Towers of Silence, [Bombay].--Photographer: Unknown Medium: Photographic print Date: 1880

Photograph of the Parsi Tower of Silence, part of the Earl of Jersey Collection: 'India. Bombay to Madras', taken in the 1880s by an unknown photographer. The view shows vultures perched on the walls at the Parsi Tower of Silence on Malabar Hill, Mumbai. The Parsis are Zorastrian, often described as fire-worshippers. However, they do not worship fire, instead they revere many aspects of nature as manifestations of the divinity of Ahura Mazdah. Since fire, earth and water are considered sacred they do not cremate or bury their dead, instead the bodies are laid out within the towers to be picked clean by vultures or crows.