Archive

"To give the least trouble... to the four aging nassessalars who were finding it very difficult to carry the dead bodies after the final rites on the marble platform,” the Karachi Parsi Anjuman Trust Fund (KPATF) has installed an electronically operated lifter that has been functional since February 6, 2022, as per an email from chairman Byram Avari. Carrying the dead bodies from the marble slab up the undulating slope and the steep stairway leading into the dakhma was proving a challenge, more so when the nassessalars were indisposed and needed support from one or two behdins.
Planning ahead when more problems could arise if the number of pallbearers further declines, Avari initiated the idea of an electronically operated lifter that was fully supported by the KPATF trust board. Numbering around 1,000, the community in Karachi witnesses on an average 38 deaths a year. Funding for this project that cost three million Pakistani rupees (INR 1.28 million; USD 17,128) came from Sir Jahangir Kothari Trust, The Shireen and Godrej Kandawalla Trust, Feroze and Shernaz Bhandara Charitable Trust, Hommie and Jamshed Nusserwanjee Charitable Trust, Faroukh and Roshan Karani Trust, Rattanjee and Cooverbai Collector Charitable Trust, and Cyrus Cowasjee, acknowledged the chairman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the technical expertise, perseverance and follow-up by Viraf Daroga, the lifter was custom manufactured and its operations explained to the trustees who financed this project. A standby generator has also been installed on the Doongerwadi premises to not only power the lifter when electricity fails but even to extend to the prayer hall at the Sezdegah.
Henceforth, after the final prayers at the Sezdegah, the pallbearers will lift the body and place it on the collapsible stretcher trolley which will then be expanded so that it can be conveniently wheeled to the marble platform. The stretcher will be laid on the marble platform before the two priests recite the final short prayer. Thereafter the body will be put on a larger stretcher which fits into the hearse and will be driven up to the base of the dakhma, at a distance of 150 feet, where it will be placed on the lifter. Since the KPATF is particular that no one should be able to look into the dakhma, the lifter is designed to go no higher than 12 feet.  
In response to queries from Parsiana, Avari explained that their Doongerwadi property lies between Cyrus Colony and Dinshaw Avari Colony. The Sezdegah constructed thereon houses the Dr Dastur Dhalla Library on half of the ground floor and the other half is used as the prayer hall where the body is kept for the final rites and the four-day prayers. The top two floors are used as accommodation for the pallbearers. "At the Sezdegah, there is enough space should the families of the deceased decide to stay over” but except in rare cases the facilities are not used, clarified the chairman. While some Parsis continue to live in their private residences, according to his estimates, nearly 50% of the Parsi population resides near the Doongerwadi and the other 50% at Anjuman Baugh, Jamshed Baugh, Parsi Colony and Gari Khata Agiary compound. "These places have their own little amenity rooms where prayers are held by the families living in these baughs.”