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Recently a philatelist bought from an auction house the original of a letter addressed by Dara J. D. Cama, originally of Ahmedabad, dated February 15, 1967, addressed to Dastur Khurshed S. Dabu, then High Priest of the H. B Wadia Atash Behram, in response to what Dabu had written in his popular column, Rahunama-e-Din in the Jam-e-Jamshed about how unhygienic and irreligious it was to cremate Parsis. Dabu had written that even cats and dogs were cremated alongside humans in public crematoria.
Cama obtained a certificate from the deputy municipal commissioner stating that no animals were being cremated in the crematoria for humans. More importantly, Cama enclosed an affidavit in Gujarati sworn by a 71-year-old former pallbearer, about the state of affairs in the dakhmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cama, along with activist Dhunjishaw Joshi, were the Dhun Baria of the 1960s. They were the first to circulate albums containing grotesque and disturbing photos of the undisposed remains of their coreligionists. I had come across this album while surreptitiously browsing through my father’s briefcase [he was then the editor of The Bombay Samachar (BS)] and I did not have the stomach to go beyond a page or two.
Four decades later, Baria’s videos and photos of the interiors of the dakhmas, some of which were televised, created a considerable stir. Quite a few persons were alleged to be Baria’s financiers; however, the truth was that Baria, a former qawwali singer, was self-financed; when she died last year she left behind an estate worth a couple of crores of rupees, including a charitable trust in the name of her late mother Nergish, whose undisposed remains provoked her to launch her campaign.
Cama was castigated and criticized by the enraged orthodox but he couldn’t care less as he was a well-to-do businessman and had no ambitions in Parsi politics. Noted cardiologist Dr Aspi Golwalla, then a Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee, along with his co-trustee, the dauntless solicitor Shiavax Vakil entered the dakhmas several times between end 1971 and September 1973 to ascertain matters firsthand. They were denounced as heretics at the usual traditionalists’ meeting at Dhobi Talao where the orthodox pass unanimous resolutions condemning the liberals and supporting orthodoxy. Vultures were diminishing, though not yet extinct at that time.
In 1975, Jehan Daruwalla, a retired insurance executive and an unabashed reformist, became the editor of the BS. Under his editorship the attacks on dakhmenashini became intense. An elitist liberal body of doctors, lawyers and businessmen called the Disposal of the Dead with Dignity — Action Group (DDD-AG) was formed to ask for a crematorium at Doongerwadi, or at least a prayer hall christened Cremate ni Bungli for those who wished to be cremated after the funeral ceremony at the Towers. Apart from its tongue twisting abbreviation, DDD-AG couldn’t achieve much and the Cremate ni Bungli project was sabotaged by BPP trustees Dinshaw Mehta and Rustom Tirandaz.
By the 1990s, due to the painkiller drug diclofenac ingested by the raptors from human and cattle carcasses, there were virtually no vultures left. The situation was grim. Pumping ozone and chemicals, and planting a strong smelling plant called kevda on the periphery of the dakhmas was inadequate to mask the stench of corpses. Complaints from residents of Spenta, a BPP-erected ownership building near the Towers of Silence, grew louder. The Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) ordered an inspection of Doongerwadi. The investigation concluded that there was no health hazard. However, the BPP administration realized the gravity of the situation.
The BPP also spent money on a quixotic scheme to start an aviary to breed vultures but abandoned the idea.
Through the offices of Dr Homi Dhalla, a religious scholar, and Baroda based technocrat Ronnie Sabawalla, the installation of solar panels — reflective mirror-like sheets that would redirect the sun’s rays on a corpse, were proposed. The heat would dehydrate the         bodies. The BPP trustees approved of the project as did the high priests who stipulated the panels not touch the dakhma structure.
Of course, during the monsoon, panels function below par. In any event, the panels are not an optimal technical solution though undoubtedly a crisis resolver. Some orthodox contend that the BPP is operating a solar powered crematorium. They may be right.
In the BMC’s Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Crematorium at Worli, a Prayer Hall was set up in August 2015 through the efforts of former Indian Administrative Service officer Jamsheed Kanga, company director Homi Khusrokhan and World Zoroastrian Organisation Trusts chairman Dinshaw Tamboly. The finances were mainly provided by the A. H. Wadia Trust.
Despite the alternative to dakhmenashini being provided, most Parsis (around 85%) still prefer the dakhmas and their soothing environs.
Will there be a Cremate ni Bungli at Doongerwadi in the next 15 years? Probably. Will there be a crematorium at Doongerwadi in the next 25 years? Unlikely. Will there be an increase in the efficiency of the solar panels? Most certainly.
Years ago, an Irani bodybuilder, after the geh sarna prayers were completed at Doongerwadi, whisked away his mother’s body from the bungli in a waiting ambulance and cremated her. No action was taken. Few have the gumption to carry out such a caper at a delicate time. So for those who prefer to be cremated and also want their geh sarna performed, the Prayer Hall is the only answer.