Sagdid Dog-Sight Test Confirms Death

In traditional Zoroastrian funerals, priests perform a ritual called sagdid, or dog-sight, before confirming death. They bring a dog into the room and watch its reaction to the body: if the dog stares steadily at the corpse, they treat the person as still alive. If the dog refuses to look at the body, they confirm death. This simple test helped prevent cases where a coma might be mistaken for death.

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