Stumbled this article when I was looking for more articles on Mustang, Nepal, my next tracking destination. During my last tracking trip at the Annapurna Range, my guide told me about the Sky Burial practiced by Tibetan Buddhists. The Zoroastrian has a near similar ceremony of putting their dead on the Tower of Silence in Bombay, for the vultures.
The Tibetan ceremony seems to be very dramatic and my forensic friends will definitely have a field day here.
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After the death of a Tibetan, the corpse is wrapped in white cloth and is placed in a corner of the house for three or five days. During these several days monks are asked to chant so that the souls can be released from purgatory.
the corpse is sent to the burial site among mountains
scent of juniper invites clusters of vultures to hover above the site. Then a 'daodeng', the man who is in charge of the burial process, begins to slice the body.
vultures swoop down and peck at the flesh and the bones scattered around. Any remains left by these huge birds would tie the spirits to this life, so they must be collected up while monks are invited to patter the dead at the same time. After they are cremated, the ashes are scattered into air. At this time the deceased completes the move on to nirvana.
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