Tower of Silence is a platform used in the funeral custom of the Parsis of India. The Parsis place their dead on the platform for vultures to eat. Generally, a tower of silence is no more than 33 feet (10 meters) high. It stands over a deep pit. The bodies are laid on a grating at or near the top of the tower. After the vultures have eaten the flesh, the bones drop through the grating into the pit below. See also Funeral customs ; Parsis ; Zoroastrianism .
