A dandiya event scheduled to be held next week at a Parsi housing colony on Nepean Sea Road, next to the sacred Tower of Silence at Doongerwadi, has sparked a debate on whether a dance programme should be held near a cemetery. Some residents have claimed that the ground is part of the 300-year-old cemetery, where corpses are laid out for disposal in circular stone enclosures.
Eco Park is located in Godrej Baug
They have said that the dance event, to be held on the evening of October 23, will destroy the sanctity of a sacred place. The venue for the programme, Eco Park, is located in Godrej Baug, which consists of 16 residential buildings exclusively housing Parsi-Zoroastrians. The land where the colony was built was hived off in the 1980s from the 55-acre forested Tower of Silence cemetery, also called Doongerwadi, to meet the housing requirement of the community.
There are also concerns that the venue in a Parsi housing estate is being used for a non-Zoroastrian event. The criticism has been especially strong since a similar event at a hall attached to a Tardeo fire temple was cancelled, after community members opposed a nonZoroastrian religious event on the premises of a fire temple.
The event at Sethna Agiary, scheduled on October 28, was dropped after a furore in community newspapers. If the Tardeo dandiya was cancelled because it was a non-Zoroastrian function, why is a similar event being held at Doongerwadi, which is a religious place? asked a resident of Godrej Baug.
Debate exists on whether the ground is part of the cemetery
Eco Park is located next to the Godrej Baug fire temple, which is part of the cemetery, the resident added. Another resident, Tehmtan Dumasia, said, Eco Park was created out of the Doongerwadi jungle and is part of Godrej Baug, which is itself considered an extension of the cemetery land. There is a debate whether the ground is part of the cemetery.
Mahrukh Noble, trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet BPP), which manages the cemetery, said that the decision to host the dance event was taken by the residents association of Godrej Baug. The BPP is the main representative organisation of Parsis in India and also one of the biggest landowners in Mumbai.
Organisers of the events have sent out invites for the event
"Our board is yet to decide; we have a meeting this week," said Noble. When asked about the claim that the ground is located in the cemetery, Noble added, It depends on how you want to look at it. Regardless of the debate, the organisers of the events have sent out invites for the event. Tickets cost between Rs100 and Rs150 for the night and residents of the colony can get a concession.
Revellers have been asked to dress up in designer Kurtis and Gara, the elaborately decorated Saris that Parsis treasure as heirlooms. Farhad Hozdar of Godrej Baug Residents Association said that the programme was a gathering of residents and friends.
"We have been conducting many such activities and programmes for the benefit of our residents on the same venue for over 20 years," said Hozdar. "We are a residential complex bordering our Tower of Silence of close to 500 flats - home to over a thousand peace loving bawajis. There are other residential areas in the same vicinity of the park." "Why this non issue is being stoked now?" asked Hozda.
