“Priestly contradictions”

The very learned treatise in your April 2003 issue by Jamsheed Kanga has pulled the rug under the feet of the six Vada Dasturs who were the original signatories of the recent fatwas issued by them in connection with mixed marriages and the children of such marriages.

It is to the credit of the three of the original signatories Dasturs Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa, Firoze Kotwal and Noshir-van Dastur who were honest and pragmatic enough to reverse their original decisions and opted out of the seemingly unnecessarily created controversy.

The remaining three, Dasturs Hormazdyar Mirza, Meherji Meherji­Rana and Nadirshah Unvalla seem to be oblivious to the mood of the community on such an important matter and the harm they can bring to the community by their intransigence. There being no canon laws or ecclesiastic power to excommunicate, they will be left to lick the wounds of their own making.

This is the opportune time for the Association of Inter-Married Zoroastrians to once and for all settle this vexatious dispute on the rights of intermarried Zoroastrians and their children to peruse the lifestyle and rituals of our pristine Zoroastrian religion. If the same cannot be achieved by an out-of-court permanent settlement, they should take recourse to legal actions.

This issue must be taken up immediately if in spite of having all the rich assets and human resources which are the envy of other communities, we do not wish to be classified as tribals.

Dr M. D. DISAWALLA

Bangalore