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Article: Silent towers, empty skies.
- Article from:
- Earth Island Journal
- Article date:
- January 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Earth Island Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On the round-the-world trip chronicled in his book Following the Equator, Mark Twain stopped off in Bombay (now known as Mumbai) and, as part of the standard tourist circuit, was taken to the Towers of Silence, where the Parsi community brought their dead. "On lofty ground, in the midst of a paradise of tropical foliage and flowers, remote from the world and its turmoil and noise, they stood," Twain wrote. "The vultures were there. They stood close together in a great circle all around the rim of a massive low tower--waiting; stood as motionless as sculptured ornaments, and indeed almost deceived one into the belief that that was what they were."
The assemblages ...