Religious revival

The M. F. Cama Athornan Institute at Andheri has just five boys on its rolls for the current academic year, a statistic which the trustees — chairman Mun­cherji J. Cama with Ratan Lalkaka, Camaji Cama, Negdad Cama, Adi Jehangir and Burjor Antia — along with principal Ervad Khushru Nariman Panthaky are striving to alter with the introduction of a flexible scheme offering a wider choice for students. A brochure brought out by the Institute details the three new categories which they hope will provide more attractive options for young boys who wish to train as priests.

In Category I athornan boys from Std I onward will receive complete mobedi training (sampurna navar-maratab) along with academic education up to SSC (Secondary School Certificate). Category II is for athornan boys who are "kacha (half) navars.” These will be trained to become full-fledged yozdathregar priests (sam­purna navar-maratab), fully conversant with all Zoroastrian rites and rituals. Category III is aimed at behdins with a religious inclination who would like to become behdin pasban (helper priests). Such persons will be taught to perform prescribed outer liturgical ceremonies in the absence of an athornan priest and would be able to serve the community, particularly in locations where there is a shortage or absence of qualified athornan priests.

Category I entails a full-time residential course, along with secular studies up to SSC and in some select cases even including junior college. While the other two categories are also available for full-time boarders, week-end classes are held for those who wish to avail of the courses but whose circumstances do not permit full-time stay at the Madressa. Most of the academic subjects are taught by the principal himself, while bhantar is taught by Ervad Pirojshah Sidhwa. A master comes to the Madressa to teach students English and Marathi. Students are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities such as bhantar competitions and attending nirangdin ceremonies at agiaries, as well as sports events.

Principal Ervad Khushru Panthaky and bhantar teacher Ervad Pirojshah Sidhwa (3rd and 5th from l) with students of the Cama Athornan Institute (below)

In March 1923, Meherwanji Muncherji Cama, recognizing that fully trained priests would have a lasting effect on the community’s social, moral and religious welfare, founded this Institute in memory of his father, Muncherji Faramji Cama at a bungalow named Chateau Dieu built in the style of a French country house in Jogeshwari. The Institute later moved to its present magnificent premises in Andheri. The first principal, Sorabji Balsara was followed by a long list of illustrious successors, with Panthaky being the current incumbent.

A matriculation course was introduced which continued for some years but was discontinued in 1955. Secular education up to the SSC has now been reintroduced, but the earlier changes affected the Institute adversely. Unsettled with the changing scenario, parents withdrew a large number of children, the brochure reveals. However, several athornans, some of them sampurna navar-maratabs, have been attending weekend batches to hone their priestly skills, giving momentum to the movement to revive the institution. As principal Panthaky writes in the brochure, "the quest for religious knowledge has shown an upward swing… there is a revival, a renaissance which in increasingly evident with each passing day.”

For admissions and other information please contact The M. F. Cama Athornan Institute, 12 Cama Road, Cama Park, Andheri (West), Bombay 400058; tel: 26283154 and (head office) 22656348; e-mail: mfcamainstitute@ gmail.com