On Prophet’s birthday, new fire temple shakes 500 years of e

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OPEN TO ALL FAITHS BY REFORMIST PARSIS. THIS IS NO FIRE TEMPLE, ONLY CULT MOVEMENT: TRADITIONALISTS

On Prophet’s birthday, new fire temple shakes 500 years of exclusivity

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstor ... sid=145829

Farah Baria

Pune, August 26: As far as birthday celebrations go, the event was pretty irreverent, but the timing couldn’t be better.

On Khordad Sal, Prophet Zarathustra’s birthday, a group of Parsis quietly inaugurated a new ‘‘universal agiary’’ or Fire Temple in a Colaba apartment.

It was for the first time in the community’s history a temple was thrown open to non-Parsis.

Almost a hundred people, both Parsis and non-Parsis, turned up for the agiary’s jashan and the humbandagi—traditional prayers recited strictly for and by Parsis.

And supporting the move were script writer Sooni Taraporevala and Smita Godrej Crishna, sister of industrialist Jamshyd Godrej.

The “blasphemous” move has shaken over 500 years of self-imposed ethnic exclusivity.

Zoroastrian immigrants from Persia who arrived here over six centuries ago, the Parsi community has always been fiercely opposed to cultural integration, preferring to preserve its ‘‘racial purity’’ by prohibiting mixed marriages.

The prophet encouraged conversion, but Parsi women who marry outside the fold are pariahs, debarred from fire temples, from converting their families.

But dwindling numbers—the census recorded 69,601 at last count—have prompted progressive Parsis to adopt a more practical approach, says Kerssie Wadia, a trustee of the radical Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism (ARZ), which spearheaded the universal agiary.

‘‘While the Parsi race could die out in a few decades, we cannot allow our great religion to do the same,’’ says his brother Vispy, also an ARZ trustee.

The solution: Admit non-Parsi spouses and children of community members into the clan. Already, half a dozen Parsi priests have started offering clandestine ritual services at Navjots, marriages and funerals for a sizeable number of ostracised clients.

Now the Wadias hope the new agiary will voice the unspoken aspirations of 40 per cent of Parsis who married outside the clan.

The brothers—both businessmen—insist their movement has no personal agenda: All six trustees of the ARZ are married to true-blue Parsis. ‘‘Its a welcome and long overdue event’’ says Jehangir Patel, ‘‘reformist’’ editor of Parsiana, the community’s moderate journal.

Crishna, a founder member of the Association of Intermarried Zoroastrians (AIMZ), says: ‘‘Zarathustra wanted his devotees to spread his gospel to the four corners of the Earth. Now, at last, our religion will be followed as the prophet preached.’’

Predictably, not everyone is happy. ‘‘To begin with, the term fire-temple is a misnomer for what can, at best, only be a prayer hall,’’ says Zoroastrian scholar Khojeste Mistree. He explains that an agiary can only be consecrated by the highest echelons of the clergy, after three weeks of rituals. ‘‘Needless to say, a group of renegade priests officiating in a cult movement certainly don’t qualify.’’

‘‘Our race has always been synonymous with our religion,’’ argues Adi Doctor, editor of the right-wing Parsi Voice.

‘‘Unfortunately, our so-called liberals want to have their cake and eat it too.’’

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ARZ opens doors to families of Parsis married outside religion

ZARIN AMROLIA | Saturday, August 27, 2005 12:40:20 IST

Plans are afoot to build an agiary in another couple of year

Zoroastrianism should survive even if Parsis don't. It's with this credo that brothers, Kerssie and Vispy Wadia originally founded the Association for Revival of Zoroastrians (ARZ). On Thursday evening, the association held Hum Bandagi and Jashan ceremony, in one of the bylanes of Colaba, in a flat owned by one of the members of ARZ. "The spouses and children of those men and women who are married to Non-Zoroastrians have an equal right to worship and follow Zoroastrianism if and when they desire to without any discrimination. This flat will conduct the Navjote and Wedding ceremonies for such couples," said Vispy Wadia. The association plans to conduct Navjote and Wedding ceremonies in this flat till their plan to build an Agiary takes shape. The fire temple will allow spouses and children of Zoroastrians who've married outside the religion to enter.Though unofficially, the Wadia brothers have been carrying on their work since five years. They had their organisation registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 eleven months ago in September 2004. They presently have 500 members in their organisation with Dr. K. B. Grant, Mr. Farhad Botalwalla, and Mr. Aspi Billimoria, Capt. Behram Surty besides the two brothers, as its founder members. "All of us six members are married within the community. We are not doing this for ourselves but for the 40 per cent of the community who are married outside the religion. We are also doing it so that the religion does not die out. If you're throwing out one Zoroastrian, you are throwing out generations of that family.

Take a look in the case of Firoze Gandhi. His son Rajiv Gandhi followed his mother's religion, " said Vispy Wadia. And their plan of building the Agiary does seem to be possible. "We have 15 dastoors and we are in the process of finalising a place for the Agiary. We have been offered land in Kurla, Vashi, Pune, and South Gujarat. Depending on which location best suits the Mumbai Parsis, we will select the plot. The funds for the Agiary have also been promised by a few members. And if everything goes as planned, then the Agiary should be built and consecrated within the next two years," informed Vispy Wadia, whose organisation has conducted about 14 Navjotes and seven marriages in the last 11 months. The members present last evening, agree totally with the Wadia brothers. "Our religion does not force us to do anything. We may visit the Fire Temple when we chose to. It believes in freedom of choice, purity of mind and action and cleanliness. Anybody who professes the religion may be a part of it. My children have been believing and practising this religion and although they are very welcome within our family, reading about Zoraostrianism not meant for children of Zoroastrains who have married outside the religion did make them feel a little uncomfortable," said Smita (Godrej) Vijay Crishna."When people think that your religion is the best available and want to belong to your religion, you should be proud of it. There is nothing written anywhere that one cannot be converted to Zoroastrianism. ARZ is doing a very good job of taking the religion forward," said former national cyclist Bapoo Malcolm.

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Parsis having a religious hiccup once again!

Ruby Lilaowala | Tuesday, August 30, 2005 12:15:48 IST

Religion is a very private and personal choice and each person has the right to worship the creator as he or she wants in private.

However, to publicly organise something that is blatantly opposed to the central tenets of a religion (any religion) is a different ball-game altogether.The open 'universal' (?) fire-temple which will be open to all Zoroastrians, including non-Parsi spouses and converts, does not represent the views of our seven Parsi High Priests (Vada Dasturji Sahebs), most scholars and a huge majority of the community members. Priests are our religious heads (Dharma-gurus) and in every religion, priests are respected. Unfortunately, the concept of gurubhakti or reverence for the priests is conspicuous by its absence among the minority groups, who keep having religious hiccups from time to time - but luckily, that's exactly what it remains always viz. mere hiccups - little storms in a tea-cup! Ours is the oldest monotheistic as well as iconoclastic religion in the world. Handed down from generation to generation, according to the world famous historian Will Durant, "Antiquity has imparted to it, its character of inspiration."

Of course, the A.R.Z. (Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism) group has the constitutional right to follow their version of Zoroastrianism. This is a socio-political right - not a spiritual or religious right. They can convert a Colaba flat into a prayer hall - fine! Even Parsis in UK, USA, South Africa, London, Pakistan and New Zealand have such prayer-halls for holding social events and get-togethers. All my religious lectures the world over have been conducted at such halls. However, plans to build a fire-temple later, proposed to be thrown open to Zoroastrian converts and non-Parsi spouses is totally against the tenets of our religious tradition. It is very apparent that this is a way to make a backdoor entry for converts and non Zoroastrians. These kind of stunts have been tried from time to time in the past and failed miserably. Such hiccups have come and gone! Metaphorically speaking, if our religion is a tree, its roots are steeped in tradition and antiquity, which is why we have survived till today. We need these roots more than ever today because deeper the roots, firmer the tree. Cut off the roots and the tree dies!