Religion
The Persian Rivayats
The proper age for investiture with sudreh and kusti was believed to be 14 or 15 years. The age for marriage was almost the same with the boys expected to be married by the time they were 15 and girls prior to that. Infant marriages though were not favored. With regard to after-death ceremonies it was advised that rather than invite trouble on oneself and incur debts one should perform rites according to one's means and capacity. Such facts can be gleaned from The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and others - Their version with introduction and notes by Ervad Bamanji Nusserwanji Dhabhar. A storehouse of information on rituals, manners and customs prevalent among Persian Zoroastrians and Indian Parsis living between the end of the 15th and 18th centuries, the 1932 book was reprinted by the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute in 1999 from the liberal sums received from the Zartoshty Brothers (Faridoon and Mehraban) Fund. The book priced at Rs 1,000 is available at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, 136, Bombay Samachar Marg, Fort, Bombay 400023, tel 22843893.
Since the entire treatise of 657 pages (with 68 more pages accommodating the preface, foreword, contents and author's introduction) would be too tedious for a layperson, with the permission of the Cama Institute we are reproducing here certain excerpts from the Rivayats which reflect on the attitudes, beliefs and faith which governed the life-style of the early Zoroastrians and their preoccupation with purity and hygiene. Interspersed with certain passages from Dhabhar's introduction that we are carrying are sections of the Rivayats that refer to norms governing cohabitation and the strict isolation of women in menses, the administering of bareshnum to those of a foreign faith and acceptance of converts. Ultimately we learn the rationale for dividing the world into 25 parts. Parsiana's intention was to piece together passages which would give us insights into the thinking of that generation of Zoroastrians.
The Rivayats encapsulate the guidance proffered by the Iranian Zoroastrians to their Indian brethren on matters of custom since the Persians were considered an authority on the subject. The world rivayat means custom. Hormazyar's Rivayats are sourced from eight Rivayats of: Kama Bohra, Faredun Marzban, Asfandyar Sohrab, Manek Changa, Kaus Kama, Kamdin Shapur, Bahman Punjya and Kaus Mahyar. In the handwriting of Hormazyar's son Darab are additionally affixed five other Rivayats of Barzu Kamdin, Shapur Bharuchi, Rivayat addressed to Suratya Andhyarus, Rivayat addressed to Dastur Rustom Peshotan and others and a letter from Dastur Ardeshir Noshirvan of Kerman. The same topic or subject on which a clarification was sought is often touched upon in more than one Rivayat.
Also reprinted in this issue is the Jamasp Nama which conveys the wisdom of the wise philosopher Jamasp, the chief mobed and prime minister of King Gushtasp (or Vishtasp). Scholars are neither able to ascertain when this text in Pahlavi was originally written nor when it was translated into Pazend, Persian or Gujarati. The names of the protagonists - Jamasp and Gushtasp - suggest that there may even be an Avesta version of this treatise.The responses Jamasp gives to the King's queries are supposedly the outcome of his conversations with God. He addresses questions related to Gushtasp's predecessors and successors, the Zoroastrian religion, the possibility of calamities like epidemics, famine, warfare and the ultimate resurrection of righteousness when men sustaining themselves on spiritual food will "become pure, without old age, without weakness and without death...When whatever I prognosticate about every (future) period of time may be found by the people to be carried into effect, then they will praise and thank God and will bless me who (am) His servant and the reward and benefit of all this will accrue to the king in this world and the next," Jamasp assures Vishtasp. Many of hi
Since the entire treatise of 657 pages (with 68 more pages accommodating the preface, foreword, contents and author's introduction) would be too tedious for a layperson, with the permission of the Cama Institute we are reproducing here certain excerpts from the Rivayats which reflect on the attitudes, beliefs and faith which governed the life-style of the early Zoroastrians and their preoccupation with purity and hygiene. Interspersed with certain passages from Dhabhar's introduction that we are carrying are sections of the Rivayats that refer to norms governing cohabitation and the strict isolation of women in menses, the administering of bareshnum to those of a foreign faith and acceptance of converts. Ultimately we learn the rationale for dividing the world into 25 parts. Parsiana's intention was to piece together passages which would give us insights into the thinking of that generation of Zoroastrians.
The Rivayats encapsulate the guidance proffered by the Iranian Zoroastrians to their Indian brethren on matters of custom since the Persians were considered an authority on the subject. The world rivayat means custom. Hormazyar's Rivayats are sourced from eight Rivayats of: Kama Bohra, Faredun Marzban, Asfandyar Sohrab, Manek Changa, Kaus Kama, Kamdin Shapur, Bahman Punjya and Kaus Mahyar. In the handwriting of Hormazyar's son Darab are additionally affixed five other Rivayats of Barzu Kamdin, Shapur Bharuchi, Rivayat addressed to Suratya Andhyarus, Rivayat addressed to Dastur Rustom Peshotan and others and a letter from Dastur Ardeshir Noshirvan of Kerman. The same topic or subject on which a clarification was sought is often touched upon in more than one Rivayat.
Also reprinted in this issue is the Jamasp Nama which conveys the wisdom of the wise philosopher Jamasp, the chief mobed and prime minister of King Gushtasp (or Vishtasp). Scholars are neither able to ascertain when this text in Pahlavi was originally written nor when it was translated into Pazend, Persian or Gujarati. The names of the protagonists - Jamasp and Gushtasp - suggest that there may even be an Avesta version of this treatise.The responses Jamasp gives to the King's queries are supposedly the outcome of his conversations with God. He addresses questions related to Gushtasp's predecessors and successors, the Zoroastrian religion, the possibility of calamities like epidemics, famine, warfare and the ultimate resurrection of righteousness when men sustaining themselves on spiritual food will "become pure, without old age, without weakness and without death...When whatever I prognosticate about every (future) period of time may be found by the people to be carried into effect, then they will praise and thank God and will bless me who (am) His servant and the reward and benefit of all this will accrue to the king in this world and the next," Jamasp assures Vishtasp. Many of hi
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