What bird figures prominently in the Zoroastrian burial rights?

BRY2K

Vultures? Zoroastrian burial rites center on exposure of the dead. After death, a dog is brought before the corpse (preferably a "four-eyed" dog, i.e., with a spot above each eye, believed to increase the efficacy of its gaze). The corpses are exposed there naked. The vultures do not take long—an hour or two at the most—to strip the flesh off the bones, and these, dried by the sun, are later swept into the central well. Formerly the bones were kept in an ossuary, the astodan, to preserve them from rain and animals. Corpses are left on the platform to be picked clean by vultures, a process which only takes a few hours. This allows a body to be consumed before dangerous corruption sets in. The bodies are not placed on the ground because their presence would corrupt the earth. http://altreligion.about.com/od/ritualsandpractices/a/zoro_funeral.htm http://www.religionfacts.com/zoroastrianism/index.htm (Excellent question Z...I learned a lot) Aug 02 09, 7:27 PM

star_gazer

Dakhma also accounts for the possibilities of infection from the process of disposal of corpses by harnessing the powers of disinfection of the sun and the wind, Karanjia said. However, in absence of towers, Parsis in England, Africa, Singapore and other places have buried their dead in specially lined graves for several centuries. Even in Iran, the dakhmas are now in disuse. India has only four Towers of Silence; the people who can't get their dead to these places dispose of them in specially sanctioned graveyards, called Aramgarhs, said Maneck Burjorjee, an 80-year-old originally from Mumbai. http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Zoroastrianism/Buried-In-The-Sky.aspx Aug 04 09, 3:33 PM