Editorial Viewpoint
The rape of the Federation
The hall may not have been large. No consecrated fire lit the room. But the jashan at a residential flat off Colaba Causeway was a milestone in the community's history.
Probably for the first time a Zoroastrian prayer hall in Bombay was open to all communities. As cameras clicked and flashes popped, people of all faiths, their heads covered, placed sandalwood on the metal khumcha next to the medium sized afargan.
The 90 or so invitees crammed into three rooms for the one-hour sweltering pray meet performed by two priests, followed by a brief humbandagi (community prayer). All present partook of the food that was prayed over.
Contrary to orthodox theories, the flame burnt as brightly as when only Parsis are present. There was no sign of the fire being polluted. No Parsis complained of their spirituality being diluted. No bad vibrations were detected. No one complained of indigestion from eating the blessed food. As a matter of fact everyone seemed genuinely overjoyed at the dropping of the racial and caste barriers that for so long have obscured the true spirit of the religion.
How did it come about? The gracious lady who made the venue available is an office bearer of the Association of Intermarried Zoroastrians (AIMZ). Over the course of the past decade the organization has not initiated any radical move that would upset the traditionalist applecart.
2004: Enter the Wadia brothers. Two unassuming middle class professionals who had no prior public exposure to the community. At a first meeting one would have judged them as well-meaning individuals unversed in the intricacies of community affairs.
They started off innocuously placing advertisements in the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly (and recently Parsiana) citing scripture and facts and figures and asking pertinent questions such as 'Who will occupy our places of worship and other properties in 2050?' Their movement was aptly named the Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism.
Without any fanfare they assisted in providing priestly support to those Parsis who wished to marry non-Parsis and have the ashirwad prayers recited, to perform the navjote of children of interfaith marriages and to hold funerary prayers for those who opt for cremation. (Which God would discriminate against children on the basis of their race, caste or skin color?)
Their hope and dream was a place of worship where all could enter. But where in Bombay with its soaring real estate prices could one hope to acquire such a place?
Thus when a flat was offered on an invitation only basis, it was the beginning of a new era. No doubt a small step for the AIMZ-ARZ but a great leap for the community.
The breaking of the arbitrary barriers and social taboos meant that the intermarried who had been shunned and ostracized were willing to assert their religious rights. More importantly, the children of such marriages could now enter a place of Zoroastrian worship with their heads held high rather than surreptitiously be taken into the portals of a house of God.
The existing 50 fire temples officially barred children of Parsi women married to non-Parsis (some permit them) and the Banaji Atash Behram at Charni Road went so far as to put up a notice that such children were forbidden entry.
The fire temples in Delhi and Jamshedpur alone legally admit all children of interfaith marriages.
By denying them entrance, the community has defiled our places of worship. By opening up the gates, we can atone for our sins.
Will that happen? Will agiary trustees come forward and say we welcome all Zoroastrians irrespective of their caste, creed or color? Will this religious apartheid end?
In due course trustees of fire temples and other institutions should come forward. Parsis were the pioneering social reformers of their day. All our schools today are cosmopolitan. The community comprises many g
Probably for the first time a Zoroastrian prayer hall in Bombay was open to all communities. As cameras clicked and flashes popped, people of all faiths, their heads covered, placed sandalwood on the metal khumcha next to the medium sized afargan.
The 90 or so invitees crammed into three rooms for the one-hour sweltering pray meet performed by two priests, followed by a brief humbandagi (community prayer). All present partook of the food that was prayed over.
Contrary to orthodox theories, the flame burnt as brightly as when only Parsis are present. There was no sign of the fire being polluted. No Parsis complained of their spirituality being diluted. No bad vibrations were detected. No one complained of indigestion from eating the blessed food. As a matter of fact everyone seemed genuinely overjoyed at the dropping of the racial and caste barriers that for so long have obscured the true spirit of the religion.
How did it come about? The gracious lady who made the venue available is an office bearer of the Association of Intermarried Zoroastrians (AIMZ). Over the course of the past decade the organization has not initiated any radical move that would upset the traditionalist applecart.
2004: Enter the Wadia brothers. Two unassuming middle class professionals who had no prior public exposure to the community. At a first meeting one would have judged them as well-meaning individuals unversed in the intricacies of community affairs.
They started off innocuously placing advertisements in the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly (and recently Parsiana) citing scripture and facts and figures and asking pertinent questions such as 'Who will occupy our places of worship and other properties in 2050?' Their movement was aptly named the Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism.
Without any fanfare they assisted in providing priestly support to those Parsis who wished to marry non-Parsis and have the ashirwad prayers recited, to perform the navjote of children of interfaith marriages and to hold funerary prayers for those who opt for cremation. (Which God would discriminate against children on the basis of their race, caste or skin color?)
Their hope and dream was a place of worship where all could enter. But where in Bombay with its soaring real estate prices could one hope to acquire such a place?
Thus when a flat was offered on an invitation only basis, it was the beginning of a new era. No doubt a small step for the AIMZ-ARZ but a great leap for the community.
The breaking of the arbitrary barriers and social taboos meant that the intermarried who had been shunned and ostracized were willing to assert their religious rights. More importantly, the children of such marriages could now enter a place of Zoroastrian worship with their heads held high rather than surreptitiously be taken into the portals of a house of God.
The existing 50 fire temples officially barred children of Parsi women married to non-Parsis (some permit them) and the Banaji Atash Behram at Charni Road went so far as to put up a notice that such children were forbidden entry.
The fire temples in Delhi and Jamshedpur alone legally admit all children of interfaith marriages.
By denying them entrance, the community has defiled our places of worship. By opening up the gates, we can atone for our sins.
Will that happen? Will agiary trustees come forward and say we welcome all Zoroastrians irrespective of their caste, creed or color? Will this religious apartheid end?
In due course trustees of fire temples and other institutions should come forward. Parsis were the pioneering social reformers of their day. All our schools today are cosmopolitan. The community comprises many g
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From the archive