Review of the Trend of Stylistic Changes in the Burial Place of Iranian Zoroastrians and Indian Persians

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Graduate in Archeology, University of Māzandarān, Māzandarān, Iran

2 Professor Department of Archeology, University of Māzandarān, Māzandarān, Iran

3 Professor Department of Iranology, University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Abstract

The burial method of Zoroastrians is a special and different method from other religions that has been observed strategically and purposefully in most different periods and geographical places, but there have been differences in the method of execution. These differences reflect the environmental, cultural and social developments of Zoroastrians over these centuries. Therefore, examining the trend of these changes can lead to a better understanding of Zoroastrian communities during the Islamic period. The method used in the present article is fundamental in terms of purpose, and also field study. Furthermore, the method of data collection is documentary and library. The results of the study show that for Iranian Zoroastrians and Indian Persians, not polluting the natural elements and exposing the body to the sun was the most important ritual principle that in order to preserve it in different cultural, social, temporal and environmental situations, they erected buildings in accordance with their rites. But with the onset of modernism and the complex situation of metropolitan systems in the late twentieth century, Zoroastrian society, especially the Zoroastrians of Iran, joined this wave and preferred social relations to the implementation of ancient traditions, including burial.

Keywords

References

Ᾱzargushasb, Ardishīr. 1979. Zoroastrian Religious Rituals and Customs (Marāsim-i Mazhabī wa Ᾱdāb-i Zartushtīyān), Tehran: Furūhar. [in Farsi]
Aoki, T. 2009. "A History of Zoroastrians in Modern Japan". In: Hamazor, 11, pp. 19-21.
Boyce, M. 1974. "An Old Village Dakhma of Iran". In: Memorial Jean de Menasce, pp. 3-9, Louvain
Boyce, Mary. 1979. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, London, Boston and Henle: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Boyce, Mary. 1985. "Maneckji Limji Hataria in Iran", Translated by Hāshim Raḍī. In: Chīstā, no.26, pp.424-432. [in Farsi]
Boyce, Mary. 1995. History of Zoroastrianism (Tārīkh-i Kīsh-i Zartusht), Translated by Humāyūn Ṣanʻatī-zādih, Tehran: Tūs. [in Farsi]
Boyce, Mary. 1998. Abstract of the History of Zoroastrianism (Chikīdi-yi Tārīkh-i Kīsh-i Zartusht), Translated by Humāyūn Ṣanʻatī-zādih, Tehran: Ṣafī ʻAli Shāh. [in Farsi]
Boyce, Mary. 2002. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Customs, Translated by ʻAskar Bahrāmī, Tehran: Quqnūs. [in Farsi]
Boyce, Mary. 2014. Written Sources of Zoroastrianism (Manābiʻ-i Maktūb-i Dīn-i Zartushtī), Translated by Shīmā Jaʻfarī, Tehran: The Great Islamic Encyclopedia Center. [in Farsi]
Chardin, Jean. 1993. Chardin’s Travelogue, Translated by Iqbāl Yaghmāyī, Tehran: Tūs, vol.8. [in Farsi]
Della Valle, Pietro. 2005. Travelogue of Pietro Della Valle (Part related to Iran), Transalted by Shuʻā al-Dīn Shafā, Tehran: Scientific and cultural (ʻIlmī Farhangī). [in Farsi]
Dhabhar, B. N. 1932. The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and Others, Bombay: The K.R Cama Oriental Institute.
Dūstkhāh, Jalīl. 1996. Avesta, Tehran: Murwārīd.
Gignoux, P. 2008. "Le site de Bandiān revisité". In: Studia Iranica, vol.37 (2) .pp.163-174.
Herodotus, 2010, History of Herodotus, Translated by Murtīzā Thāqibfar, Tehran: Asāṭīr, vol.1.
Hintze, A. 2017. "Zoroastrian Afterlife Beliefs and Funerary Practices", In: The Routledge Companion to Death and Dying, pp. 86-97, Routledge.
Huff, D. 2004. "Archaeological Evidence of Zoroastrian Funerary Practices". In: Zoroastrian Rituals in Context, pp. 593-630, Brill.
Jackson, A. V. Williams. 2008. Jackson Travelogue: Iran in the Past and Present, Traslated by Manūchihr Amīrī and Firiydūn Badrih-yi, Tehran: Khārazmī, Fifth Edition. [in Farsi]
Kamerkar, M.; Dhunjisha, S. 2002. From the Iranian Plateau to the Shores of Gujarat: the Story of Parsi Settlements and Absorption in India, Allied Publishers.
Kotwal, F. M. 1995. "The Parsi Dakhma: its History and Consecration". In: Au Carrefour des Religions, Mélanges Offerts à Philippe Gignoux, Res Orientalis, Vol. VII, Textes réunis par Rika Gyselen, Bures-sur-Yvette, Paris, pp. 161-170.
Mihr Ᾱfarīn, Riḍā; Ḥiydarī, Milīkā. 2015. Yasht and Khisht: the Rituals of Zorostrians in Yazd, Tehran: Furūhar. [in Farsi]
Modi, J. J. 1917. "A Few Notes on Broach from an Antiquarian Point of View". In: Asiatic Papers: Papers Read Before the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, pp. 42-67, Bombay, The Times Press.
Modi, J. J. 1922. The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsees, Bombay: British India Press.
Nanji, R.; Dhalla, H. 2007. "The Landing of the Zoroastrians at Sanjan: the Archaeological Evidence". In: Parsis in India and the Diaspora, pp. 49-72, Routledge.
Raḍī, Hāshim. 1997. Wandīdād, Tehran: Fikr-i Rūz. [in Farsi]
Rahbar, Mahdī. 2002. The Eighth Chapter of Bandian Archeological Excavations, Research Institute of Archaeology. [in Farsi]
Rahbar, Mahdī. 2010. “Dargaz Fire Temple; Once Again”. In: Mudarris Archaeological Research Institute, yr.2 and 3, no.4 and 5, pp.167-177. [in Farsi]
Rahbar, Mahdī. 2017. The First Chapter of the Archeological Excavations in the Turkābād crypt of Ardakān, Tehran: Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, Archaeological Research Institute. [in Farsi]
Russell, James. 1990. "Burial iii. In Zoroastrianism". In: Encyclopedia of Iranica, pp.561-563.
Shokoohi, M.; Shokoohi, N. H. 2010. "The Island of Diu, its Architecture and Historic Remains". In: South Asian Studies, vol.26 (2). pp.161-191.
Silva Figueroa, Don García de. 1984. Travelogue of S.F.D. García de (The Ambassador of Spain in the Court of Shah Abbās I), Translated by Ghulām Riḍā Samīʻī, Tehran: Nashr-i Nu. [in Farsi]
Siyfī, Saʻīdih. 2008. Translation of Manūchihr’s Second and Third Letters, Master’s Thesis, Ancient Iranian Culture and Languages, Supervisor: Maḥmūd Ṭāwūsī, Consultant: Muḥammad Muṭallibī, Kerman: Kerman Shahīd Bāhunar University. [in Farsi]
Sołtysiak, A.; Mousavinia, M. 2018. "Human Remains from Tepe Qaleh Khalachan, Iran". In: Bioarchaeology of the Near East, 12, pp.46-54.
Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste. 2003. Travelogue of Tavernier, Translated by Ḥamīd Arbāb Shīrānī, Isfahan: Nīlūfar. [in Farsi]
Trumpelman, Leo. 1994. “Tombs and Burial Rites in the Sassanid Period”. In: Archeology and History (Bāstān-shināsī wa Tārīkh), yr.8, no.15, pp.29-37.
Ṭūsī, Khājih Niẓām al-Mulk Abū ʻAli Ḥasan. 1961. Siyr Al-Mulūk: Sīyāsat Nāmih, by Hubert Darke, Tehran: Book Translation and Publishing Company.
Unwālā, Mānk Rustam. 1922. Riwāyat-i Dārāb-i Hurmuzdayār, Bombay: n.pub. [in Farsi]
Vevaina, L. 2013. "Excarnation and the City: The Tower of Silence Debates in Mumbai". In: Topographies of Faith: Religion in Urban Space, Leiden: Brill Academic Publishing, pp.73-95.
 
 
Religious Research
Volume 8, Issue 15 - Serial Number 15
September 2020
Pages 241-264

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics