Zoroastrian diaspora differs in language, food habits, rituals

Though it is well known that a group of Parsis fled to India to escape religious persecution at the hands of Arab invaders, few know that Iran is still home to approximately 30,000 practicing Zoroastrians. "We have two fire temples in Tehran. The oldest one is in Yazd, it is over a 1000 years old," says Mehran Sepehri, a Zoroastrian resident of Tehran and a delegate at the ongoing World Zoroastrian Congress. Saturday was Day 2 of the conference being held at the NSCI auditorium in Worli.

However, the community is quite different from the Parsis of India. "We use Farsi language and the food is very different," says Sepehri. "We also have some Iranian functions like 'Tirgan' ('Tir' means water). So in the middle of summer, we gather at a public place and throw water at each other."

While many religious ceremonies like 'jashans' remain the same, the Iranian community is less rigid about issues like inter-faith marriage. In fact, the co-founder of the World Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce in Iran, Parviz Varjavand's American wife got her 'navjote' ceremony done along with her 15-year-old daughter. "She was received in every village and town in Iran," says Varjavand. "In Iran, our priesthood is pro-conversion but the law of the land forbids it. Here it is the reverse," he added. Varjavand also dismissed the notion of preserving a distinct Parsi ethnicity. "Have we all sprung from (the prophet) Zarathustra's seed?" he quipped.

In Iran, women are also allowed to study the religion and become assistants to priests or 'mobedyars'. One such mobedyar, Rashin Jehangiri, addressed the conclave while wearing a flowing white gown and headscarf. She spoke on 'Proposed Educational Methods for the Consolidation of Religious Knowledge'.

In the US, the Zoroastrian diaspora has diverse views on how to preserve the faith. While one Iranian group in California is stridently reformist and allows conversion, another in Houston plans to open a fire temple, which will be open only to people who have two Parsi parents. However despite the existence of such orthodox groups, there are fears that the community won't survive. "My greatest concern is that in three generations, the community will lose its Parsi identity," said Sarosh Manekshaw, a member of the Zoroastrian Association of Houston.

In Pakistan, the 1,500-strong Zoroastrian community practises its faith just like Mumbai's Parsis. The religion is passed down through the male line and spouses of inter-faith marriages are not accepted into the fold. "We are such a small community that we keep to ourselves," said 21-year-old Sohrab Noshirwani from Karachi. "Our security is guaranteed as long as we don't allow conversion. As soon as we start converting people, we will be seen as a threat."

The Parsis in the United Kingdom do welcome non-Zoroastrians into their prayer hall — for instance, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Prince Philip have visited — but have traditionally, like in India, passed on the religion through the male line. However this is changing because priests in India have started performing 'navjotes' of children with Parsi mothers and non-Parsi fathers.

"Change will occur as and when the community is happy with it," said Malcolm Deboo, president of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe. "At the end of the day we want to maintain harmony within the community," he added.

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