32 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



State. If it were judged to be a sinner, it was conducted to hell, 

 a distance of exactly 86,000 leagues; even on this long journey, 

 the unfortunate spirit was subjected to minor torments as an 

 example of what was to come: it was exposed to heated cauldrons, 

 red-hot irons, a lake of blood, stinking mire, a jungle where the 

 leaves were as sharp as knives, a plain dotted with iron spikes and 

 a pair of pincers devoted to tearing the flesh from bones. 



Although Zoroastrianism originated in Persia, it spread to 

 parts of India toward the end of the 7th Century, B.C. Briefly, 

 Zoroaster, its founder, rejected the myriad gods of his age and 

 concentrated on the spirit of the good. He attempted to establish 

 a monotheism which would liberate man from loyalty to the 

 numerous deities connected with magic; he thought in terms of 

 a single god who was flanked by evil spirits. This leader main- 

 tained that there was a life after death, among other things. 



In this religion, uncleanliness was due to the contagion of 

 demons. Death was caused by those which were imagined to exist 

 in the form of a carion fly. The greatest precaution was taken 

 against the machinating of such a spirit. When a man was judged 

 to be dying, a priest was called in to hear a confession and put 

 liquid drops into his mouth as a last sacrament. This type of 

 demon could be frightened away by a dog or it could be killed 

 by an odor produced by a fire fed by a sweet smelling wood. A 

 priest was required to sit exactly three yards from the dead, re- 

 citing verses until the funeral procession began. 



The burial procedure followed certain standards: it took 

 place in daylight without rainy weather, the body being trans- 

 ported on an iron bier; the pallbearers wore protective material 

 to guard against possible infection. First, the body was interred 

 in an isolated spot; later it was elevated to a "Tower of Silence." 

 Behind these actions, was the desire to prevent the defiling of the 

 elements; in sharp contrast to the Hindu practice, it was con- 

 sidered a sin to burn a corpse, to deposit it permanently in the 

 earth or cast it into the water. Prayers for the dead were recited 

 while the vultures made quick work of the flesh of the cadaver; 

 the bones once dry were no longer considered as unclean; they 

 could then be cast into the central pit beneath the tower. 



