The orthodox denial

Whether the enthusiastic audience reception to Dr Kersey Antia in Bombay was only a flash in the pan or the precursor of increasing interest in what the reformists say, only time will tell. The orthodox response at the Framjee Cawas­jee Institute Hall on February 15, 2008 however, was an essay in déjà vu.

Barring master of ceremony Adi Doctor and chief organizer Pervin Mistry, the white hatted gentry comprised the panel of speakers: High Priests Dastur (Dr) Peshotan Mirza of Udvada and Dastur Cyrus Noshirwan Dastoor of Surat, Ervads (Drs) Ramiyar Karanjia, Rooyintan Peer and Ervad Pervez Bajan billed along with Khshnoomist Ervad K. N. Dastoor as the ‘scholar priests.’ The other Zoroastrian High Priests of India — Dasturs (Drs) Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa and Firoze Kotwal, Dasturs Meherji Meherjirana of Navsari, Khurshed Dastoor of Udvada and Nadirshah Unvalla of Bangalore — were ill or away and had endorsed the meet in messages duly read out by the organizers. Surprisingly, the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthostis (WAPIZ) founder trustee Khojeste Mistree chose to sit among the audience rather than have his usual say — perhaps because the speakers were restricted to the priestly class.

And all of them said what they have said many times before — that there is no mention of conversion/acceptance in the Zoroastrian scriptures, that no such idea exists therein. They endorsed what generations of Zoroastrians have known — that Zarathushtra propagated a choice between good and evil, righteousness and wrong-doing. But, they insisted, Zarathushtra’s message was restricted to people born into the Mazdayasni faith, insisted that it was the only religion of the people at that time, that Zarathushtra was a reformer of the established Mazdayasni religion which had become perverted rather than a Prophet the literate world recognizes as the first preacher of monotheisim. And they substituted ridicule and denigration for want of cogent quotations from the scriptures to buttress their argument.

A lot of the speeches dealt with vilifying Dr Kersey Antia who was billed as Vada Dastur of the USA. In K. N. Dastoor’s words (in translation), "Where there is no agiary, no pav mahal ceremonies, no dakhma, what ‘dastur’ is he?” He also specifically cited four verses from the Gathas ( 31.11, 34.13, 46.6 and 49.9) wherein the word ‘daena’ appears which according to him means "religions to come…There are five major religions… each soul follows its specific journey towards Ahura Mazda via one of them.”

In his introductory statements Doctor had noted that the meet was called to rebut the "facts supposedly stated” on February 2, 2008 by "imported personality” Antia, scoffing at this "Parsi fascination for things foreign since the past 100 years.” Doctor claimed that since 1,300 years dasturs and vada dasturs have existed only in India (as Parsi communities developed in size and financial clout, they acquired their agiaries and atash behrams and eventually vada dasturs i.e. Udvada, Navsari, Surat, Bombay, Poona, Karachi, London, the last without a consecrated agiary — Ed). "Now every association in America will have a dastur!” laughed Doctor, terming the development the "poison of distortion…Aapra jéva insaan uthal paathal kari rahyach [ordinary human beings are turning (the Law of Asha) upside down], doing what shouldn’t be done.” Later on Doctor noted, "This is not a meeting to educate but to contradict what was said on February 2: baddhaana bhéjaa fervi naakhyaach (everyone’s brain has been scrambled).”

L to R (alongside): Dasturs Peshotan Mirza and Cyrus Dastoor, Ervads Pervez Bajan, Rooyintan Peer and Ramiyar Karanjia;

"Since some time some individuals and associations have been going against the religion and the community, (propagating) conversion/acceptance. It is sacrilegious propaganda misleading the community,” Mirza berated Parsis who had gone overseas "in search of greener pastures (who) were trying to alter established ways, reet- rivaj, to suit their own agenda, pressurizing the whole community… their own wrong doings are being forced on others…They have found a leader in Ali Jafarey who claims to have learnt and accepted the Zara­thush­ti religion. He never says what Islamic laws he has abrogated or how and under what Zarathushti dictat he has become a Zarathushti. Sad to say, those who make Ali a leader have been well settled Parsis. One of them is Kersey Antia…Twenty-five years ago he did Joseph Peterson’s banavati (fake) navjote. Before that Peterson never said according to what law he had abrogated Christianity. Peterson and Antia have insulted and mocked Zoroastrianism.” Stating that nobody can become a navar by himself — two other priests with special religious qualifications do the ceremony — Mirza noted that they pray a special prayer called ‘dasturi bhantar’ which is a vow to Zarathushtra and all the dasturs who have gone before that they will follow the rules. "Antia has insulted this oath.”

K. N. Dastoor, Pervin Mistry and Adi Doctor

According to Mirza the first mortal — Gayomard — recognized Ahura Mazda as the sole ruler of the universe. He taught the precepts of the Mazdayasni religion; the Iranian people owe their origin and lineage to him. Mirza referred to him as the first of the ‘saoshyants’ — mortals who worked for the spiritual, ethical progress of mankind before Zarathushtra — numbering Hoshang, ancient lawgiver and discoverer of fire, Jamshid who began sudreh-kusti and Ferydoon who saved men from Zohak, among them. When non-Mazdayasni practices and beliefs started seeping in, people were terrorized and the soul of the Earth complained. Then, said Mirza, the exalted soul of Zarathushtra took human form. He taught other Mazdayasnis, never converted from another religion. "If birth is according to the plan of the Holy Creator, if life has certain values like divine justice, then no one can follow conversion/acceptance. If anyone says religion is manmade and birth an accident, that human life has no spiritual value, such people are atheists. The question of conversion/acceptance does not arise…”

"You can’t change your parents; you can’t change your religion,” thundered Cyrus Dastoor of Surat. "One who does not follow the rules of Zarathushtra can never go to hea­ven,” he noted, quoting Firdausi. He made a fleeting reference to the last Gatha Ha 34 where he alluded was a message for one who does not follow the religion. (This reporter found that Yasna 34 is part of the first Gatha and speaks of following the Law of Asha in thought, word and deed.) Castigating peoples’ "half knowledge,” Cyrus Dastoor told the audience, "Only if the high priests and WAPIZ unite, no one will dare to put a foot on Indian soil.” In a special tryst with biology Dastoor spoke of the sanctity of blood and averred that "certain Iranians had blue blood. Parsipanu and the Zara­thushti religion are like conjoined twins …putting on the sudreh-kusti does not make anyone a Zarathushti…as long as the holy fire burns in our breast, we can never be defeated…Pray that intermarriage and conversion are debarred forever!” The audience cheered lustily.

Karanjia, principal of the Athornan Madressa at Dadar, read the combined message of JamaspAsa and Kotwal castigating the Association for Inter-Married Zoroastrians (AIMZ) and Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism (ARZ) for promoting their own agenda and stated there is no word or ritual in the Zarathushti religion or scriptures for effecting a conversion: "to accept others is to exhibit complete ignorance of Zarathushti history…(We) cannot veer from the fundamentals of religion for the sake of individuals,” they stated and urged the community to "bury differences and come together to preserve identity.”

"When the Mazdayasni system was in existence how could (Zarathushtra) even think of conversion?” queried Karanjia adding that "the Gathas promoted the idea of divine justice. There is no shortcut to God.” Agreeing that principles like divine justice and righteousness were universal in their application, Karanjia noted, "You don’t have to be a Zarathushti to follow these principles… The Gathas are the oldest scriptures in the world. To translate or teach them is most difficult. There are 20 different translations. Only two have the word ‘convert.’ In Kangaji’s dictionary and other translations vaurya means ‘to convince.’ Go by what 18 have said, not by two. Also, when Zarathushtra says ‘men and women’ he does not mean all men and women because he does not say Mazdayasni… Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Ramakrishna have all said, follow your own religion…”

Attacking the ARZ Peer noted, "revival means to revive what is dying, whether people or institutions. The idea behind the ARZ advertisements is to kill the patient.” Giving a historical perspective Peer noted that the Achaemenians did not convert the Jews but gave money to rebuild their temple. Darius did not convert though he could have changed the world… In the third century AC when Shapur II and his court were on the verge of being converted to Christianity, they were stopped by Dastur Adarbad Marespand who poured molten lead on himself to prove the strength of Zoroastrian prayers (Later Doctor challenged Antia and other liberals to prove their point by pouring molten lead on themselves; of course, he made no such suggestion to the orthodox gentry around him nor did he volunteer himself to take the acid test)… Parsis around Navsari were on the verge of getting sucked into other communities, Changa Asa called a religious conference, provided economic help, established the Iranshah there: "That was revival!” Peer drew some kind of community connection with the Parsik Hill in New Bombay, stated that Parsis had overnight fled from Thana to Bombay fearing conversion by the Catholic Portuguese rulers and noted that before B. R. Ambedkar, the father of the Indian constitution, converted to Buddhism he had sought to enter the Zoroastrian faith and had been refused. "If his request had been accepted, what would have been the fate of the community today?” Peer would also have us believe that such was the regard of the British monarchy for Sir Jamsetji Jejeebhoy that when the Prince of Wales arrived in Bombay he set protocol to the wind by greeting JJ before meeting his own British governor! Also that the genocide in Serbia in the 1990s was the result of intermarriage promoted by Marshal Tito in the 1950s and 60s!

Religions fall into two groups: those which say man goes to heaven on the basis of his own deeds and those which say man can’t go to heaven without the help of a prophet. Zoroastrianism and Hinduism belong to the first category; Islam and Christianity to the second, maintained Bajan. "There is no vicarious liability in Zoroas­trianism…(While) Jesus Christ atones for others’ sins, no such idea, prayer or ceremony exists in the Zoroastrian scriptures,” he added. He quoted Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan who had said, "Spiritualize politics but do not bring politics into religion.” In pre-Zoroastrian and Zoroastrian Iran mixed marriages were looked upon as a liability, he asserted, noting that even Dastur (Dr) Maneck Dhalla, who was pro conversion, had an aversion to people marrying outside the faith. And he reiterated that the late Dastur (Dr) Hormuzdiar Mirza had totally castigated what he called "conversion by marriage.”

As per the normal format of these orthodox meetings a resolution was read out by Doctor emphasizing their point of view: no conversion; no acceptance of the children of outmarried Parsi women; no mixed marriages. It was put to the vote and some members of the audience even wanted to vote with both hands. There was no dissenting vote. The liberal voice is almost always absent from such meets — public heckling is not a liberal forte. Having preached to the converted, rewarded the cooperative audience with food packages (this time openly distributed at the hall itself as the ARZ had done and not in the buses as was the practice hitherto), the organizers were happy that no rapprochement with the liberals was necessary — yet.