“Tenets and traditions”

I have read Dastur Nadirshah Unvalla’s letter "Tenets and traditions” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, September 7, 2007) and wish to offer the following comments.

Unvalla states: "Zoroastrian religion is based on righteousness. From its moral teachings spring the tenets, traditions, customs and ceremonies which are revered, respected and followed by all concerned.” I fully agree that the Zoroastrian religion is based on righteousness. This righteousness is to be practiced in thoughts, words and actions every hour, every minute, every second of our life. It has nothing to do with the traditions, customs and ceremonies. A person may practice righteousness all the time but may not observe traditions, customs and ceremonies. Would you say he is not observing our religion? Conversely, a person may follow all the traditions, customs and ceremonies but may not practice righteousness in his/her thoughts, words and actions. Would you dare to say that this person is following Zoroastrian religion? Practicing righteousness and following rituals, ceremonies and customs have nothing to do with each other. By mixing up these two, Unvalla is misleading community members.

To quote Dastur (Dr) Maneckji N. Dhalla, "Man may fall from dogmas and from rituals, and yet may remain religious. Righteousness rests on indivi­dual’s piety and not on a scrupulous observance of ceremonials or practice of elaborate lustrations. Let the Parsi individually and his community collectively abide steadfast in the path of righteousness and they will be practicing true Zoroastrianism (History of Zoroastrianism).”

Unvalla questions whether those not accepting such customs and traditions should continue to remain Parsi Zoroastrians and claim to profess the Zoroastrian faith. The answer to that question is given above by none less than Dhalla, one of the greatest scholars of our religion and religious scriptures. I have nothing more to add.

Regarding dakhmenashini, one wonders whom Unvalla is trying to fool, apart from himself, by calling the dakhma system (as it exists today in the absence of scavenging birds) "nature-friendly and time-tested?” Unvalla mentions that "it is clearly enshrined in our scriptures that our dead shall be disposed of only through the system of dakhmenashini.” I wonder if he is aware that this is only half the truth? May one draw his attention to Fargard VIII of Vendidad, paras 4(11) to 10(23) where it is clearly stated that when there are no birds, the body should not be consigned to a dakhma? Instead, a temporary grave should be made and the body kept there for a period even up to a month, and then consigned to a dakhma only when one is sure of the presence of "corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating birds.” What does he have to say to this other half of the truth?

In our Zarthosht Saheb’s Gathas, Asha Vahishta stands for righteousness and truth. Facts and reality (which cannot be ignored or wished away) are parts of truth. If one sees hundreds of rotting bodies crying out for help in our dakhmas in Bombay and still talks about the system in glowing words, if one ignores the other half of the truth contained in the scriptures, the question arises as to what kind of righteousness, truth and religion is being observed by such a person.

Unvalla mentions that Zarathushtra and his disciples known as "Zarath­ushtra-temo” had issued certain firmans. One does not know today what these firmans were. I request Unvalla to throw more light on this subject. Surely he does not mean that the dakhma system was one of these. As history tells us, after Cyrus the Great defeated the Medes, their priests called the Magi were brought into our religion. To quote from Dhalla’s History of Zoroastrianism:

"It seems that Magi took a long time to supplant the religious practices of the Persians by their own. The two races differed very widely on some of the main religious observances. For example, the Magi held the elements of nature sacred. The earth was to be kept pure from defilement. Hence they exposed the corpses of the dead to be devoured by the birds; though the Persians, on the contrary, enclosed the corpses in wax and interred them in the earth... The Persians continued this practice for a considerable time until finally with the complete fusion of the two races they seem to have exchanged burial for the exposure of the corpses.”

So, the dakhma system came into practice a good 600 to 800 years after Zarathushtra and is not his or Zarathush­tra-temo’s creation.

KERSEE KABRAJI

Poona