HISTORY form "The Bangalore Parsis" BY DASTURJI NADIRSHAH P. UNVALLA
Establishing the Tower of Silence
Survey No. 50 & 51
Bellary Road, National Highway No. 7
Bangalore
India
Telephone No.: +91 (80) 22867488
Telephone No.: +91 (80) 22864535
E-mail: Trustees@bpza.org
WWW: http://www.bpza.org
Visiting Hours: With Prior Permission
Landmark: Adjacent to MRO TEC, Kirloskar, and Columbia Asia Hospital on the South
and Adjacent to Godrej Properties on the North
Brief Historyy
Bangalore is known for its salubrious climate. This attracted more Parsees to come and settle here. The total number at the beginning of the 20th Century was about one or two dozen, which steadily rose to 125 by the time the Agiary was built in 1924. In 1937, the population rose to over 300.
Several immigrants were hesitant to stay on in Bangalore, as there was no facility for the disposal of the dead in the ‘Zoroastrian way’ by use of Dokhma. Amongst them were Sir Hormasji Adenwalla, Seth Dinshaw Cawasji and Mr. A. D. Hakim. This prompted the Anjuman to think of constructing a Dokhma in Bangalore. In those days the Anjuman had no funds to erect the Dokhma, which would require a vast piece of land and lakhs of rupees. A meeting of the General Body was called on 19th August 1937 to consider this problem. At that meeting it was resolved by a majority of the members that work should begin on the construction of a Dokhma. A minority of the members did not oppose this resolution but appealed that at this time the erection of a Dokhma was not necessary.
Soon thereafter the Anjuman formed and appointed the Dokhma Committee, consisting of Seth Dinshaw Cawasji, President;
Dr. T. P. Kapadia, Hon. Treasurer; and my father was appointed as the Hon. Secretary and Mr. N. Pestonji; Mr. N. D. Manekji; Mr. Ruttonshaw Furdunji and Mr. Nusserwanji N. Boyce were appointed as Committee Members. It was this committee that set up the Dokhma Fund, which started with an initial contribution of Rs. 5,000/- from Sir. Hormusji. Adenwalla.
Some Parsees, who were against Dokhmenashini, formed a Party by the name of “Anti-Dokhma Committee” with Mr. R. H. Irani as Chairman. There were serious arguments between the two groups. The Anti-Dokhma adherents tried their best not to get donations to erect the Dokhma. Despite this controversy, the committee for the Dokhma Fund had successfully collected Rs. 80,000/- in a year and a half. The Dokhma Committee then thought of purchasing a big plot of land suitable for construction of a Dokhma with a ‘Bangli’, ‘Sagdi’, ‘Koowo’ (well), etc. The Committee found three or four suitable sites and even paid the earnest money, but these options did not work out. At last they found a vacant plot of land where the Dokhma exists today.
In those days the city of Bangalore had expanded up to Mehkri Circle in the north, Lalbaug in the west, City Market in the south and The National Dairy Institute in the east. Farmers occupied most of the vacant land. The Dokhma Committee needed about 10 to 15 acres of land but it was not possible to purchase so many acres from a single farmer, hence the present land measuring about 14½ acres was purchased from seven farmers by negotiating with them through a Legal Advisor, Mr. D’Souza.
Next, the Government of Mysore was approached for permission to construct the Dokhma. At that time, Sir Mirza Ismail was the Dewan of Mysore. The Government was mostly run by the Dewan and three other officials who were the First, Second and Third Members. The Dokhma Committee, with the help of Bombay’s well-known Parsis drafted a memorandum and took an appointment to meet with the Dewan along with Sir Hormusji Adenwalla on the 23rd of November 1938 in his office at ‘Carlton House’, his official residence on Palace Road. The Dewan received the memorandum and magnanimously extended an offer to the committee that he, on behalf of the Government, would build the Dokhma.
In this memorandum, the committee did not hide anything but openly mentioned that whenever the Parsee population of a place increased they built a Dokhma for the disposal of their dead according to their scriptures. The Zoroastrian religion was founded millennia ago and the main principles of the religion are purity and righteousness. This religion considers fire, earth, and water as the prime elements of nature that need to be kept pure and undefiled. After explaining all this, the memorandum was submitted to the Dewan. The Dewan was very happy to meet our community members and assured his full support to them.
By mid-January the Dokhma Committee received a letter from the Government dated 10th January 1939 sanctioning permission to erect the Dokhma on the proposed land with only one condition that the Dokhma should be built 75 feet away from the center of the road. Necessary instructions were sent to the Amildar.
In the Anti-Dokhma committee there were a few Parsee members who had good relations with the Government. They were under the impression that the Government would not give permission for the Dokhma. When they came to know that the Government had sanctioned the project without any conditions attached, they approached the Government with a request that as their relatives were buried in the cemetery they should be allowed to use the burial ground. The Dokhma Committee received one more letter dated 6th February 1939 informing the Dokhma Committee that – “Permission now accorded does not prevent the use of the burial ground for further burial”. The Dokhma Committee had nothing to do with the second letter, as the Committee’s business was to erect the Dokhma.
The Dokhma Committee fixed 10th March 1939 to start the construction work on the Dokhma with a “Kodali Marvani Kriya”. Kodali Marvani Kriya represents the marking of the land where the Dokhma is to be built. The photograph below is enclosed showing almost all the members of the Anjuman taking part in the Jashan and Baj ceremonies.
Tano Purvani Kriya
The Dokhma Committee with the help of the Trustees fixed 9th April 1939 for “Tano Purvani Kriya”. For the Parsee community this occasion is a very rare event. The Anjuman therefore announced the date for this ceremony in the Bombay Parsee papers. All the community members were informed so that those eager to watch this ceremony could arrive. About a thousand Parsee Zoroastrians gathered in Bangalore. ‘Yozdathregar Mobeds’ performed the Tana ceremony. For this ceremony three Mobeds were again brought to Bangalore in a car with ‘Bareshnum’: Behramji Unvalla, Noshirwan Unvalla and Dinshawji Unvalla.
For the Tana ceremony big bundles of raw cotton thread are required. Seth P. N. Mehta supplied this from his mill (Sri Ram Mills). He was also the founder of the Nasik Boy’s Town School. These bundles of thread were purified with ‘chokha’ water from a well and kept ready in big copper ‘thallas’.
In addition 301 iron nails were required for the Tana ceremony. These were ordered from the Empress Iron and Brass Works and had to conform to certain specifications and weight. The centre nail was to be made having a weight of one ‘maund’. The other four corner nails were of quarter maund each with holes. All these iron nails and the iron gates of the Tower of Silence compound were donated by the Proprietors of the Empress Iron and Brass Works, M/s Burjorji Pestonji & Sons.
The Tana ceremony took nearly three hours. This was followed by a Jashan ceremony performed by Sirdar Dasturji Norshirwan Kekobad of the Deccan, along with eleven others Mobeds. The Parsee Zoroastrians witnessed all this with great religious zeal. In the afternoon a community lunch was served to all the guests who numbered around 1000. The cost of serving the lunch came to Rs.1/- per head at that time.
