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India’s vanishing Parsis

Nargol in south Gujarat is where the Zoroastrians first set foot in India. What remains today is a cluster of whitewashed walls enclosing beautiful heritage homes, mostly manned by caretakers. After a leisurely walk along its quiet lanes, there is a virgin beach with endless casuarinas swaying in the gentle breeze.

Historic tides

By the end of the 7th century, Arab invaders had vanquished the mighty Sassanian Empire. Many people who belonged to the Zoroastrian faith were consequently killed. Those who survived fled to the mountains of Iran. They were hounded out from there too, and after a brief respite in the town of Hormuz, they set sail for the friendly shores of India.

The ship that carried them was enveloped in a massive storm. The ship was rocked but not their faith. They prayed till the storm passed. Suddenly, the passengers discovered that they were washed ashore on to the shores of Nargol in western India.

Legend has it that their leader, a Dastur, or a Parsi priest, led his people to the durbar of the king of Sanjan named Jadhav Rana. When the Dastur requested permission for his people to settle down in Sanjan, the king asked for an empty vessel and some milk. Then, in full view of all present, he poured the milk into the vessel till it was full to the brim. And gave it to the Dastur, as if to mean that there is no place in the kingdom to accommodate Dastur’s people.

The Dastur took the milk vessel in his hand, sprinkled sugar into it, and returned it to the king. The vessel didn’t spill over but had become sweeter! The king was impressed with this brilliant metaphor such that he gave them permission to settle down in Sanjan. Thus began one of the greatest integrations of two communities ever witnessed in the world.

The fire is safe

A few years later, the Parsis requested the king to allow them to build a fire temple. The Sacred Fire, according to the religion, is the Son of Ahura Mazda, or the Eternal Light, and is made from 16 fires. Fifteen of them come from earthly sources including a brick-maker’s kiln, a goldsmith’s fire, a baker’s oven, a shepherd’s house, a crematorium and a king’s house.

The 16th fire is from a fire caused by lightning that comes from heaven. The consecrated fire then occupies pride of place in the sanctum sanctorum of a Fire Temple.

It took three years to purify this fire, and after it was placed in the Sanjan temple, it burned bright for 669 years, till the Mughals under Sultan Mahmud attacked Sanjan in the 13th century.

The Parsis who had laid down their arms picked them up again. 1,400 valiant warriors under Ardeshir fought alongside the king’s army. The Mughals defeated them after a bitter battle. Fearing the kind of persecution that their forefathers had suffered at the hands of the Arab, the Parsis fled to the mountains of Bahrot, 20 kms away. With the most valuable possession of them all: the Sacred Fire.

It was hidden in the caves of Bahrot for 12 years, then taken to the jungles of Vansda for 14 years, later, it remained safe in Navsari for 313 years, three years in Surat, back in Navsari for 5 years, then in Valsad for a year, until it reached Udvada in 1742.

Here, at Ground Zero of Parsis the world over, this sublime fire has been burning bright at the Fire Temple of Iranshah Atash Behram.

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At Sanjan, there is no trace of the original fire temple, nor are there any quaint Parsi homes. There is only a commemorative pillar that was built a century ago, to mark the place of arrival of the Parsis in India.

Nearby, the picturesque Asavli Dam, which was built painstakingly by hand, has a mosaic of paddy fields on one side and the tranquil waters on the other side with scenic hills in the backdrop. The Parsis kept their holy fire safe and burning for 12 long years among these hills of Bharda, at the Bahrot Caves.
 
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A glance on few noteworthy personalities in India, can sum up their contribution :

Piroj Godrej
Jamshedji Tata
Ratan Tata
Anu Aga
Dr Homi Bhabha
Dadabhaee Nowroji
Meher baba
Diana Eduljee

The list is incomplete without specific inclusion of Sam Maneckshaw. No prize for guessing.

P.s. Feroze Gandhi is excluded purposely, for all obvious reasons !



We must not exclude him. He is one of greatest parliamentarian. Nehru was afraid of him coz Feroze exposed his ministers.


Firoze, Sanjay, Maneka and Varun are different ppl
Nehru, Rajeev, Sonia, Rahul are of same category.
 
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Fantastic thread! Really sad story of these people. Why are most of the active participants on it banned?
 
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Parsis are known to be honest, long living and god fearing community. hence there identity and purity must remain. Its unfortunate that they are seeing negative growth in population

contributions made by Tata's and Godrej group can never be forgotten
 
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Parsis are known to be honest, long living and god fearing community. hence there identity and purity must remain. Its unfortunate that they are seeing negative growth in population

contributions made by Tata's and Godrej group can never be forgotten

Parsis also made a lot of contribution to Pakistan, sad to hear they are a declining minority.
 
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Thanks bro. It would truly not have been possible without the rest of you.

Left at the wrong temperature or the introduction of pesky yeasts, milk tends to curdle quickly.

Only in India can you melt like sugar yet remain proudly crystalline.

And for that Zoroastrianism owes a debt of gratitude to India.

All of India, and not just the Hindus.

You need to have more kids 4-5

It is India's national Interest that
These hard working people donut get extinct
You are like the Japanese of India,My salute to you
 
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You need to have more kids 4-5

It is India's national Interest that
These hard working people donut get extinct
You are like the Japanese of India,My salute to you

The Parsis and the Jains my friend.

Their contribution to the intellectual tradition, their philanthropy, support of western classical music, it can never be overstated.
 
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Full-length standing portrait of Manickjee Antarya, the celebrated Parsee traveller, Bombay
Ca : 1867

Studio portrait of the celebrated Parsee traveller Manickjee Antarya in Bombay, posed against a painted backdrop of a rustic scene.

This photograph was taken by Hurrichund Chintamon and is one of a series of Ethnographical images from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections, shown at the Paris Exhibition in 1867.

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A Parsee Dustors (priest), 1870

Full-length standing carte-de-visite portrait of a Parsi priest (Dastur), one of a series of prints of ethnic types and occupations taken by Bourne and Shepherd in the early 1870s.

The Parsees, or Parsis, are descendants of Persians who fled to India in the seventh and eighth centuries to escape Muslim persecution. Their communities are concentrated in Maharashtra and Gujarat states, especially in Bombay.

Dasturs are Zoroastrian priests having authority and scholarship. In present usage it is applied to a high priest.




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