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262 AROUND THE WOELD.
There are both good and evil spirits. The wise ask the
protection of their guardian angels. The truly pious guard
the sacred fire, bathe often, avoid pollution, encourage knowledge,
and perform acts of beneficence. The Kusti and the
Sudra form the badge of the Parsee worshipers. The Sudra
is a plain, robe-like vest reaching to the knees ; the Kusti
a hollow woolen cord, woven by women of the priest-caste
only, and consisting of seventy-two threads in the warp.
The Kusti, blessed of the priests, is tied over the Sudra, and
wound three times around the waist. The Nirang, or the
use of Nirang during the first morning prayer, is not enjoined
in the Avesta ;
nor is it practiced by the progressive Parsees
of Bombay or Persia. Previous to prayers, they wash the
face and hands. Each month of the year is named after an
angel. All prayers are recited in the Zend language. The
Parsees are not polygamists, but strictly monogamists.
PARSEE CEMETERIES, AND THE VULTURES THAT DEVOUR
THEIR DEAD.
The Persian method of disposing of their dead must, to
an American believing in the evangelical doctrine of the
resurrection of the body, be absolutely revolting. The Parsee
cemetery in Bombay, Dokma^ situated several miles from
the center of the city, is designated by some writers " the
Tower of Silence." The area devoted to this purpose is
located on the north-east crest of Malabar Hill, and surrounded
by thick walls some thirty feet high, within which
are walks, flowers, seats for meditation, and tall, round stone
towers, capped with descending, concave-shapen gratings.
Upon these the bodies of their dead are placed, and left to
return to the elements, or be devoured by the scavengerbirds
of the East. Flocks of these filthy, flesh-eating birds
are said to be ever in waitmg for a corpse. All avenues to
these " Towers of Silence " are carefully guarded. Parsees
themselves, even the mourners, are not permitted to enter
the gateways leading to these cemeteries : only priests and a