Sky burial
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Dakhma (Tower of Silence) Yazd, Iran
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
'Jim and Barb’s Adventures' commented that vultures are simultaneously fascinating and repulsive, and that reminded me of ‘sky burials.’
Sky burial is not a burial at all, but an excarnation. It is the Western expression for what Tibetans call ’giving alms to the birds.’
It was a practical solution to the problem of finding enough fuel for the more traditional Buddhist practice of cremation. There was no requirement to preserve the body – it was empty once the soul had departed and migrated elsewhere. It was considered a practical and generous ritual, providing sustenance to birds and wild animals.
It is a ritual still practised in many Himalayan communities.
Parsis (Zoroastrians) traditionally placed the bodies of their dead in Dakhmas (Towers of Silence) for the vultures to consume. The Parsis of Mumbai in India have tried to maintain the practice, but it is difficult because the population of vultures declined dramatically in the late twentieth century. The cause was the use of diclofenac, commonly prescribed for ailments like arthritis and migraine. It is toxic to vultures.
Some mountain tops had been designated as charnel grounds, but the practice was banned in China in the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) though it has been re-established in some areas.
Other forms of air burial involved putting the cadaver in a hollow tree.
Australian Aboriginal people placed the bodies of their dead on raised platforms and covered them with grasses and leaves. They would be left for a year. The purpose was to prevent the ghost of the departed returning to plague the people.
Some North American peoples similarly raised their corpses to the sky in tall trees, leaving them there for two years, after which they would be retrieved and buried.
Thus, for some, such practices were undertaken to dispose of a body no longer occupied. For others, it was a way to ensure that spirits were appeased so that they would not return to haunt.
Once again you've touched on a topic I knew nothing about!
ReplyDeleteWe don't have vultures in UK, so they fascinate me.
DeleteJust Thursday, nearly to my son's house I saw a group of about 30 vultures lined up on a bank and in the bare branches of a tree above that bank. All standing still as statues with their wings outstretched all facing the sun. A little bit creepy.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that was quite a sight, gathered for some ceremony, almost.
DeleteWhy was the practice of designating some mountain tops as charnel grounds banned by China? I would have thought a remote, high mountain top would have paid great respect to a dead relative.
ReplyDeleteI think any hint of religion was frowned on by the Communist Party. They have relented a little over the decades.
DeleteInteresting. I never knew about this -
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago I finally let go of my sons cremated ashes after 20 years - As a family we took two helicopters to the Trinity Alps of Northern California and sprinkled them over the snow capped mountain tops. It was powerful and freeing. Now his brothers backpack the area in the summer.
That was a wonderful way to celebrate your son, and his brothers must feel close to him when they go to that area.
DeleteHaving your body left to nature is a fine idea and I may have lately been thinking about leaving my body to the "Body Farm" in another state, where bodies are left to the weather, the insects etc and then studied over time by forensic scientists to learn more, which in turn helps with identifying what might have happened and how long ago when a body is found by people or police.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a wonderful idea. Getting the rest of the family to agree could be problematic, though. I know one of my daughters would be dead (!!) against it.
DeleteDitto my older son, though the other three kids would be okay with it.
DeleteAboriginals here, wrapped the body in skins and put it on a platform in trees. It was there so that the spirits could find it
ReplyDeleteThese rituals should be appreciated for their historic meaning.
DeleteOur custom became feeding the creatures in the earth, so we were quite noble too. Now more people get burnt, using fossil fuels and creating air pollution.
ReplyDeleteApparently crematoriums are smokeless unless a very heavy fat filled body is burnt. A little smoke may be released.
DeleteI think the pendulum is swinging against cremation. What to do? Ground is at a premium here.
DeleteMost interesting. I must admit that I had never encountered the term "excarnation" before. In this country, there were times when hanged men or women were left on the gallows to decompose for months on end - partly as a warning message to the living.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the warning worked very well, somehow.
DeleteI want my ashes to be popped on a comost help.
ReplyDeleteGive back to the land.
DeleteI'd never heard of this practice, so once again I've learned something new from your blog! xxx
ReplyDeleteIt's an ancient ritual.
DeleteI always learn something interesting when I come here.
ReplyDeleteFood for thought! 😁
DeleteI do remember reading about this practice some time ago and I suppose it would have worked quite well in a relatively small community. I can't see that it would be very sanitary in most Western society regions these days.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right.
DeleteI watchet that on a programme a few days ago - on record. I think it was a Bettany Hughes programme. It sounds both gruesome and rather lovely. xx
ReplyDeleteHow interesting, I must have a look for that. Thank you.
DeleteIn my college days, I majored in cultural anthropology and learned about various customs related to death. It's a fascinating topic. But I knew nothing about diclofenac and its toxicity to various birds (more than just vultures) and I was shocked because I have an arthritic knee and recently my orthopedist recommended I apply a topical gel with diclofenac. I haven't started to use it yet. I don't know if I will.
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DeleteI suppose it depends how much you trust your orthopedist. Would s/he use it?
I'm fine with anything, except a coffin! Even my mother preferred cremation to being eaten by the "worms." I like the idea of a "sky burial." Birds would sing and cats would climb all over me!
ReplyDeleteIt seems a tidy way to go.
DeleteSeems an ecofriendly tradition
ReplyDeleteIt does.
DeleteGive us back from whence we came.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteI find your blog fascinating.. I learn new things every day!! love it!!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI think there is evidence for excarnation in the Neolithic period in this country. Doesn't necessarily have to be vultures, crows can do the job as well. Think of medieval battlefields and I often wonder if the Corvids had the same job. And on a less serious note, those birds that hang around the stones of Stonehenge are they the ancestors? ;)
ReplyDeleteThe corvids would certainly do a thorough job, if a little slower than vultures. I like the idea of present day Stonehenge birds being the descendants of past corvids.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't ever heard of a sky burial. Not sure I like the thought of my loved ones' bodies being pecked apart by vultures!
ReplyDeleteIt's better not to dwell on the details. 😱
DeleteFrom the title I was picturing something much more dramatic, like being thrown out of a plane! LOL! Although being pecked by vultures is dramatic in its own way, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteYou've been watching too many thrillers . . .
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting blog post
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteDealing with loss is so hard, and allowing the soul to go free to the sky is, I suppose, one more way of dealing with it. Thank you for sharing. You write about such interesting things.
ReplyDeleteEarth to earth, ashes to ashes . . .
DeleteYour reflection beautifully traces how diverse cultures, across continents and centuries, have turned the act of death into a dialogue between the living, the dead, and the natural world
ReplyDeleteI fear it's something we are in danger of losing.
DeleteI knew nothing about this ... so thank you for an interesting post.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Thank you, Jan.
DeleteThanks for the education! Hadn't heard of this even as a hospice nurse. I was aware of the Native American Indian platform burials. There is a trend of placing the deceased into an earthen cocoon and placing that into the ground for slow decay. Hadn't thought of ingested or applied drugs being dangerous to the birds. Even my dog's pet cemetary required a bag to protect the soil and pond nearby. At the cadaver lab in nursing school, our specimen's did not have their brains due to "mad cow disease," so as not to disease the students. A book titled "STIFF" about the industry is an interesting read. Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I understand the thinking behind brains and mad cow disease, but how valuable it might have been to dissect them. No doubt they were studied by appropriately trained clinicians.
DeleteThe book sounds interesting - I will look for it!
This topic should be discussed more often, imo.
ReplyDeleteWe avoid the subjects that upset us . . .
ReplyDeleteI recently read 2 books about Tibet and learned a little of the charnel mountain tops - and had heard that vultures were in serious trouble in India because of diclofenac. However Ive also seen something that referenced a womens movement in an Indian village that was working to restore vulture populations.
ReplyDeleteI recently read 2 books about Tibet and learned a little of the charnel mountain tops - and had heard that vultures were in serious trouble in India because of diclofenac. However Ive also seen something that referenced a womens movement in an Indian village that was working to restore vulture populations.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! It seems to me that it is an efficient way to deal with cadavers, though I wouldn't want to be the one breaking the bones and making the flesh easier to access.
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