referring to corpse while "sha” refers to a bed. A shmashan can be "a crematorium or a burial ground.” The Free Press Journal (FPJ) of March 6, 2025 ("Voices of dissent over Marathi name of Tower of Silence”) quoted Doongerwadi manager Vistaspar Mehta as saying: "The name had to be written in Marathi and smashan bhoomi is the literal translation.”
The paper quoted a person stating, "The trust could have written dakhmenashini or Doongerwadi in Devanagari letters. Dakhmenashini is the right word, not smashan bhoomi.” Some traditionalist claimed the BPP plans to start a crematorium at Doongerwadi.
Reacting strongly to both the newspaper report and the thinking of the orthodox Parsis, former BPP trustee Noshir Dadrawala asked, in a WhatsApp post, "What is objectionable about the word smashan bhoomi, meaning place where the corpse is at rest?... Stop raising storms in a teacup. We have bigger and better issues to deal with.”
The words "smashan bhoomi,” however have subsequently been removed and replaced with Doongerwadi, noted the FPJ of March 10. Sherene Vakil