Home » Images » 0016 Pictures From History » CPA0007648

Iran: A Parsi 'Tower of Silence' near Teheran, photographed by Sven Hedin c.1898.

A Tower of Silence or Dakhma is a circular, raised structure used by Zoroastrians for exposure of the dead. There is no standard technical name for such a construction. The common dakhma or dokhma (from Middle Persian dakhmag) originally denoted any place for the dead. Similarly, in the medieval texts of Zoroastrian tradition, the word astodan appears, but today denotes an ossuary. In the Iranian provinces of Yazd and Kerman, the technical term is deme or dema. In India, the term doongerwadi came into use after a tower was constructed on a hill of that name. The word dagdah appears in the texts of both India and Iran but, in 20th century India, signified the lowest grade of temple fire (cf. Fire temple). The term 'Tower of Silence' is a neologism attributed to one Robert Murphy, who, in 1832, was a translator of the British colonial government in India.