Parsis
Modern Mumbai Parsi Family in traditional dress
Total population
c. Mumbai ( Marathi:,, IPA: formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the financial 70000
Regions with significant populations
c. 70% in India, 5% in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, 25% elsewhere (largely the United Kingdom)
Languages
Gujarati, English
Religions
Zoroastrianism

A Parsi (Gujarati: પારસી Pārsī, IPA: [ˈpɑ̈(ɾ).si]), sometimes spelled Parsee, is a member of a close-knit Zoroastrian community based primarily in India. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( Sinhalese:, இலங்கை known as Ceylon before 1972 is an Island The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Gujarati (ગુજરાતી Gujǎrātī ? English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Zoroastrianism (ˌzɔroʊˈæstriəˌnɪzəm is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings Gujarati (ગુજરાતી Gujǎrātī ? Zoroastrianism (ˌzɔroʊˈæstriəˌnɪzəm is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Most Parsis outside of India identify India as their home country. Parsis are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to the Indian subcontinent over 1,000 years ago. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia More recent Zoroastrian immigrants are known as Iranis. The Iranis are an ethno-religious community of the Indian subcontinent; descendants of Zoroastrians who emigrated from Greater Iran (in the main from

Contents 1 Definition and identity 1.1 As an ethnic community 1.2 Self-perceptions 2 Demographic statistics 3 History 3.1 Arrival in Gujarat 3.2 The early years 3.3 The age of opportunity 4 Factions within the community 4.1 Calendrical differences 4.2 The Ilm-e-Kshnoom 4.3 Exclusion versus inclusion 4.4 Issues relating to the deceased 5 Prominent Parsis 6 Representations in popular culture 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

Definition and identity

As an ethnic community

Although the Parsis of India originally emigrated from Persia, they no longer have social or familial ties to Persians, and do not share language or recent history with them. The Persian Empire was a series of Iranian empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland and beyond in Western Asia layout and formatting it should ensure no clashes with the top of the infobox Over the centuries since the first Zoroastrians arrived in India, the Parsis have integrated themselves into Indian society while simultaneously maintaining their own distinct customs and traditions (and thus ethnic identity). This in turn has given the Parsi community a rather peculiar standing - they are Indians in terms of national affiliation, language and history, but not typically Indian (constituting only 0. 006% of the total population) in terms of consanguinity or cultural, behavioural and religious practices. Consanguinity (" con- (with sanguine (blood -ity" refers to the property of being from the same Lineage as another person

Genealogical DNA tests to determine purity of lineage have brought mixed results. A genealogical DNA test examines the Nucleotides at specific locations on a person's DNA for Genetic genealogy purposes One study supports the Parsi contention (Nanavutty 1970, p.  13) that they have maintained their Persian roots by avoiding intermarriage with local populations. In that 2002 study of the Y-chromosome (patrilineal) DNA of the Parsis of Pakistan, it was determined that Parsis are genetically closer to Iranians than to their neighbours (Qamar et al. 2002, p. In Human genetics, a Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup is a Haplogroup defined by differences in the non- recombining portions of DNA from the Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known  1119). However, a 2004 study in which Parsi mitochondrial DNA (matrilineal) was compared with that of the Iranians and Gujaratis determined that Parsis are genetically closer to Gujaratis than to Iranians. Mitochondrial DNA ( mtDNA) is the DNA located in Organelles called mitochondria. Gujarati people ( Gujarati: ગુજરાતી લોકો Gujǎrātī loko ? Taking the 2002 study into account, the authors of the 2004 study suggested "a male-mediated migration of the ancestors of the present-day Parsi population, where they admixed with local females [. . . ] leading ultimately to the loss of mtDNA of Iranian origin" (Quintana-Murci 2004, p.  840)

Self-perceptions

The definition of who is (and who is not) a Parsi is a matter of great contention within the Zoroastrian community in India. The Navjote or Sedreh pushi ceremony is the Zoroastrian ritual in which an individual is inducted into the religion Generally accepted to be a Parsi is a person who is a) directly descended from the original Persian refugees; and b) has been formally admitted into the Zoroastrian religion. According to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race In this sense, Parsi is an ethno-religious designator.

Some members of the community additionally contend that a child must have a Parsi father to be eligible for introduction into the faith, but this assertion is considered by most to be a violation of the Zoroastrian tenets of gender equality, and may be a remnant of an old legal definition of Parsi. Gender equality (also known as gender equity, gender egalitarianism, or sexual equality) is the goal of the Equality of the Genders

An often quoted legal definition of Parsi is based on a 1909 ruling (since nullified) that not only stipulated that a person could not become a Parsi by converting to the Zoroastrian faith (which was the case in question), but also noted that "the Parsi community consists of: a) Parsis who are descended from the original Persian emigrants and who are born of both Zoroastrian parents and who profess the Zoroastrian religion; b) Iranis from Persia professing the Zoroastrian religion; c) the children of Parsi fathers by alien mothers who have been duly and properly admitted into the religion. "(Sir Dinsha Manekji Petit v. Sir Jamsetji Jijibhai 1909)

This definition has since been overturned several times. The equality principles of the Indian Constitution void the patrilineal restrictions expressed in the third clause. The Constitution of India ( Hindi: भारतीय़ संविधान see names in other Indian languages) is the supreme law of India. Patrilineality (aka agnatic kinship) is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage it generally involves the Inheritance of property names or titles The second clause was contested and overturned in 1948. (Sarwar Merwan Yezdiar v. Merwan Rashid Yezdiar 1948) On appeal in 1950, the 1948 ruling was upheld and the entire 1909 definition was deemed an obiter dictum, that is, a collateral opinion and not legally binding (re-affirmed in 1966). An obiter dictum (plural obiter dicta, often referred to simply as dicta) Latin for a statement "said by the way" is a (Merwan Rashid Yezdiar v. Sarwar Merwan Yezdiar 1950;Jamshed Irani v. Banu Irani 1966)

Nonetheless, the opinion that the 1909 ruling is legally binding continues to persist, even among the better-read and moderate Parsis. In the February 21, 2006 editorial of the Parsiana, the fortnightly of the Parsi Zoroastrian community, the editor noted that several adult children born of a Parsi mother and non-Parsi father had been inducted into the faith and that their choice "to embrace their mother's faith speaks volumes for their commitment to the religion. Events 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria. 1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. " In recalling the ruling, the editor noted that although "they are legally and religiously full-fledged Zoroastrians, they are not considered Parsi Zoroastrians in the eyes of the law" and hence "legally they may not avail of [fire temples] specified for Parsi Zoroastrians" (Parsiana 2006). A Zoroastrian Fire Temple is a place of worship for Zoroastrians.

Demographic statistics

Indian census data (2001) records 69,601 Parsis in India, with a concentration in and around the city of Mumbai (previously known as Bombay). A census is the procedure of acquiring information about every member of a given population Mumbai ( Marathi:,, IPA: formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the financial There are approximately 5,000 Parsis elsewhere on the subcontinent, with an estimated 2500 Parsis in the city of Karachi and approximately 50 Parsi families in Sri Lanka. (ڪراچي) is the largest city in Pakistan. It is the world's second largest city proper behind Mumbai in terms of population which exceeds 10 million The number of Parsis worldwide is estimated to be fewer than 100,000 (Eliade, Couliano & Wiesner 1991, p.  254).

In the UK, where a notable amount of Parsis live, the only official Zoroastrian temple is located in Rayners Lane, Harrow, London. Rayners Lane is a district in the London Borough of Harrow. It is named after the Rayners Lane tube station, which in turn is named after the long and winding road The temple is run by the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe organisation.

Indian census data also established that the number of Parsis has been steadily declining for several decades. The highest census count was of 114,890 individuals in 1940–41, which includes the crown colony populations of present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories that are under the Sovereignty of the United Kingdom, but which do not form part of the United Kingdom Post-independence census data is only available for India (1951: 111,791) and reveal a decline in population of approximately 9% per decade. They do not however take emigration into account. As of 2001 Parsis constitute 0. 0069% of the total population of India.

According to the National Commission for Minorities, there are a "variety of causes that are responsible for this steady decline in the population of the community", the most significant of which were childlessness, a reluctance to accept converts, and migration (Bose et al. 2004). A wedding is the Ceremony in which two people are united in Marriage. Demographic trends project that by the year 2020 the Parsis will number only 23,000 (less than 0. 0002% of the present total population of India). The Parsis will then cease to be called a community and will be labeled a 'tribe'. (Taraporevala 2000, intro).

In the 21st century, birth rates among Parsis declined even more rapidly, with only 99 children born in 2007. A Parsi-only fertility clinic has been set up in Mumbai to encourage the community to reproduce itself, but in addition to declining birth rates, educated Parsis are immigrating and marrying outside of the faith to further the decline. ^[1]

The gender ratio among Parsis is unusual, as of 2001, the ratio of males to females was 1000 males to 1050 females (up from 1024 in 1991), due primarily to the high median age of the population (elderly women are more common than elderly men). The national average was 1000 males to 933 females. The age composition reveals an inverted pyramid, as of 2001, Parsis over the age of 60 make up for 31% of the community. The national average for this age group is 7%. Only 4. 7% of the Parsi community are under 6 years of age, which translates to 7 births per year per 1000 individuals.

Parsis have a high literacy rate: as of 2001, the literacy rate is 97. 9%, the highest for any Indian community. The national average is 64. 8%. 96. 1% of Parsis reside in urban areas. The national average is 27. 8%.

History

Arrival in Gujarat

According to the Qissa-i Sanjan "Story of Sanjan", the only existing account of the early years of Zoroastrian refugees in India but composed at least six centuries after the tentative date of arrival, one group of immigrants (today presumed to have been the first) originated from (greater) Khorasan (Hodivala 1920, p. Zoroastrianism (ˌzɔroʊˈæstriəˌnɪzəm is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings Zoroastrianism (ˌzɔroʊˈæstriəˌnɪzəm is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings Ahura Mazda ( ae Ahura Mazdā) is the Avestan language name for a divinity exalted by Zoroaster as the one uncreated Creator Zoroaster ( Latinized from Greek variants) or Zarathushtra (from Avestan Zaraθuštra) also referred to as Zartosht (زرتشت Asha ( aša) or arta is the Avestan language term for a concept of cardinal importance to Zoroastrian theology and doctrine Yazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrian concept ae Amesha Spenta ( ae Aməša Spənta) is an Avestan language term for a class of divinity/divine concepts in Zoroastrianism, and literally means "Bounteous Yazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrian concept For the fictional character in the Marvel Universe series see Ahura (comics; for the river see Akhurian River. Daeva ( daēuua, daāua, daēva) is the Avestan language term for a particular sort of supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics "Ahriman" redirects here For other uses see Ahriman (disambiguation. The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. The word "Gātha" means a "hymn of praise" in the earliest Indo-Iranian poetry The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. Ahuna Vairya is the Avestan language name of the most sacred of the Gathic hymns of the Avesta, the revered texts of Zoroastrianism. A Zoroastrian Fire Temple is a place of worship for Zoroastrians. The Dēnkard or Dēnkart ( Middle Persian: "Acts of Religion" is a 10th century compendium of the Mazdaen Zoroastrian beliefs and customs The Bundahishn, meaning "Primal Creation" is an account of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology and reflects ancient Zoroastrian and even pre-Zoroastrian beliefs The Book of Arda Viraf is a Zoroastrian religious text that describes the dream-journey of a devout Zoroastrian (the 'Viraf' of the story through the next world The Jamasp Nameh (var Jāmāsp Nāmag, Jāmāsp Nāmeh, "Story of Jamasp" is a Middle Persian book of revelations The Story of Sanjan (also Qissa-i Sanjan or Kisse-i Sanjan) is an account of the early years of Zoroastrian settlers on the Indian subcontinent Zurvanism is a now-extinct branch of Zoroastrianism that had the divinity Zurvan as its First The Zoroastrian calendar is a religious Calendar used by members of the Zoroastrian faith and it is an approximation of the (tropical Solar calendar. Zoroastrianism has numerous festivals and holy days all of which are bound to the Zoroastrian calendar. In the Zoroastrian faith marriage is encouraged an institution greatly favoured by the religious texts. Zoroastrianism eschatology is the oldest Eschatology in recorded history Zoroastrians in Iran have had a long history being the oldest religious community of that nation to survive to the present-day The Iranis are an ethno-religious community of the Indian subcontinent; descendants of Zoroastrians who emigrated from Greater Iran (in the main from Zoroastrians have faced much religious discrimination including forced conversions harassments as well as being identified as Najis "ritually impure" The Story of Sanjan (also Qissa-i Sanjan or Kisse-i Sanjan) is an account of the early years of Zoroastrian settlers on the Indian subcontinent Greater Khorasan (خراسان بزرگ (also written Khorasaan, Khurasan and Khurasaan) is a modern term for eastern territories of ancient Persia  88). This region in Central Asia is in part in North-Eastern Iran (where it constitutes the Khorasan province), in part in Northern Afghanistan, and in part in three Central-Asian republics of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south

The immigrants were granted permission to stay by the local ruler Jadi Rana on the condition that they adopt the local language (Gujarati), that their women adopt local dress (the sari) and that they henceforth cease to bear arms (Hodivala 1920). Jadi Rana or Jadav Rana is a figure from the Qissa-i Sanjan, an epic poem completed in 1599 which is an account of the flight of some of the Zoroastrians Gujarati (ગુજરાતી Gujǎrātī ? for the town in Nepal see Sari Nepal A sari or saree or shari is a female garment in the Indian subcontinent The refugees accepted the conditions and founded the settlement of Sanjan, which is said to have been named after the city of their origin (Sanjan, near Merv, in present-day Turkmenistan). Sanjan is the second station in Gujarat (the first station is Umbergaon just inside the Gujarat- Maharashtra border when travelling on the Western Railway line Sanjan is an ancient city on the southern edge of the Kara-kum Desert, in the vicinity of the historically eminent oasis-city of Merv. Merv ( Russian: Мерв from Persian: مرو Marv, sometimes transliterated Marw or Mary; cf Turkmenistan ( Türkmenistan; also known as Turkmenia) is a Turkic country in Central Asia. (Hodivala 1920, p.  88) This first group was followed by a second group, also from Greater Khorasan, within five years of the first, and this time having religious implements with them (the alat). In addition to these Khorasanis or Kohistanis - mountain folk, as the two initial groups are said to have been initially called (Vimadalal 1979, p.  2) - at least one other group is said to have come overland from Sari (in present-day Mazandaran, Iran). Sari (/Sārī/ ساری ساری is the provincial capital of Mazandaran, located in the north of Iran, between the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains Mazandaran is a Caspian For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iran topics. (Paymaster 1954)

Although the Sanjan group are believed to have been the first permanent settlers, the precise date of their arrival is a matter of conjecture. All estimates are based on the Qissa, which is vague or contradictory with respect to some elapsed periods. Consequently, three possible dates - 936 CE, 765 CE and 716 CE - have been proposed as the year of landing, and the disagreement has been the cause of "many an intense battle [. . . ] amongst Parsis" (Taraporevala 2000). Since dates are not specifically mentioned in Parsi texts prior to the 18th century, any date of arrival is perforce a matter of speculation. The importance of the Qissa lies in any case not so much in its reconstruction of events than in its depiction of the Parsis - in the way they have come to view themselves - and in their relationship to the dominant culture. As such, the text plays a crucial role in shaping Parsi identity. But, "even if one comes to the conclusion that the chronicle based on verbal transmission is not more than a legend, it still remains without doubt an extremely informative document for Parsee historiography. " (Kulke 1978, p.  25)

The Sanjan Zoroastrians were certainly not the first Zoroastrians on the subcontinent. Western Gujarat, Sindh and Balochistan had once been the eastern-most territories of the Sassanid (226-651 CE) empire, and consequently maintained military outposts there. Gujarat (ગુજરાત Gujǎrāt, pronounced) is a state in western India. Sindh ( Sindhī: سنڌ Urdu: سندھ is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhis. Balochistan or Baluchistan is an arid Region located in the Iranian Plateau in Southwest The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty or Sassanian Dynasty (ساسانیان) is the name used for the third Iranian dynasty and the second Persian empire Even following the loss of these territories, the Iranians continued to play a major role in the trade links between the east and west, and in the light of Brahmanical discouragement of trans-oceanic voyages, which Hindus then regarded as polluting, it is likely that Iranians maintained trading posts in Gujarat as well. The 9th century Arab historiographer al-Masudi briefly notes Zoroastrians with Fire temples in al-Hind and in al-Sindh. TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn íbn Ali al-Mas'udi (transl) (born c A Zoroastrian Fire Temple is a place of worship for Zoroastrians. (Stausberg 2002, p.  I. 374) Moreover, for the Iranians, the harbors of Gujarat lay on the maritime routes that complemented the overland Silk road and there were extensive trade relations between the two regions. The Silk Road, or Silk Routes, are an extensive interconnected network of Trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East South and Western Asia with the The contact between Iranians and Indians was already well established even prior to the Common Era, and both the Puranas and the Mahabharata (both are 6th-5th c. For other meanings see Purana (disambiguation. The Puranas ( Sanskrit: sa पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times" BCE texts) use the term Parasikas to refer to the peoples west of the Indus river. The Indus River { Sanskrit: सिन्धु Sindhu; Urdu: urd {{Nastaliq سندھ}} Sindh; Sindhi: snd (Maneck 1997, p.  15)

"Parsi legends regarding their ancestors' migration to India depict a beleaguered band of religious refugees escaping the harsh rule of fanatical Muslim invaders in order to preserve their ancient faith. " (Maneck 1997, p.  15; cf.;Paymaster 1954, pp. cf is an abbreviation for the Latin -derived (but also modern English) word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult"  2-3) However, while Parsi settlements definitely arose along the western coast of the Indian subcontinent following the Arab conquest of Iran, it is not possible to state with certainty that these migrations occurred as a result of religious persecution against Zoroastrians. If the "traditional" 8th century date (as deduced from the Qissa) is considered valid, it must be assumed "that the migration began while Zoroastrianism was still the predominant religion in Iran [and] economic factors predominated the initial decision to migrate. " (Maneck 1997, p.  15) This would have been particularly the case if - as the Qissa suggests - the first Parsis originally came from the north-east (i. e. Central Asia) and had previously been dependent on Silk Road trade (Stausberg 2002, p.  I. 373). Even so, in the 17th century, Henry Lord, a chaplain with the British East India Company, noted that the Parsis came to India seeking "liberty of conscience" but simultaneously arrived as "merchantmen bound for the shores of India, in course of trade and merchandise. " That the Arabs charged non-Muslims higher duties when trading from Muslim-held ports may be interpreted to be a form of religious persecution, but that this was the only reason to migrate appears unlikely. That persecution was the sole motivating factor to emigrate has also been questioned by Parsis themselves (Nariman 1933, p.  277), and "both factors - the need to open new avenues of trade, and the desire to establish a Zoroastrian community in an area that was free from Muslim harassment - entered into the decision to emigrate to Gujarat. " (Maneck 1997, p.  16)

The term 'Parsi' is not attested in Indian Zoroastrian texts until the 17th century. Until that time, such texts consistently use either Zarthoshti, "Zoroastrian" or Behdin, "[of] good nature" or "[of] the good religion. " The 12th century Sixteen Shlokas, a Sanskrit text in praise of the Parsis and apparently written by a Hindu (Parsi legend; cf. Paymaster 1954, p. Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical cf is an abbreviation for the Latin -derived (but also modern English) word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult"  8), incorrectly attributes the text to a Zoroastrian priest), is the earliest attested use of the term as an identifier for the Indian Zoroastrians. The first reference to the Parsis in a European language is from 1322, when a French monk Jordanus briefly refers to their presence in Thana and Broach. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Thane ( Marathi / Konkani: ठाणे (formerly Thana) is a city in Maharashtra WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> History Bharuch was once but a small village on the banks of the Narmada River but that rivers inland Subsequently, the term appears in the journals of many European travelers, first French and Portuguese, later English, all of whom use a Europeanized version of an apparently local language term, for instance, Portuguese physician Garcia d'Orta, who in 1563 observed that "there are merchants [. . . ] in the kingdom of Cambai [. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Khambhat, formerly known as Cambay, is a city and a Municipality in Anand district . . ] known as Esparcis. We Portuguese call them Jews, but they are not so. They are Gentios. The term Gentile (from Latin, gentilis, meaning of or belonging to a clan or tribe refers to non- Israelite tribes or nations in the Bible. " In an early 20th century legal ruling (see self-perceptions, above) Justices Davar and Beaman asserted (1909:540) that 'Parsi' was also a term used in Iran to refer to Zoroastrians. (Stausberg 2002, p.  I. 373) Boyce (2002), p.  105) notes that in much the same way as the word "Hindu" was used by the Iranians to refer to anyone from the Indian subcontinent, the term 'Parsi' was used by the Indians to refer to anyone from Greater Iran, irrespective of whether they were actually ethnic Persians or not. Greater Iran (in Irān-e Bozorg, or fa ایران‌زمین Irān-zamīn; the Encyclopedia Iranica uses the term Fars (pronounced/fɑː(ɹs ( Persian: فارس Fârs) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. In any case, the term 'Parsi' is itself "not necessarily an indication of their Iranian or 'Persian' origin, but rather as indicator - manifest as several properties - of ethnic identity" (Stausberg 2002, p.  I. 373). Moreover, (if heredity were the only factor in a determination of ethnicity) the Parsis - per Qissa - would count as Parthians. (Boyce 2002, p.  105) The term 'Parseeism' (or 'Parsiism') is attributed to Anquetil-Duperron, who in the 1750s - when the word 'Zoroastrianism' had yet to be coined - made the first detailed report of the Parsis and of Zoroastrianism, therein mistakenly assuming that the Parsis were the only remaining followers of the religion. Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil Du Perron ( 7 December 1731 &ndash 17 January 1805) French Orientalist, brother of

The early years

The Qissa has little to say about the events that followed the establishment of Sanjan, and restricts itself to a brief note on the establishment of the "Fire of Victory" (Middle Persian: Atash Bahram) at Sanjan and its subsequent move to Navsari. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Navsari (નવસારી is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of Gujarat. According to Dhalla, the next several centuries were "full of hardships" (sic) before Zoroastrianism "gained a real foothold in India and secured for its adherents some means of livelihood in this new country of their adoption" (Dhalla 1938, p.  447).

Two centuries after their landing, the Parsis began to settle in other parts of Gujarat, which led to "difficulties in defining the limits of priestly jurisdiction. " (Kulke 1978, p.  29) These problems were resolved by 1290 through the division of Gujarat into five panthaks (districts), each under the jurisdiction of one priestly family and their descendants. (Continuing disputes over the jurisdiction over the Atash Bahram led to the fire being moved to Udvada in 1742, where jurisdiction is today shared in rotation between the five panthak families).

Inscriptions at the Kanheri Caves near Mumbai suggest that at least until the early 11th century Middle Persian was still the literary language of the hereditary Zoroastrian priesthood. The Kanheri Caves are located north of Borivli on the western outskirts of Mumbai, India, deep within the green forests of the Sanjay Gandhi Middle Persian is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times (224-654 CE became a Prestige dialect Nonetheless, aside from the Qissa and the Kanheri inscriptions, there is little evidence of the Parsis until the 12th and 13th century, when "masterly" (Dhalla 1938) Sanskrit translations of the Zend commentaries of the Avesta began to be prepared. The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. From these translations Dhalla infers that "religious studies were prosecuted with great zeal at this period" and that the command of Middle Persian and Sanskrit, among the clerics, "was of a superior order" (Dhalla 1938, p. Middle Persian is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times (224-654 CE became a Prestige dialect Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical  448).

From the 13th century to the late 16th century the Zoroastrian priests of Gujarat sent (in all) twenty-two requests for religious guidance to their co-religionists in Iran, presumably because they considered the Iranian Zoroastrians "better informed on religious matters than themselves, and must have preserved the old-time tradition more faithfully than they themselves did" (Dhalla 1938, p.  457). These transmissions and their replies - assiduously preserved by the community as the rivayats (epistles) - span the years 1478-1766 and deal with both religious and social subjects. From a superficial 21st century point of view, some of these ithoter (Gujarati: questions) are remarkably trivial - for instance, Rivayat 376: whether ink prepared by a non-Zoroastrian is suitable for copying Avestan language texts - but they provide a discerning insight into the fears and anxieties of the early modern Zoroastrians. Gujarati (ગુજરાતી Gujǎrātī ? Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta. Thus, the question of the ink is symptomatic of the fear of assimilation and the loss of identity; a theme that dominates the questions posed and continues to be an issue into the 21st century. So also the question of conversion of Juddins (non-Zoroastrians) to Zoroastrianism, to which the reply (R237, R238) was: acceptable, even meritorious. (Dhalla 1938, pp.  474-475)

Nonetheless, "the precarious condition in which they lived for a considerable period made it impracticable for them to keep up their former proselytizing zeal. The instinctive fear of disintegration and absorption in the vast multitudes among whom they lived created in them a spirit of exclusiveness and a strong feeling for the preservation of the racial characteristics and distinctive features of their community. Living in an atmosphere surcharged with the Hindu caste system, they felt that their own safety lay in encircling their fold by rigid caste barriers" (Dhalla 1938, p.  474). Even so, at some point (perhaps not long after their arrival in India), the Zoroastrians - perhaps determining that the social stratification that they had brought with them was unsustainable in the small community - did away with all but the hereditary priesthood (called the asronih in Sassanid Iran). In Sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of Social classes Castes and strata within a Society. The remaining estates - the (r)atheshtarih (nobility, soldiers, and civil servants), vastaryoshih (farmers and herdsmen), hutokshih (artisans and laborers) - were folded into an all-comprehensive class today known as the behdini ("followers of daena", for which "good religion" is one translation). This change would have far reaching consequences. For one, it opened the gene pool to some extent since until that time inter-class marriages were exceedingly rare (this would continue to be a problem for the priesthood until the 20th century). For another, it did away with the boundaries along occupational lines, a factor that would enamour the Parsis to the 18th and 19th century British colonial authorities who had little patience for the unpredictable complications of the Hindu caste system (such as a clerk from one caste who would not deal with a clerk from another). Caste (Sanskrit Gyati ज्ञाति, Hindi Biradari बिरादरी samaj समाज jati जाति etc, Urdu Zat ज़ात) is an Endogamous group

The age of opportunity

Following the commercial treaty in the early 1600s between Mughal emperor Jahangir and James I of England, the British East India Company obtained the exclusive rights to reside and build factories in Surat and other areas. Nuruddin Salim Jahangir (full title Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram Khushru-i-Giti Panah Abu'l-Fath Nur ud-din Muhammad Jahangir Padshah Ghazi ''( September 20 James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625 was King of Scotland as James VI, and King of England and King of Ireland as James The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or Many Parsis, who until then had been living in farming communities throughout Gujarat, moved to the British-run settlements to take the new jobs offered. In 1668 the British East India Company leased the seven islands of Bombay from Charles II of England. Seven islands were united to form the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay Isle of Bombay Colaba Old Woman's Island (Little Colaba Charles II (Charles Stuart 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685 was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The company found the deep harbour on the east coast of the islands to be ideal for setting up their first port in the sub-continent, and in 1687 they transferred their headquarters from Surat to the fledgling settlement. The Parsis followed and soon began to occupy posts of trust in connection with government and public works (Hull 1913).

Where literacy had previously been an exclusive domain of the priesthood, the British schools provided the new Parsi youth with the means to not only learn to read and write, but also to be educated in the greater sense of the term and become familiar with the quirks of the British establishment. These latter qualities were enormously useful to Parsis since it allowed them to "represent themselves as being like the British," which they did "more diligently and effectively than perhaps any other South Asian community" (Luhrmann 2002, p.  861). In turn, it allowed the British, who were otherwise quite convinced of their racial and intellectual superiority, to deal with the other native communities through the offices of the Parsis. While the British saw the other Indians, "as passive, ignorant, irrational, outwardly submissive but inwardly guileful" (Luhrmann 1994, p.  333), the Parsis were seen to have the traits that the colonial authorities tended to ascribe to themselves. Mandelslo (1638) saw them as "diligent", "conscientious" and "skillful" in their mercantile pursuits. Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo was a seventeenth-century German adventurer who wrote about his travels through Persia and India. Similar observations would be made by James Mackintosh, Recorder of Bombay from 1804 to 1811, who noted that "the Parsees are a small remnant of one of the mightiest nations of the ancient world, who, flying from persecution into India, were for many ages lost in obscurity and poverty, till at length they met a just government under which they speedily rose to be one of the most popular mercantile bodies in Asia" (Loc. cit. Darukhanawala & Jeejeebhoy 1938, p. Loc cit ( Latin, short for loco citato, meaning "in the place cited" is a Footnote or Endnote term used to repeat the  33).

One of these was an enterprising agent named Rustom Maneck who had probably already amassed a fortune under the Dutch and Portuguese. In 1702 Maneck was appointed the first broker (so also acquiring the name "Seth") to the Company, and in the following years "he and his Parsi associates widened the occupational and financial horizons of the larger Parsi community" (White 1991, p.  304). Thus, by the mid-18th century, the brokerage houses of the Bombay Presidency were almost all in Parsi hands. The Bombay Presidency was a former province of British India. As James Forbes, the Collector of Broach (now Bharuch), would note in his Oriental Memoirs (1770): "many of the principal merchants and owners of ships at Bombay and Surat are Parsees. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> History Bharuch was once but a small village on the banks of the Narmada River but that rivers inland " "Active, robust, prudent and persevering, they now form a very valuable part of the Company's subjects on the western shores of Hindustan where they are highly esteemed" (Loc. cit. Darukhanawala & Jeejeebhoy 1938, p. Loc cit ( Latin, short for loco citato, meaning "in the place cited" is a Footnote or Endnote term used to repeat the  33). Gradually certain families "acquired wealth and prominence (Sorabji, Modi, Cama, Wadia, Jeejeebhoy, Readymoney, Dadyseth, Petit, Patel, Mehta, Allbless, Tata, etc. ), many of which would be noted for their participation in the public life of the city, and for their various educational, industrial, and charitable enterprises. " (Hull 1913).

Through his largesse, Maneck helped establish the infrastructure that was necessary for the Parsis to set themselves up in the city and in doing so "established Bombay as the primary center of Parsi habitation and work in the 1720s" (White 1991, p.  304). Following the political and economic isolation of Surat in 1720s and 1730s that resulted from troubles between the (remnant) Mughal authorities and the increasingly dominant Marathas, a number of Parsi families from Surat migrated to the new city. The Marāthās ( Marathi: mr मराठा also Mahrattas) form an Indo Aryan group of Hindu Warriors hailing mostly from the present-day While in 1700, "fewer than a handful of individuals appear as merchants in any records; by mid-century, Parsis engaged in commerce constituted one of important commercial groups in Bombay" (White 1991, p.  312). Maneck's generosity is incidentally also the first documented instance of Parsi philanthropy. In 1689, the Anglican chaplain John Ovington reported that in Surat the family "assist the poor and are ready to provide for the sustenance and comfort of such as want it. Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs Their universal kindness, either employing such as are ready and able to work, or bestowing a seasonable bounteous charity to such as are infirm and miserable, leave no man destitute of relief, nor suffer a beggar in all their tribe" (Ovington 1929, p.  216).

In 1728 Rustom's eldest son Naoroz (later Naorojee) founded the Bombay Parsi Panchayat (in the sense of an instrument for self-governance and not in the sense of the trust it is today) to assist newly arriving Parsis in religious, social, legal and financial matters. The Panchayat is a South Asian Political system. ‘Panchayat’ literally means assembly ( yat) of five ( panch) wise and respected elders chosen Self-governance is an abstract concept that refers to several scales of Organization. Using their vast resources, the Maneck Seth family gave their time, energy and not inconsiderable financial resources to the Parsi community, with the result that by the mid-18th century, the Panchayat was the accepted means for Parsis to cope with the exegencies of urban life and the recognized instrument for regulating the affairs of the community (Karaka 1884, pp.  215-217). Nonetheless, by 1838 the Panchayat was under attack for impropriety and nepotism. In 1855 the Bombay Times noted that the Panchayat was utterly without the moral or legal authority to enforce its statutes (the Bundobusts or codes of conduct) and the council soon ceased to be considered representative of the community (Dobbin 1970, p. The Times of India ( TOI) is a leading English-language Broadsheet Daily newspaper in India.  150-151). In the wake of a July 1856 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruling that it had no jurisdiction over the Parsis in matters of marriage and divorce, the Panchayat was reduced to little more than a Government-recognized "Parsi Matrimonial Court". Although the Panchayat would be eventually be reestablished as the administrator of community property, it ultimately ceased to be an instrument for self-governance.

At about the same time as the role of the Panchayat was declining, a number of other institutions arose that would replace the Panchayat's role in contributing to the sense of social cohesiveness that the community desperately sought. By mid-century, the Parsis were keenly aware that their numbers were declining and saw education as a possible solution to the problem. In 1842 Jamsetji Jeejeebhoy established the "Parsi Benevolent Fund" with the aim of improving the conditions, through education, of the impoverished Parsis still living in Surat and its environs. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy 1st Baronet (variously spelled Qamsetji and Jeejeebhoy Jejeebjoy Qijibhai) ( 15 July 1783 &ndash 14 April In 1849 the Parsis established their first school (co-educational, which was a novelty at the time, but would soon be split into separate schools for boys and girls) and the education movement quickened. The number of Parsi schools multiplied but other schools and colleges were also freely frequented (Hull 1913). Accompanied by better education and social cohesiveness, the community's sense of distinctiveness grew and in 1854 Dinshaw Maneckji Petit founded the "Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund" with the aim of improving the conditions for the less fortunate co-religionists in Iran. Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit 1st Baronet ( 30 June 1823 &ndash 5 May 1901) Parsi entrepreneur and founder of the first textile mills The fund succeeded in convincing a number of Iranian Zoroastrians to emigrate to India (where they are today known as Iranis), and may have been instrumental in obtaining a remission of the jizya poll tax for their co-religionists in 1882. The Iranis are an ethno-religious community of the Indian subcontinent; descendants of Zoroastrians who emigrated from Greater Iran (in the main from Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah (جزْية ʤɪzjæh Ottoman Turkish: cizye both derived from Pahlavi and ultimately from Aramaic

In the 18th and 19th centuries the Parsis had emerged as "the foremost people in India in matters educational, industrial, and social. They came in the vanguard of progress, amassed vast fortunes, and munificently gave away large sums in charity" (Dhalla 1948, p.  483). By the close of the 19th century, the total number of Parsis in colonial India was 85,397, of which 48,507 lived in Bombay, constituting 6% of the total population of the city (Census, 1881). This would be the last time that the Parsis would be considered a numerically significant minority in the city.

Nonetheless, the legacy of the 19th century was a sense of self-awareness as a community. The typically Parsi cultural symbols of the 17th and 18th centuries such as language (a Parsi variant of Gujarati), art & crafts and sartorial habits developed into Parsi theater, literature, newspapers and magazines and schools. Gujarati (ગુજરાતી Gujǎrātī ? The Parsis now ran community medical centers, ambulance corps, boy scout troops, clubs and masonic lodges. Some troops are co-educational for those troops this article is relevant to them A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge in Books of Constitutions is the basic organisation of Freemasonry. They had their own charitable foundations and housing estates, legal institutions, courts and governance. They were no longer weavers and petty merchants, but now established and ran banks, mills, heavy industry, shipyards and shipping companies. Moreover, even while maintaining their own cultural identity they did not fail to recognize themselves as nationally Indian, as Dadabhai Naoroji, the first Asian to occupy a seat in the British Parliament would note: Whether I am a Hindu, a Mohamedan, a Parsi, a Christian, or of any other creed, I am above all an Indian. Dadabhai Naoroji ( September 6, 1825 &ndash June 30, 1917) was a Parsi intellectual educator cotton trader and an early Indian The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories Our country is India; our nationality is Indian (1893).

Factions within the community

Calendrical differences

This section contains information specific to the Parsi calendar. Yasna ( Avestan: 'oblation' or 'worship' is the name of the primary liturgical collection of texts of the Avesta as well as the name of the For information on the calendar used by the Zoroastrians for religious purposes, including details on its history and its variations, see Zoroastrian calendar. The Zoroastrian calendar is a religious Calendar used by members of the Zoroastrian faith and it is an approximation of the (tropical Solar calendar.

Until about the 12th century, all Zoroastrians followed the same 365-day religious calendar, which had remained largely unmodified since the calendar reforms of Ardashir I (r. Ardashir I, founder of the Sassanid dynasty, was ruler of Istakhr (206-241 subsequently Persia 226-241 CE). Since that calendar did not compensate for the fractional days that go to make up a full solar year, with time it was no longer accordant with the seasons.

At some point between 1125 and 1250 (cf. Boyce 1970, p. cf is an abbreviation for the Latin -derived (but also modern English) word confer, meaning "compare" or "consult"  537), the Parsis inserted an embolismic month to level out the accumulating fractional days. Intercalation is the insertion of a leap day week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases However, the Parsis would be the only Zoroastrians to do so (and would only do it once), with the result that - from then on - the calendar in use by the Parsis and the calendar in use by Zoroastrians elsewhere diverged by a matter of thirty days. The calendars still had the same name, Shahenshahi (imperial), presumably because none were aware that the calendars were no longer the same.

In 1745 the Parsis in and around Surat switched to the Kadmi or Kadimi calendar on the recommendation of their priests who were convinced that the calendar in use in the ancient 'homeland' must be correct. Moreover, they denigrated the Shahenshahi calendar as being "royalist".

In 1906 attempts to bring the two factions together resulted in the introduction (based on an 11th century Seljuk model) of a third calendar: The Fasili, or Fasli calendar had leap days intercalated every four years and it had a New Year’s day that fell on the day of the vernal equinox. The Great Seljuq Empire was a Medieval Sunni Muslim empire established by the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks that once controlled An equinox is the event of the Sun passing over the Earth's equator in its annual cycle Although it was the only calendar always in harmony with the seasons, most members of the Parsi community rejected it on the grounds that it was not in accord with the injunctions expressed in Zoroastrian tradition (Dēnkard 3. The Dēnkard or Dēnkart ( Middle Persian: "Acts of Religion" is a 10th century compendium of the Mazdaen Zoroastrian beliefs and customs 419).

Today the majority of the Parsis are adherents of the Parsi version of the Shahenshahi calendar. The Kadmi calendar has its adherents among the Parsi communities of Surat and Bharuch. The Fasli calendar does not have a significant following among Parsis, but - by virtue of being compatible with the Bastani calendar (an Iranian development with the same salient features as the Fasli calendar) - is predominant among the Zoroastrians of Iran.

The effect of the calendar disputes:

Since some of the Avesta prayers contain references to the names of the month and some other prayers are used only at specific times of the year, the issue of which calendar is "correct" has theological ramifications as well. The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language.

To further complicate matters, in the late 1700s (or early 1800s) a highly influential head-priest and staunch proponent of the Kadmi calendar - Phiroze Kaus Dastur of the Dadyseth Atash-Behram in Bombay - became convinced that the pronunciation of prayers as recited by visitors from Iran was correct, while the pronunciation as used by the Parsis was not. He accordingly went on to alter some (but not all) of the prayers, which in due course came to be accepted by all adherents of the Kadmi calendar as the more ancient (and thus presumably correct). However, scholars of Avestan language and linguistics attribute the difference in pronunciation to a vowel-shift that occurred only in Iran and that the Iranian pronunciation as adopted by the Kadmis is actually more recent than the pronunciation used by the non-Kadmi Parsis. Avestan is an Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the sacred hymns and canon of the Zoroastrian Avesta.

The calendar disputes were not always purely academic either. In the 1780s, emotions over the controversy ran so high that violence would occasionally erupt. In 1783 a Shahenshahi resident of Bharuch named Homaji Jamshedji was sentenced to death for kicking a young Kadmi woman and so causing her to miscarry.

Of the eight Atash-Behrams (the highest grade of fire temple) in India, three follow the Kadmi pronunciation and calendar, the other five are Shahenshahi. A Zoroastrian Fire Temple is a place of worship for Zoroastrians. The Fassalis do not have their own Atash-Behram.

The Ilm-e-Kshnoom

Main article: Ilm-e-Kshnoom

The Ilm-e-Kshnoom ('science of ecstasy', or 'science of bliss') is a school of Parsi-Zoroastrian philosophy based on a mystic and esoteric, rather than literal, interpretation of religious texts. Ilm-e-Kshnoom ('science of ecstasy' or 'science of bliss' is a school of Zoroastrian philosophy practiced by a very small minority of the Indian Zoroastrians ( Parsis According to the adherents of the sect, they are followers of the Zoroastrian faith as preserved by a clan of 2000 individuals called the Saheb-e-Dilan ('Masters of the Heart') who are said to live in complete isolation in the mountainous recesses of the Caucasus (alternatively, in the Alborz range, around Mount Damavand). This article is about the terrestrial Eurasian mountain range For the Iranian Frigate Alborz see Iranian frigate Alborz. For Alborz High School (in Persianدبیرستان البرز see Alborz High Mount Damāvand ( also known as Donbavand, is a Dormant volcano and the highest peak in Iran with a special place in the Persian mythology

There are few obvious indications that a Parsi might be a follower of the Kshnoom. Although their Kusti prayers are very similar to those used by the Fassalis, like the rest of the Parsi community, the followers of Kshnoom are divided with respect to which calendar they observe. There are also other minor differences in their recitation of the liturgy, such as repetition of some sections of the longer prayers. Nonetheless, the Kshnoom are extremely conservative in their ideology, and prefer isolation even with respect to other Parsis.

The largest community of followers of the Kshnoom lives in Jogeshwari, a suburb of Bombay, where they have their own Fire temple (Behramshah Nowroji Shroff Daremeher), their own housing colony (Behram Baug) and their own newspaper (Parsi Pukar). There is a smaller concentration of adherents in Surat, where the sect was founded in the last decades of the 19th century.

Exclusion versus inclusion

At its core, the conflict is a manifestation of centuries-old anxieties and fears of assimilation and the loss of identity.

However, in questions of practice, the conflict is (almost) academic. In cities with larger Parsi communities, there is almost certainly at least one fire temple run by priests that are not exclusionist. In any event, the Zoroastrian faith does not prescribe worship in a fire temple, so — in principle — a Zoroastrian who has been banned from entry to a particular temple could worship from his/her own home.

Following a 1990 debacle in Bombay, a highly respected High-Priest was dismissed from his post after he publicly declared that women that married out of the community were adulterous and were hypocrites if they continued to consider themselves Zoroastrians. This particular episode is however not representative of all the priests. The priests in Calcutta for instance have for decades been pragmatic when it came to implementing the exclusionary stance of their superiors in Navsari — they "import" priests from Jamshedpur when ceremonies need to be performed for individuals that would otherwise not be considered eligible.

Whatever the outcome of the conflict, it probably will not influence the primary issue that contributes to the decreasing number of Parsis: the low birth rate.

Issues relating to the deceased

It has been traditional, in Mumbai and Karachi at least, for dead Parsis to be taken to the Towers of Silence where the corpses would quickly be eaten by the city's vultures. Mumbai ( Marathi:,, IPA: formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the financial (ڪراچي) is the largest city in Pakistan. It is the world's second largest city proper behind Mumbai in terms of population which exceeds 10 million Towers of Silence are circular raised structures used by Zoroastrians for exposure of the dead Vultures are scavenging Birds feeding mostly on the carcasses of dead Animals Vultures are found on every continent except Antarctica and The reason given for this practice is that earth, fire and water are all considered as sacred elements, which should not be defiled by the dead. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 Fire is the heat and light energy released during a Chemical reaction, in particular a combustion reaction. Water is a common Chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of Life. Therefore, burial and cremation have always been prohibited in Parsi culture. The problem today though is that in Mumbai and Karachi, population of vultures has been drastically reduced, due to extensive urbanization, as well as due to poisoning by the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac which is often given to human & cattle. Diclofenac (marketed as Flector patch, Voltaren, Voltarol, Diclon, Dicloflex Difen, Difene, Cataflam As a result without vultures the bodies of the deceased are taking too long to decompose and this has upset certain sectors of the community. Solar panels have been installed in the Towers of Silence to speed up the decomposition process but this has only been partially successful. Decomposition (or spoilage) refers to the break down of tissue of a formerly living Organism into simpler forms of matter There is a debate raging among the community as to whether the prohibition on burials and cremations should not be lifted. A committee comprising both liberal and conservative Parsis is to be set up (November 2006) to try and find a solution to the problem.

The tower of silence in Mumbai is located at Malabar Hill. It has been said that residents of Malabar Hill and surrounding areas have also complained against this practice. Parsis are now given an option of burial versus the tower of silence death ritual.

Prominent Parsis

The Parsis have made considerable contributions to the history and development of India, all the more remarkable considering their small numbers. Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991 was a Zanzibar -born British Musician, best known as the lead As the maxim "Parsi, thy name is charity" reveals, their greatest contribution, literally and figuratively, is their philanthropy (the term "Parsi" in Sanskrit means "one who gives alms"). "______ thy name is ______" is a Catch phrase used to indicate the completeness of which something embodies a particular quality usually a negative one Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical Mahatma Gandhi would note in a much misquoted statement, "I am proud of my country, India, for having produced the splendid Zoroastrian stock, in numbers beneath contempt, but in charity and philanthropy perhaps unequalled and certainly unsurpassed" (Rivetna 2002). Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January

The efforts of Parsis significantly altered the face of the city of Bombay and several landmarks, such as Nariman Point, are named after one. Nariman Point (नरिमन पॉईंट is Mumbai 's premier business district Parsis prominent in the Indian independence movement include Pherozeshah Mehta, Dadabhai Naoroji, and Bhikaiji Cama. The term " Indian independence movement " is diffuse incorporating various national and regional campaigns agitations and efforts of both Nonviolent and Militant Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, KCIE (August 4 1845 - November 5 1915 was an Indian political leader activist and a leading lawyer who was knighted by then British Dadabhai Naoroji ( September 6, 1825 &ndash June 30, 1917) was a Parsi intellectual educator cotton trader and an early Indian Bhikhaiji Rustom Cama ( Gujarati: ભીખાજી રૂસ્તમ કામા Hindi: भीखाजी रूस्तम कामा also Madam

Particularly notable Parsis in the fields of science and industry include physicist Homi J. Bhabha, and various members of the Tata, Godrej and Wadia industrial families. This page is about the physicist Homi J Bhabha For the postcolonialist theorist see Homi K The Tatas are a wealthy Parsi family in India. Originally a priestly family in Navsari, they have been active in industry and philanthropy since the nineteenth The Godrej family, like the Tatas is a Parsi Zoroastrian industrial family The Wadia family is a Parsi family originally based in Surat. Particularly famous Parsi musicians include rock icon Freddie Mercury, composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji and conductor Zubin Mehta. Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991 was a Zanzibar -born British Musician, best known as the lead Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji ( August 14, 1892 &ndash October 15, 1988) was a British Parsi Composer, music journalist WikipediaWikiProject Classical music#Biographical_infoboxes --> Zubin Mehta (born April 29 1936 is an Indian conductor

Particularly notable Parsis in the arts include cultural studies theorist Homi K. Bhabha; screenwriter and photographer Sooni Taraporevala; authors Rohinton Mistry, Firdaus Kanga, Bapsi Sidhwa, Ardashir Vakil and investigative journalist Ardeshir Cowasjee. Sooni Taraporevala (born in 1957 is an internationally acclaimed Screenwriter and Photographer, currently based in India Rohinton Mistry (born 3 July, 1952) is considered to be one of the foremost authors of Indian heritage writing in English Firdaus Kanga (b 1960 Bombay) is a writer and actor who lives in London. Bapsi Sidhwa (1938 -) is an Author of Pakistani origin who writes in English. Ardashir Vakil is an author whose first novel Beach Boy, won a Betty Trask Award in 1997 and was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award Ardeshir Cowasjee (born 1926 ( Urdu: اردشير کاوﺳﺠﻰ) is a renowned newspaper columnist from Karachi, Sindh in Pakistan

The silent Indian master, Meher Baba, was also a Parsi. Meher Baba ( Devanāgarī: मेहेर बाबा) (February 25 1894 Merwan Sheriar Irani – January 31 1969 was an Indian mystic and spiritual

For a list of Parsis with Wikipedia articles, see Category:Parsis.

See also: List of Parsis

Representations in popular culture

• The leader of Captain Ahab's secret whaleboat, Fedallah, in the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville is referred to as "the Parsee". This is a list of more notable Parsis with a Wikipedia article Moby-Dick is an 1851 Novel by Herman Melville. The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Moby-Dick is an 1851 Novel by Herman Melville. The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Herman Melville (August 1 1819 &ndash September 28 1891 was an American novelist Short story writer Essayist and poet There is an emphasis on certain Zoroastrian traditions, especially a respect for fire.
• The only human in Rudyard Kipling's "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin" (Just So Stories) is a Parsee who lives on an island in the Gulf of Aden. See also Just-so story for anthropological sense The Just So Stories for Little Children were written by British author Rudyard Kipling
• The 2006 film Being Cyrus is a story about a dysfunctional Parsi family of Panchgani that became the highest grossing English language Indian movie. Being Cyrus is an Indian English language film released in 2006. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Pānchgani ( Devanāgari: पांचगणी is a town with a Municipal council in Sātārā English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Although highly acclaimed in the press and at foreign film festivals, the film was sharply criticized by many members of the Parsi community.
• The main character of the 1998 Deepa Mehta film Earth (in India released as 1947) is a girl who belongs to a Parsi family during the partition of India (which occurred due to religious differences). Deepa Mehta (दीपा मेहता (born 1 January 1950 in Amritsar, Punjab, India) is an Indian-born Canadian film Earth (अर्थ is a 1998 film directed by Deepa Mehta. It is based upon Bapsi Sidhwa 's novel Cracking India, (1991 U The Partition of India was the partition of the British Indian Empire which led to the creation on August 14, 1947 and August 15, The film was based on the semi-historical novel Cracking India (originally Ice Candy Man) by Bapsi Sidhwa. Cracking India, ( 1991, US 1992 India originally published as Ice Candy Man, 1988 England is a novel by author Bapsi Sidhwa. Bapsi Sidhwa (1938 -) is an Author of Pakistani origin who writes in English.
• Salman Rushdie's novel The Ground Beneath Her Feet deals with the rise of a world famous Indian rock star named Ormus Cama, who is of Parsi background. The Ground Beneath Her Feet is a Novel written by Salman Rushdie. Also, two minor but significant characters in Rushdie's book Midnight's Children, Cyrus Dubash and Homi Catrack, are Parsis. Midnight's Children is a 1981 Novel by Salman Rushdie. It centres on the author's native India and was acclaimed as a major milestone in
• Man Booker Prize-winning Parsi author Rohinton Mistry's books deal mainly with Parsi characters and society in relation to the greater Indian society around them, particularly in works like Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987), Such a Long Journey (1991), A Fine Balance (1995), and Family Matters (2002). The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length Novel Rohinton Mistry (born 3 July, 1952) is considered to be one of the foremost authors of Indian heritage writing in English Tales From Firozsha Baag is a collection of 11 short stories by Rohinton Mistry about the residents of Firozsha Baag a Parsi -dominated apartment complex Such a Long Journey is a novel by Rohinton Mistry. Plot introduction Such a Long Journey takes place in Bombay A Fine Balance is the third book by Rohinton Mistry. Set in Mumbai, India between 1975 and 1977 during the turmoil of The Emergency Family Matters is the third Novel by the critically acclaimed Indian born author Rohinton Mistry.
• In Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg and Passpartout rescue an Indian woman named Aouda from committing sati on the funeral pyre of her dead husband (a maharaja). Around the World in Eighty Days (Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours is a classic Adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first Phileas Fogg is the main Fictional character in the 1873 Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Satī ( Devanagari: सती, the feminine of sat "true" (also suttee) is a Funeral practice among some The word Mahārāja (also spelled maharajah) is Sanskrit for "great king" or " High king " (a Karmadharaya from mahānt She is later revealed to be a Parsi whose merchant father married her to the maharaja.
• In John Irving's 1994 novel A Son of the Circus, the principal character is 'Doctor Farrokh Darruwalla', a Parsi married to an Austrian. John Winslow Irving (born March 2, 1942 as John Wallace Blunt Jr
• The 2007 film Parzania is based on the true story of a Parsi family caught in the crossfire of the 2002 Ahmedabad riots. Parzania ('Heaven & Hell On Earth' in English( 2007) is an award-winning Indian film Drama directed by Rahul Dholakia Ahmedabad (અમદાવાદ Amdāvād, Hindi: अहमदाबाद) is the largest city in The film is named after the utopian world of one of the characters of the story, a world in which everything revolves around cricket and ice cream.

See also

• Parsi cuisine
• Parsi festivals
• Zoroastrians in Iran
• Persecution of Zoroastrians

References

Further reading

• Passion of Indian Parsis in discovering their root in Iran (BBC Persian) (in Persian)
• Christian Science Monitor: Oldest Prophetic Religion Struggles For Survival
• UNESCO Parsi Zoroastrian Project
• Searchable record of Parsi-related subjects

External links

• Parsi at the Open Directory Project

The Open Directory Project ( ODP) also known as dmoz (from directory

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