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

FROM DADGAH TO DARGAH

Extra-religious worship is endemic.

Ervad Homi, a Navar Maratab (Editor's Note: trained Parsi priest) from Navsari, devotedly serves a Bombay fire temple, as its managing trustee. Homi offers prayers twice a day at his agiyary. He is a diehard conservative who disapproves of inter-faith marriages and crematoria. Homi believes our faith and its prayers to be potent and powerful, capable of bringing about miracles. 

Yet, every year, Homi makes a pilgrimage to Tirupati Lord Balaji and is ecstatic with the twenty second darshan of the Lord. He also visits Shirdi and prostrates himself in abject surrender to Saibaba. Homi wears around his neck an amulet of protection given by a Muslim fakir to his grandfather, which, he asserts, has protected him against many a disaster. From the Brahma temple at Pushkar, the famous Shani temple at Shignapur, the dargah of sufi saint Tajjudin Baba at Nagpur and the most revered Ajmer Sharif shrine, are all on his annual list. A carnivore who loves his daily tipple, he turns vegetarian and teetotaller during Navratri and the Ganpati festival. 

Homi is the rule not the exception. Parsis like Homi do not feel guilty for a moment about extra religious worship. Even mainstream orthodox bodies like WAPIZ seldom raise this issue, knowing fully well that many of their ardent supporters would be offended at any diatribe against extra religious worship. Of course, the readers of Parsi Voice and TZ online, regard such worship as betrayal of our Faith. But then, these days who bothers about the Fringe.

At first blush, extra religious worship alongside an abiding belief in our Faith may be puzzling. It is not so. Even Hindus, while being ardent Krishna devotees, do worship Muslim pirs, particularly in villages and small towns. This is true secularism. Being irreligious or atheist or agnostic is not necessarily secular. Treating all faiths as roads leading to the same goal is secularism. Parsis too have adopted the same approach.

Anecdotally speaking, most orthodox are second or third generation Bombayites and generally hail from the English-speaking upper middle class. On the other hand, majority Parsis like Homi are usually from the Gujarati speaking middle and lower middle classes who are either first generation Bombayites or intimately connected with their roots in Gujarat. This accounts for their close connect with fellow communities and their religious practices.

This extra-religious interaction begins at birth. A Hindu astrologer is consulted to draw up the child’s horoscope. Often the astrologer may suggest a Pooja to remove some malevolent aspect in the life chart. If the child suffers from jaundice, a Muslim healer is contacted to drain the yellowness through water therapy. It is common to worship at the local pir’s dargah and come away with an amulet of protection, worn with the same fervour as the kusti around the waist. (Editor's Note: a thread worn around the waist defines the identity of a Parsi - much like the turban of the Sikh or the thread worn by Brahmins defines their identity) 

Numerous rites, customs, superstitions are observed – pregnant women forbidden to venture out during a lunar eclipse, not touching the jar of homemade pickles during menstruation. The night of kali chaudas is feared, the evening of Dhanteras is spent in praying over new books of account and Divali is celebrated with gusto.

And this is not a new phenomenon. Parsis began to visit Shirdi from 1930 onwards. Iranis and Parsis constitute a majority of the devotees of Avatar Meher Baba (an Irani Zoroastrian who became a Sufi Master). Prominent Parsis regard late Kamubaba of Goregaon as their Guru. On Novena Wednesdays at the Mahim church and at Siddhivinayak on Tuesdays, you will see many Parsi faces. The list is long.

Although most of these Parsis continue to believe in the potent vibratory power of the Avestan prayers, being a dead language, they do not derive solace. Succour is, therefore, sought in the more intelligible. A preacher expounding the Bhagwad Gita with its twin principles of karma and reincarnation provides greater solace to a Parsi who has lost a loved one, than placing roses in a silver vase and listening to the drone of overworked Dasturjis in a smoke-filled agiary during Muktad. Increasing number of inter-faith marriages adds grist to the extra religious mill. Displaying the photo of a non-Zoroastrian saint or Guru alongside the Prophet Zarathushtra on the mantle piece is no longer frowned upon.

The hardcore traditionalist cannot figure out the mindset of his co-religionist, who while being a practising Zoroastrian is, like Homi, seen to be dabbling in alternative avenues. He is willing to ignore the indifferent Parsi but Homi is an eyesore. However, believing in other faiths, while giving primacy to ours, is a part of Homi’s DNA.

This is also a manifestation of a culture being swamped by larger ones. Parsis do not live in ghettos any longer (ironically, those living in the baugs (Editor's Note: the "baug" is a Parsi Colony - typically, a community enclosure) and colonies indulge more in extra religious worship). The magic appeal of miracles has disappeared from our faith. There are no longer personages like the revered Dasturji Kookadaru, who performed many a miracle and healed body and soul. However, such personages do exist in many other religions and thus attract the Parsis.

Homi is misty eyed before Iranshah, Udwada and would gladly sacrifice his life for his Agiyary. He regards himself as a pucca Zarthosti. However, he is equally lost in the religiously ecstatic Quawaals singing outside Ajmer Sharif and equally moved to devotional fervour while attending the Aarti at dawn in the Saibaba temple at Shirdi.

Castigating Homi and his ilk would be counterproductive and even drive some of them away from our Faith. The Fringe should realise this and keep its mouth shut.

- Parsiana, June 2014