Jhator - Sky burial
Sky burial or jhator (in Tibetan āgiving alms to the birdsā) is a Tibetan burial custom where a body of the deceased person is cut into small pieces and put on top of a mountain.
Body parts are there exposed to the MahÄbhÅ«ta and animals (especially birds of prey). As to the fact that most of Tibetans are Buddhists, letās mention that the MahÄbhÅ«ta (in Sanskrit and PÄli āgreat elementā) in Buddhism are āfour great elementsā - earth, water, fire and air.
It is believed that the vultures (birds of prey) are Dakinis (āsky dancersā). Dakinis are kind of angels. They take the soul into the heaven. For the Tibetans heaven is a windy place where souls wait to be reincarnated in their next lives.
One of the main teachings of Buddhism is rebirth. For Buddhists body is just an empty vessel and there is no need to preserve it. Because of such beliefs it is not strange that the Sky burial is practised in Tibet.
There are also some more practical reasons for this tradition. The soil after only few centimetres becomes very hard with many rocks so digging a grave would be extremely difficult task. Trees are rare so even performing a cremation would be a problem too.
Sky burial was first mentioned in the Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol). There are some opinions that one of the reasons for the Sky burial was to prevent the use of some human bones in tantric rituals like for example kapalas (skull cups) and thigh-bone trumpets.
For the people of Tibet Jhator is above all an act of compassion and generosity. The Chinese authorities of Tibet criminalized it during the 1960s as being barbaric. Jhator has been again allowed since the 1980s. In most situations foreigners are not allowed to be present at Jhator.
