Iranians in India - the Model Minority

[Water Car Engineer]

BYW why do some Parsis have occupations as their surnames - [Nari] contractor, [Farokkh] engineer, [Vijay] merchant etc..?

well well well

we meet again

 

[angeldust]

If Iran was a predominantly a Zoroastrian country many of them would move there i'm sure(at least the religious ones).

Do you think as an Indian that the ties of loyalty and love Parsis have to their motherland is that weak and self-serving? Surprised to hear you say that.

 

[harpoon]

BYW why do some Parsis have occupations as their surnames - [Nari] contractor, [Farokkh] engineer, [Vijay] merchant etc..?

LOL.. So Shehnaz Treasurywallah manages Treasury .

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Do you think as an Indian that the ties of loyalty and love Parsis have to their motherland is that weak and self-serving? Surprised to hear you say that.

The Jews did it in a hurry after Israel was formed.

There was a sizable Jewish population in Kerala. They have a LONG history in Kerala. Now the synagogues are empty.

However, I kinda have to agree. The Parsis have time and again shown their loyalty to India.

BUT if there was a Zoroastrian Iran, don't you think they'll leave just like the Jews? I think so..

 

[KS]

LOL.. So Shehnaz Treasurywallah manages Treasury .

Sorry I did not mean that way...but why do they have names of different occupation as their surnames....

 

[LaBong]

FREDDIE !!

Ness Wadia - grandson of MA Jinnah

 

[Water Car Engineer]

^^

Half Gujarati Half Parsi

 

[cloud_9]

Parsi Community of Delhi

Ajmer

Ahmadabad

Parsi Fire Temple of Ahmedabad - Gujarat, India by Emmanuel Dyan, on Flickr

 

[harpoon]

The Jews did it in a hurry after Israel was formed.

There was a sizable Jewish population in Kerala. They have a LONG history in Kerala. Now the synagogues are empty.

However, I kinda have to agree. The Parsis have time and again shown their loyalty to India.

BUT if there was a Zoroastrian Iran, don't you think they'll leave just like the Jews? I think so..

The Jews had their reasons. They are the most persecuted religion and people in the world..so when they saw an opportunity for a Jewish homeland where they can be safe, they jumped at the chance. I can't blame for Jews for leaving India.

 

[angeldust]

BUT if there was a Zoroastrian Iran, don't you think they'll leave just like the Jews? I think so..

No they will not.

If anything, the global center of Zorastrianism is now India. If there is a reversion of Iran (and indeed of other once Zoroastrian nations) to Zoroastrianism somewhere down the line, they will look to the commnity in India for their unbroken lineage and heritage roots. Because the fire has been burning un-interrupted in India, while contrary to the rumors of underground fires in the bowels of some mountains still surviving un-interrupted Iran today, what actually happened was that most of these fires (atash) were re-resurrected only a couple of centuries ago, after centuries of open persecution of the ancestral religion that was forced underground.

Parsis and Zoroastrian Iranis still visit Iran annually as a pilgrimage to their ancestral historical places, but the throbbing heart of the religion is now wholly Indian. The Parsis as a community may or may not die out eventually, but the religion they protected and nurtured for the 2.5 million practicing Zoroastrians still left the world over, never will. And that heritage is now India's. Not that of Islamic Iran, which at best is only the physical and geographical repository of a lost faith.

 

[LaBong]

Yes you can't draw a parallel of Jews. For the first time in the history of Jews, they have a country to call their own. So it's natural that they would be emotional towards Israel. Parsis in other hand, are far more integrated and contributed more than any other minorities in India.

 

[Roybot]

BYW why do some Parsis have occupations as their surnames - [Nari] contractor, [Farokkh] engineer, [Vijay] merchant etc..?

Parsi Surnames « Parsis, Iranis, Zarathushtis – ALL Under One Roof

 

[Water Car Engineer]

^^^^

I believe many of them will move if a Zoro Iran was made. Just like the Jews did(who themselves are very Indianized). An Zoroastrian Iran will be very similar to the homeland to the Jews(Israel), but for the Zoroastrians.

And I don't blame them or the Jewish for moving.

But a Zoroastrian Iran will never happened. And I believe Parsis will eventually be completely engulfed in future India.

The Jews had their reasons. They are the most persecuted religion and people in the world..so when they saw an opportunity for a Jewish homeland where they can be safe, they jumped at the chance. I can't blame for Jews for leaving India.

The Jewish didn't get persecuted in India.

 

[Developereo]

I agree. There are Iranians in India but they are Muslim Iranians from the modern state of Iran.

The Parsis (it was actually the 7th century) who came and landed off the coast of Gujarat were never Irani or Iranian. When they left their land, it was Zoroastrian Persia. As it had always been for millenia.

The later "Iranis" who came around 300 years ago, also Zoroastrians, but those who had stayed on as Zoroastrian Persia became Islamic Iran, are the ones who can actually be called "Iranian" minority in the true sense of the word. Culturally they are slightly different, as well as language, though Irani Zoroastrians and Parsi Zoroastrians do intermarry.

So it would be appreciated if the OP edits the topic to refer to the community as Indians of Persian origin, if his intent is to highlight the Parsi community.

Because they were never Iranian.

Iran is to Persia as Bharat is to India. The former is, and has always been, the native term for the region and the people, whereas the latter was the name used by foreigners.

Iranian nationalists, regardless of religion, call themselves "Iranian", not "Persian".

No they will not.

If anything, the global center of Zorastrianism is now India. If there is a reversion of Iran (and indeed of other once Zoroastrian nations) to Zoroastrianism somewhere down the line, they will look to the commnity in India for their unbroken lineage and heritage roots. Because the fire has been burning un-interrupted in India, while contrary to the rumors of underground fires in the bowels of some mountains still surviving un-interrupted Iran today, what actually happened was that most of these fires (atash) were re-resurrected only a couple of centuries ago, after centuries of open persecution of the ancestral religion that was forced underground.

Parsis and Zoroastrian Iranis still visit Iran annually as a pilgrimage to their ancestral historical places, but the throbbing heart of the religion is now wholly Indian. The Parsis as a community may or may not die out eventually, but the religion they protected and nurtured for the 2.5 million practicing Zoroastrians still left the world over, never will. And that heritage is now India's. Not that of Islamic Iran, which at best is only the physical and geographical repository of a lost faith.

And you guys were doing so well hiding your true intentions, except for the occasional slip up post here and there.

Are you guys able to conduct any discussion without reverting to Islam bashing and the barely disguised rubbing of hands about Iran "reverting to Zoroastrianism"?

 

[LaBong]

It'd be better if people don't see Islam bashing at every drop of hat. Zoroastrians have been persecuted in past in Iran because of their faith, which is commonly accepted even by Iranians. How is, saying truth, amounts to Islam bashing when the narrator, in all probability, is a Parsi himself.