OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL 195 



distance of 3 paces. The last sagdid is performed and the bier is 

 carried by two nasasalars into the tower, w^ho, removing the body 

 from it, place it wholly uncovered on one of the pavis. The clothes 

 which were removed from the body are thrown into a deep pit outside 

 the tower, which is purposely made to receive them, and left to decom- 

 pose by heat, air, and rain. All the participants recite a last prayer, 

 undergo a religious purification, washing their faces, hands, and feet 

 with nirang and water, and perform the kusti ceremony. The nasa- 

 salars have to remain in segregation and pass through the Navshaheh 

 Barashmim purification which lasts nine days and nine nights. 



Religious services for the benefit of the deceased are kept up for 

 three days, during which, in the Parsee belief, the soul remains in 

 this world. (See p. 186.) The prayers, recited by a priest before a 

 burning fire fed with fragrant substance, are especially directed to 

 Sraosha, the guide and protector of the souls. On the fourth day, 

 on which the soul confronts the judgment at the chinvat bridge, 

 the Uthama ceremony is performed, when after the service the rela- 

 tives of the deceased, if rich, give sums of money for charitable pur- 

 poses, feed the poor, and give presents to the priests. During this 

 time the mourners are required to abstain from every kind of flesh. 

 The female relatives sit on a carpet spread on the floor near the spot 

 where the dead body had lain and receive visits from their female 

 friends and connections. No food is prepared in the house before 

 the removal of the corpse, in some families not for the three subse- 

 quent days, it being provided for them by relatives and friends." 



The principal towers of silence in use at present by the Parsees are 

 on Malabar Hill, at Bombay, India. Height, 17K inches; diameter, 

 28 inches; length of the platform, 48 inches; width, 40 inches. 

 Bombay, India. (Plate 75, Cat. No. 215412, U.S.N.M.) 



11. Tower oj silence (Dakhma). — Model of wood, painted. Sim- 

 ilar to the preceding. No. 10. Height, 10% inches; diameter, 29 

 inches; length of base, 40 inches; width, SOK inches. Bombay, India. 

 (Cat. No. 301554, U.S.N.M.) Presented to the Library of Congress 

 in Washington, D. C, by Romonjee Dinshaw Petit in March 1892, 

 and transferred by the Library of Congress to the United States 

 National Museum. 



w Among orthodox Jews a mourner, both male and female, for a near relative— father or mother, son or 

 daughter, brother or sister, wife or husband— is confined to the house for seven days (hence the mourning is 

 called Shib'ah: that is, seven) in which he sits on the floor in stocliing feet and has to refrain from manual 

 labor or business transactions. The first meal after the funeral is prepared by a neighbor. 



