ATDDTA (8) Towers of Silence (209:26)

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

          But why throw in the comparative religious stuff 
          (which is interesting to know, thank you)?  As 
          Robin points out, we are being given a tour of 
          Hell, and all scary effects are welcome.  But for 
          Pynchon to specifically say that the towers will 
          be "quickly identified by sophisticated world 
          travelers," rather than letting the reference 
          remain obscure, makes me think he was doing 
          more than just layering on cultural/religious 
          historical differences.

          David Morris

Good question. My answer my not be correct, thought it does point to 
a similarly Satanic inquiry in one of those "Heretical" enterprises another 
writer is responsible for. I can't help but think of the legend of Inanna, 
who is  apparently, the "Whore of Babylon" of movie, TV and 
Church fame. Or the Wob's Mom, at least. . . .

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/i/inanna.html

         Transformation through descent into the depths is a 
         ubiquitous myth. Many cultures have myths of death 
         and rebirth which explain the cycles of nature and 
         the character of the afterlife. It is "another variation 
         of the motif of the Hero and the Dragon . . . the 
         Katabasis, the Descent into the Cave. . . . It expresses 
         the psychological mechanism of introversion of the 
         conscious mind into deeper layers of the unconscious 
         psyche" (Jung, 1968, p.41). Here we examine the myth 
         of Inanna, one which prefigured the Babylonian myth 
         of Ishtar and Tammuz, and the Greek myth of 
         Persephone's kidnapping by Hades.

http://www.jelder.com/mythology/inanna.html