Dhun Baria, the feisty reformist who was also orthodox in certain ways, “was a real contradiction,” said Noshir Dadrawalla, her friend and former Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee. The community grapevine started buzzing with the news of Baria’s death early Sunday morning.

Dadrawalla added, “Most Parsis may remember her either as a well-known and perhaps only Parsi female qawwali singer or as a reformist who shook up the BPP about the weakened system of Dokhmenashini due to lack of vultures. Her agitation led the BPP to install solar panels and make other efforts to strengthen the age-old traditional system of dokhmenashini.”