“The sounds of silence”

In response to the article "The sounds of silence” by Jamsheed Kanga (Parsiana, August 7, 2006), I would like to bring the following points to the attention of the readers.

The Iranian Zoroastrians and those Parsis who sought refuge in India are the only ones who have successfully maintained the Zoroastrian religion. The latter have prospered and grown in numbers since seeking refuge in India. But Zoroastrians have also survived in Iran despite being persecuted for many years. Zoroastrians did migrate to parts of Europe and China, but none of these migrations survived the test of time.

While we would all love our community to increase in numbers, advocating an increase by converting others will not serve the purpose. Promoting acceptance/conversion might even prove to be a step in the wrong direction in preserving the unique identity of being Parsi or Irani Zoroastrians.

Over the past 20-25 years renewed rancor has only served to turn off a generation of young Zoroastrians from the religion as not too many positive initiatives have been put forward at various congresses, gatherings and in publications. This rancor and division in the community has led many young people to disassociate themselves from their local Zoroastrian associations. Already there is a visible disconnect between the Irani Zoroastrians and the Parsis. Resurrecting the conversion issue merely serves to turn people off.

Instead of concentrating on much needed religious education and strengthening the community’s economic base it is the same old rehash of conversion/acceptance which neither the liberal or orthodox segment of the community has been able to agree upon for the last 100 years. Why don’t we try and maintain unity, instead of fanning this controversy which has served only to divide the community?

Common sense dictates that just as the Jews and Christians have done, the liberal side could call themselves Reform Zoroastrians or Born Again Zoroastrians and start their own separate denomination. One should give the orthodox Zoroastrians their due and let them practice Zoroastrianism as they see fit. Neither side should try and impose their viewpoint on the other.

What is needed is better researched and presented religious education. There should be facilities to produce well educated clergy with knowledge of Zoroastrianism and the ability to explain it to the lay community.

I would also like to bring to the attention of the community that by declaring Udvada town as a tourist destination, there is bound to be an influx of non-Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians and non-Zoroastrian tourists visiting Udvada specifically on a religious pilgrimage. There are now 2.6 million Zoroastrians in the world, 2004 figures. (The figure of over two million Zoroastrians was sourced from the World Christian Encylopedia which proved to be fictional. The actual figures including Iran is around between 1.25 to 1.5 lakhs depending of whether Iranian Zoroastrians constitute 30,000 or more. No authoritative census figures are available for Iran except for one taken around 20 years ago which put the figure at 90,000 — editors.) These will be sudreh/kusti wearing converts who will know prayers in Avestan, and it is but natural that these converted Zoroastrians will demand entry into the Iranshah Atash Behram. Who is going to stop them from entering, especially as many of them are of Iranian extraction and therefore Irani Zoroastrians? How will it be possible to control or restrict their entry?

Udvada town and its inhabitants certainly deserve better roads, reliable electricity supply, streetlights and a good seawall. I have been to Udvada and am not aware of any tourist attraction other than the Atash Behram. However, now that Udvada has already been declared a tourist destination the people who advocated this should set up a museum of Parsi/Irani Zoroastrian history to divert the tourist from the Iranshah Atash Behram as well as to generate revenue.

Living in the protection and comfort of a democracy in India, have Kanga and others elsewhere ever considered what repercussions their views may have on fellow Zoroastrians in Iran at the hands of the Muslim clergy?

I call for a total moratorium on the conversion issue. Let us concentrate on giving our younger generation a good religious education and promote higher religious learning for our priests so that the community may listen to them as well as respect them more.

HUSHTASP BHUMGARA

Mississauga, Ontario