INDIA: Parsis recycle tonnes of flower offerings from
Fire Temples
The ten days prior to the Parsi (Indian Zoroastrian) New
Year are called ‘Muktad’. It is a period during which
Zoroastrian families are engaged in intense prayer for
the souls of their departed relatives. Special prayers
are conducted in Fire Temples for individual souls for
whom flowers are offered and displayed in vases.
Rather than wastefully disposing of these
huge heaps of used flowers, the Zoroastrian Alliance for
Religion and Conservation (ZARC) decided to make use of
them by motivating the priests in change of Fire Temples
to run vermiculture projects. They will provide valuable
vermicompost to be used as manure to enhance the
greenery in the land attached to the Fire Temple. The
Zoroastrians realised they could recycle flower
offerings made throughout the year in the same way.
This
project started in August 2002, during Muktad, at the
Vatcha Gandhi Agiary, and a similar project began at the
Wadia Atash Behram in October. ZARC aims to promote this
recycling project in all 47 existing Fire Temples in
Mumbai, which has the highest concentration of
Zoroastrians.
The water table in central
India has lowered rapidly over the past few years. It is
a matter of serious concern, particularly as the 2002
Monsoon was far below average. ZARC has made significant
progress recharging ground water aquifers and storing
rainwater collected from terraces of buildings and open
lands. Valuable rainwater, which would otherwise drain
into the sea, is thus stored for later use.
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