The Doongerwadi, Mumbai's Zoroastrian Tower of Silence, sits on a wooded hilltop on Malabar Hill — a place where Parsi Zoroastrians have conducted their sky burials for centuries. Corpses are placed on open-air stone platforms to be consumed by vultures, following the Zoroastrian belief that burial and cremation would defile earth and fire respectively.
The site is closed to non-Zoroastrians, but the surrounding Doongerwadi forest — 54 acres of mature trees in the heart of the city — is one of Mumbai's most significant green lungs. The vulture population that historically performed the excarnation ritual has declined catastrophically due to the veterinary drug diclofenac, which is toxic to vultures; the community has been exploring solar concentrators as an alternative. The forest itself can be seen from the Malabar Hill area, and the community's history is fascinating reading.