User:Vivvt/Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer

Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer is a 2012 novel by Indian author Cyrus Mistry, published by Aleph Book Company. It showcases a story of a small group of people called khandhia who perform last rites within the minority Parsi community of Bombay. Mistry won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature in 2014 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in English category in 2015 for the novel.

Plot
Phiroze 'Elchi' Elchidana is son of a Parsi priest, not very good in academics and hence a disappointment to his father, living in Bombay. The narrative is based in the years just after the Independence of India. His father hopes that Phiroze would one day become a priest as well. Wandering aimlessly in the Tower of Silence area when he sees Sepideh 'Seppy', and falls in love with her. Sepideh is daughter of Temoorus, a corpse bearer (khandhia), a small community within Parsis who perform the last rites and purification processes after the death of fellow Parsi. Phiroze's love is opposed by his family as khandhia community is considered untouchable and he has to hence bid adieu to his family for pursuing her. He renounces everything and himself becomes a khandhia, performing all the duties like washing the corpse with bull's urine, carrying it to the Tower of Silence and feeding it to vultures. Soon, Sepideh dies from snakebite and leaves Phiroze broken hearted and with a young baby girl Farida. The book goes on chronicling the new adopted life of Phiroze.

Reviews and reception
In 2015, Mistry won the Sahitya Akademi Award in English category.

DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2014 with monetary association of 50,000 USD