“Decline of vultures”

In her letter "Decline of vultures” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, June 7, 2007) Gooloo Mehta talks about Dr Vibhu Prakash’s statement, but leaves out a chunk of what he has said. If we really look into what vulture conservationists around the world and India say and do, it is that vultures would be extinct without captive breeding programs!

According to a report in the Guardian Unlimited dated January 8, 2007, "Prakash talked about the most precious gift” from nature as the birth of a chick in captivity. The scientists expected this to happen in 2008 but were pleasantly surprised at the early event.

"Bringing as many vultures into captivity as possible is the best way to save them from going extinct,” says a news report in the Daily Times dated October 6, 2006.

The world is battling to save the vultures and we can harness the experience of others in vulture conservation. But we need to have faith in our system of dakhmenashini and respect our practices so that they do not die.

Let’s come to the second part of Mehta’s letter. Would she think it right for a truthful, honest person, full of compassion to ask a Sikh to cut his hair? Would it not be insulting to ask a Jain to eat beef even if the request was made by an honest, noble person? Would she ask the followers of Islam to allow people full of compassion and truthfulness to enter Mecca or to permit non-Christians who have the nobility and goodness she mentions to be given holy communion by the Church?

If good social behavior, being compassionate and truthful do not give one the right to ask such questions or to act in a manner that would go against another’s religious beliefs, then why is it being used as an excuse to go against Zoroastrian principles?

Zoroastrianism sees death as being anti-Ahura Mazda. Our agiaries have flames that are consecrated. A corpse, according to Zoroastrianism, pollutes fire the most. Our prayers talk of keeping the dead away from fire. They talk about how dakhmenashini as a whole helps the yazads in their task and thus helps us indirectly.

Mehta would be pleasantly surprised to learn that the issues she speaks about such as conversion and intermarriage would be solved automatically if we start understanding Zoroastrian principles and do not question, malign or change them to suit personal tastes.

Our survival as Zoroastrians depended upon our ethnicity and still depends on it. Today being Persian is taken to mean being Islamic. The young generation of Persians knows little of its history, mythology and heritage because one generation of true Persians could not fathom the importance of passing on to the next generation the roots and foundations of its culture and the glory of its past.

That generation, in its wisdom, confused social manners with Zoroastrian mysticism and liturgy. It disregarded Zoroastrian practices which are against idol or animal worship and placed a picture of Zoroaster next to the statue of an animal god. That generation prayed the kusti prayers which talks about us being anti deva but in deeds confused devyasni with mazdayasni under the garb of ‘everything is the same.’ Now we have Zoroastrians who talk about Sarosh Yazad and his help but lack the wisdom to act in a manner that would strengthen the practices he preached.

RUSTOM JAMASJI