“Missing monajats”

In "Missing monajats” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, September 2001) Bhikhaji M. Adenwalla regrets that the old and famous tradition of reciting monajats is about to fade away from the memory of the Zoroastrians.

As a member of a research project on Zoroastrian rituals at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), I am currently preparing a PhD thesis on monajats. Some of these monajats in Persian and Gujarati are preserved in a few old editions of the Khordeh Avesta. Some other specimens are kept in public libraries such as the Meherji Rana Library and the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute.

Probably, some additional monajats are to be found in private libraries spread all over the world. Whereas it was comparatively easy to get access to these old editions of the Khordeh Avesta and the monajats which are kept in public libraries, it is unfortunately very difficult to get any information about monajat manuscripts belonging to private owners. Most of the private libraries in India mentioned by Cawasji Katrak in his book Oriental Treasures (1941) do not exist any longer or happen to be in the possession of people unknown to me. Therefore, I would request any reader who might be aware of the whereabouts of these libraries (such as in Surat the libraries of Mobed Pirojshah Framjee Pavri, Ervad Eruchshah Bomanjee Dastur Kumana, Dosabhoy Hormasji Dalal, Ervad Bomanji Aspandyarji Dastur Rahadina, Ardeshir Nosherwanji Dastur and in Bulsar the library of Dastur Khurshedji Phirozji Pestonji) to kindly get in touch with me.

Moreover, I am keen to rediscover an oral tradition of the monajats. This task brought me to Iran where I had the opportunity to record some of these unpublished, orally transmitted mona­jats. Only old people still remember the monajats while the young Zoroastrians find this kind of prayer old-fashioned and worthless to preserve. Accordingly, it will be only a matter of time until the monajats will totally disappear from the memory of the (Iranian) Zoroastrians. In order to prevent this old prayer tradition from fading away without leaving any traces, I am looking forward to any kind of assistance in obtaining more information about this important and beautiful part of Zoroastrian devotional traditions. My e-mail is BSchmerbec @aol.com

BEATE SCHMERMBECK

University of Heidelberg (Germany)