A dakhma, also known as a Tower of Silence, is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation, in order to avoid contamination of the soil and other natural elements by the dead bo
Early 20th century drawing of the dakhma on Malabar Hill, Bombay (now Mumbai)
Yazd Tower of Silence, Iran. The building is no longer in use.
An early 20th century photograph of an Iranian tower of silence
Sky burial is a funeral practice in which a corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements, or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially crows, vultures, bears and ja
Tower of Silence
…Seth Modi Hirji Vachha, builder of the first Bombay (Mumbai) dakhma (1672) Sky burial Vāyu-Vāta, air (vāyu) as a sacred element and the Zoroastrian divinity of wind…
A sky burial site in Yerpa Valley, Tibet
Drigung Monastery, Tibetan monastery famous for performing sky burials
Vultures feeding on cut pieces of body at a 1985 sky burial in Lhasa, Tibet
Corpse being carried from Lhasa for sky burial c. 1920