NON-PARSI BELIEVERS ARE ON THE RISE

A surprising number of non-Parsis have faith in Zoroastrian prayers

There is this anecdote about a solitary fisherman’s tiny boat being tossed around in stormy waters with the shore nowhere in sight. A few years earlier this fisherman had witnessed, in a similar situation, his Parsi master reciting the Yatha Ahu Vairyo after which the sea suddenly turned benign, thus saving precious lives. However, the only word the fisherman could remember was “Thavario.” 

With great devotion and faith, he started chanting, “Parsi taro Thavario (Parsi, your Thavario).” The miracle is said to have occurred again: the stormy skies cleared and the wind dropped.

In those towns of Gujarat which have an agiary it is commonplace for non-Parsis to hand over sandalwood sticks to Parsis entering the fire temple and requesting them to light a divo. Barring some occasional oddball, Parsis would gracefully accede to this touching request.

Even in Udvada non-Parsis buy sandalwood and leave it at the Iranshah gate.  In the 1940s when the revered Sardar Dastur Noshirwan Dastur, designated Head Priest of the Deccan, was in charge of Poona’s Sardar Sorabji Patel Agiary in Nana Peth (Gaam ni Agiary), it was widely known that non-Parsis would leave sandalwood outside the fire temple as offerings to the atash padshah. The benign priest, noted for his spiritual aura, would also reportedly receive written requests (which were tied to the branches of a pomegranate tree in the compound) asking him to make special intercessions on their behalf to solve the problems they were facing.

This now occurs in Bombay as well. On Meher mah, Meher roz, as the queue winds its way through the narrow lane leading to the famed Aslaji Agiary, non-Parsis can be seen handing money to Parsi devotees to offer sandalwood to the holy fire on their behalf.

At Bombay’s Bhikha Behram Well, located at the southern end of Cross Maidan, several non-Parsis stand outside the venerated premises to offer their devotion.

Our progressive priests (and their number is gradually increasing) who perform funeral rites for those opting for cremation and navjotes of children of intermarried Parsi mothers, are now being requisitioned to conduct jashans at non-Parsi homes. The fervor with which these jashans are attended by non-Parsis is to be seen to be believed, report the priests. The potency of manthric prayers is appreciated. Non-Parsis suffering from chronic illnesses or inexplicable malevolence request their Parsi friends to recite the Ardibehesht Yasht or the nirang of Afsoon-e-Shah-e-Faridoon, the divine healer. A Maharashtrian lady on dialysis recently surprised this columnist by reciting the central manthra of that nirang, with impeccable pronunciation.

Does this mean that if the faith was to open its doors to non-Parsis there would be an implosion? We think not. Just as Parsis, substantial numbers of whom routinely worship at the temples of other faiths but remain Zoroastrians, non-Parsis who offer devotion at Zoroastrian places of worship would stay with their religion. Many such non-Parsi believers often express a wish to worship in our fire temples and some of them have even done so. This will undoubtedly enrage the orthodox. However, what seems sacrilege today will, over the next two or three decades, become accepted practice. Closed door practices generally crumble under the pressure of external factors.

Parsis should be legitimately proud of the power of their faith being appreciated by others. Every religion is universal and man-made rules of exclusion are bound to fall by the wayside when the time is ripe.

Berjis M. Desai

Non-Zoroastrian Parsis; and Non-Parsi Zoroastrians

Many believe erroneously that all Parsis are Zoroastrians, and vice-versa. The nearly three lakh practising Zoroastrians in countries around the Caspian Sea are not Parsis. And quite a few Parsis are not Zoroastrians, like late Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi. Although born of a Parsi father, neither was "Navjote-ed" and neither believed in the one Lord Ahuramazda and his prophet, Zarathushtra. After his assassination, when Rajiv Gandhi was accorded national honour, his Parsi relatives did place a Sudreh Kusti on the funeral cortege.

Despite there being no legal or ecclesiastical authority for the proposition, without a Navjote, a Parsi is not regarded as a Zoroastrian. In the absence of any records or system of certification, a simple assertion by a Parsi that he has been Navjote-ed will suffice. Yet, some do not like to take chances. Ness Wadia in his eighties and Nusli Wadia in his fifties were Navjote-ed, a little belatedly, through the orthodox Dasturji (priest) Firoze Kotwal, who had not so long ago termed Parsis marrying inter-faith as being guilty of adultery. Of course, for the learned priest, goose and gander don’t require the same sauce.

It is possible that you may have had a Navjote ceremony and yet not regarded as Zoroastrian. This can happen in two situations. If you were 'Navjote-ed' but your father is not a Parsi (there are priests now who will gladly conduct your Navjote ceremony, even if both your parents are not Parsis) and, secondly, if you convert to another faith, openly or otherwise. 

We know of two unrelated Parsi ladies, both born of blue blooded Parsi parents and married to a Parsi, and though not baptised, were practising Christians (one of them regularly played the piano during Sunday Mass). When they were widowed, they had to sit outside the Doongerwadi Bungli, like any other non-Parsi.

For our younger readers, it is best perhaps to reiterate the legal position. Parsi is a race, Zoroastrianism is a religion. To enter most fire temples and Towers of Silence and to be regarded as beneficiaries of almost all Parsi charities, you have to be both – a Parsi and a Zoroastrian. There are some rare trust deeds where the beneficiary need only be a Zoroastrian (mostly out of inadvertence, not design). To be regarded as a Parsi, at least your father must be a Parsi.

A micro-minority, though born a Parsi, never get to be a Zoroastrian. The parents may be atheist, agnostic or believe that no religion should be thrust upon a child, and hence, ignore Navjote. Then of course, there are those who begin life as Parsi Zoros but convert at the time of marriage to the faith of their husband (the law requires exacting evidence to establish such conversion – a name change is not enough but a marriage ceremony of another faith, usually, is). Again some migrate to another faith out of a conscious choice. We knew of a Parsi solicitor (now deceased) who did Namaz in his office, five times a day, while his irate clients fretted in his Pickwickian office. Or like the born again Christian Parsis mentioned above. 

Confuse not though those who believe in other faiths but also continue to be practising Zoroastrians. The orthodox would like to disbelieve but a huge number of Parsi Zoroastrians in India fall into this category – perhaps even as much as one-third.

When Sanjay Gandhi suddenly perished in an air crash, his widow, Maneka, did consult lawyers to ascertain which law of intestate succession (those dying without a will) would apply – the Hindu Succession Act or the Indian Succession Act provisions applicable to Parsi intestates. We do now know the outcome but the correct law would have been the Parsi law, even if Sanjay was not a Zoroastrian, he was certainly a Parsi, being born of a Parsi father. You can give up your religion but not your race.

If you think the above is semantics or mere technicalities, you are wrong. It is intrinsically connected to the future of our Faith. The day we decide that race is immaterial, and only bona fide belief in the faith matters, a revolution will take place. Non-Parsi Zoroastrians shall be officially admitted to the faith (perhaps, the aspiring Russian mobed (a cleric), who was roughed up by orthodox hooligans at Sanjan, will return, to be initiated as a Navar / Martab). 

This will provide an unprecedented impetus to millions of nascent Zoroastrians to join the Faith and numbers will swell for this modern-sounding religion with its emphasis on ethics, environment and equality. A micro-minority of the followers of the Zoroastrian faith will then be Parsis, mingling with their non-Parsi brethren, in a vibrant melting pot.

- Parsiana, August 21, 2014