Un-Zoroastrian notions

Timothy Dexter (1746-1806), an American merchant, was a shrewd businessman, though a victim of his idiosyncrasies. The grounds of his odd and bizarrely constructed residence in New­bury­port, Massachusetts, were crammed with gigantic wooden statues of 39 famous men, to which he added one of his own. He collected a commodious library of books having rich and expensive bindings and made a fantastic collection of worthless paintings to demonstrate his knowledge of arts. He financed a poet who was ready to sing his praises whenever required. In 1802 he brought out a booklet entitled A Picke for the Knowing Ones, the text of which was devoid of punctuation marks; only the last page was with instruction to the readers "to peper and solt it as they plese.”

Dexter breathed his last 20 decades ago, but if we glance at the last 12 or 13 decades, we are bound to find the writings of some Parsis besotted with notions which are both idiosyncratic and un-Zoroastrian. Mostly the writers would turn out to be strangers to Avesta-Pahlavi. Occasionally, however, we come across a scholar pitching in with his scripturally illiterate brothers. Clearly such writers wish to foist their idiosyncrasies on lay Parsis and, to give voice to such intent, they would choose one of the following subjects:

Zoroastrianism advocates intermarriages.

Cremation and not dakhmenashini is the Zoroastrian mode of disposal of the dead.

Our religion enjoins vegetarianism upon all its followers.

Reincarnation is an important part of Zoroastrian eschatology.

The three persons who had gone to bless the infant Jesus were Zoroastrians.

Conversion is "the ideal solution” to increase our numbers.

That such un-Zoroastrian notions, largely based on fallacies and emotive opinions, have been fully exposed by competent scholar-priests and scholars is beyond doubt. And yet, from time to time one intractable Parsi or another appears before the community as if he has carried out a great deal of research, and professes to "enlighten” the community for the umpteenth time. What price the idiosyncrasies of some Parsis?

FARIBOURZ NARIMAN

faribourz_nariman@yahoo.com