Editorial Viewpoint
The highs and lows
The appointment of an 83-year-old athornan lawyer as the high priest of the revered Navsari Atash Behram is a clear indication of the paucity of suitable candidates for the top clerical positions in the community. Not that Ervad, now Dastur Kaikhushroo N. Dastoor is unqualified to hold one of the top and most exalted posts in the clerical establishment. He is an avid and astute student of Ilm-e-Khshnoom, the mystical component of Zoroastrianism founded by the late spiritual leader Behramshah Shroff around 1900. Dastoor has lectured and edited publications for much of his life and is currently the editor of the quarterly magazine Parsi Avaz.
At the 7th World Zoroastrian Congress in Houston in 2000, it was he who “debated” with the religious reformer Dr Ali Jafarey on the issue of religion. Though both Dastoor’s children have married outside the faith he is still looked upon as one of the last citadels of orthodoxy. Audiences look forward to his jibes, barbs and often humorous metaphors and he seldom disappoints them.
But Dastoor has not practiced mobedi as a profession. And though he is of the Meherjirana lineage he is not even a resident of Navsari but rather Bombay. Commuting between the two cities would be stressful even for a man half his age. Of the six existing dasturs, five today are residents of the mammoth metropolis. The two high priests of Udvada, Dr Peshotan Mirza and Khurshed Dastoor reside largely in Bombay. Even Meherji Meherjirana of Navsari was often in the city on account of his failing health and need for medical attention. And of the four atash behrams in Bombay only one, the Anjuman Atash Behram has a high priest, Dr Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa. Dr Firoze Kotwal was the high priest of the H. B. Wadia Atas Bahram but left after disputes with some of the trustees. Efforts to appoint a new dastur in his place have proved unfruitful. There is a dearth of candidates and some of those who may be suitable declined in order to show solidarity with Kotwal.
The Seth Dadibhai Nosherwanji Dadysett Atash Behram, the oldest in the city, is without a high priest for years as is the Seth Cowasji Behramji Banaji Atash Behram. The Bangalore Anjuman had appointed their panthaky Nadirshah Unvalla as a dastur but after his death in November 2008 at the age of 91 the South Indian software hub is without a high priest. Similarly in Poona, after the death of Sardar Hormuzdiar Dastur there has been no replacement.
Of the present six high priests, JamaspAsa’s son Jamasp is a doctor in England. He has also studied Zoroastrianism at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and has expressed interest in returning to Bombay. He reportedly intends to continue with both the practice of medicine and the priesthood. Kotwal’s sons are settled abroad. Mirza and K. N. Dastoor’s sons are unlikely to take up the family gaadi. Khurshed and Surat high priest Cyrus Dastur’s sons are still tots.
This means the number of six high priests could be reduced to three in the course of time. Of course new high priests can be appointed. But who qualifies? Does it have to be hereditary? Of the present six, the fathers of four, Kaikhusroo, Khurshed, Peshotan and Cyrus were dasturs before them. The others were appointed because of family ties, learning, knowledge of the religion and customs, community service, leadership qualities and so on.
When Unvalla was nominated high priest in Bangalore by the anjuman the other dasturs objected stating it was not the prerogative of the laity to decide on ecclesiastical appointments. Eventually because of Unvalla’s advocacy of orthodoxy, a willingness to take on controversial subjects and outspokenness, he won acceptance. In that regard Unvalla stood in contrast to JamaspAsa and Kotwal who say they seek to avoid controversies but invariably are drawn into them, mostly at the urging of their orthodox supporters.
Thus Kotwal labeled those who married outside the faith as living in adultery. And in 2003 six dasturs believed they were above the law of the land and unwisely passed a resolution stating that even children of Parsi fathers and non-Parsi mothers should not be considered Parsis. Faced with a possible legal battle and the embarrassment of having court strictures passed against them, JamaspAsa, Kotwal and Noshirwan Dastur of Surat withdrew the fatwa, Dr Hormazdyar Mirza of Udvada, Meherjirana and Unvalla did not.
In 1994, five of the seven high priests consented to the conversion of Neville Wadia from Christianity to Zoroastrianism. Their decision raised a hue and cry from both the orthodox and the liberals. The orthodox opposed the sanction on the grounds that Wadia was born of a Parsi father who converted to Christianity. The liberals claimed the high priests followed double standards, one for the ordinary Parsi and another for the well born. Neville was a scion of the Wadia family that owns the largest number of shares in Bombay Dyeing and several other large corporations. His family built several housing colonies for the community including Nowroz Baug, Cusrow Baug, Rustom Baug, Jer Baug and Ness Baug.
Looking to the family’s phenomenal contribution to the community, five priests — Hormazdyar Mirza, JamaspAsa, Kotwal, Hormazdiar Dastur and Noshirwan Dastur — consented terming it an “exception.” Noshirwan later retracted his consent. Kaikobad Dastoor of Udvada and Meherjirana opposed the navjote held on September 24, 1994, from the beginning. It was alleged Kotwal was rewarded with two flats in Cusrow Baug for granting the favor. One has only to visit Kotwal’s austerely furnished, book and paper lined home in the queen of the colonies to know that he is not a man enamored with material possessions. Whether one agrees with his philosophy or not there is no doubt he is not a person who can be purchased. He has devoted his life to the priesthood and till today turns out scholarly treatises that are published in the leading academic journals both in India and abroad. It is his fundamentalist leanings that are the point at issue, not his integrity.
So also for JamaspAsa and the late Hormazdyar Mirza who devoted (and JamaspAsa still devotes) their lives to dasturi and scholarship at a considerable loss of income. With their qualifications they could have earned handsomely in a corporation or as faculty members in universities abroad.
What about the future crop of high priests in India? Will Ervads (Dr) Rooyintan Peer, Dr Ramiyar Karanjia, Parvez Bajan or his son Darayus, be offered dasturships and if so, would they accept? Are there others in the sidelines that may emerge as strong contenders? And if not, then what? As it is we have fire temples bereft of full-time mobeds. Now we may soon find all atash behrams bereft of high/scholar priests.
In the mid-1800s Khurshedji Cama and other scholars/reformers created madressas to train priests in modern, scientific, philosophic teachings of the religion. Now the madressas are bereft of students. The education imparted is not liberal but orthodox.
Many well intentioned people attribute the lack of priests to monetary considerations. Pay more, you’ll get more, they reason. If one looks at the priests of yore and today it is apparent they did not enter the profession for money. The priesthood is a calling. But it is one which few are answering. Without any research and analysis of what ails the clergy, it does appear the Parsi priesthood will die out well before the community does.
At the 7th World Zoroastrian Congress in Houston in 2000, it was he who “debated” with the religious reformer Dr Ali Jafarey on the issue of religion. Though both Dastoor’s children have married outside the faith he is still looked upon as one of the last citadels of orthodoxy. Audiences look forward to his jibes, barbs and often humorous metaphors and he seldom disappoints them.
But Dastoor has not practiced mobedi as a profession. And though he is of the Meherjirana lineage he is not even a resident of Navsari but rather Bombay. Commuting between the two cities would be stressful even for a man half his age. Of the six existing dasturs, five today are residents of the mammoth metropolis. The two high priests of Udvada, Dr Peshotan Mirza and Khurshed Dastoor reside largely in Bombay. Even Meherji Meherjirana of Navsari was often in the city on account of his failing health and need for medical attention. And of the four atash behrams in Bombay only one, the Anjuman Atash Behram has a high priest, Dr Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa. Dr Firoze Kotwal was the high priest of the H. B. Wadia Atas Bahram but left after disputes with some of the trustees. Efforts to appoint a new dastur in his place have proved unfruitful. There is a dearth of candidates and some of those who may be suitable declined in order to show solidarity with Kotwal.
The Seth Dadibhai Nosherwanji Dadysett Atash Behram, the oldest in the city, is without a high priest for years as is the Seth Cowasji Behramji Banaji Atash Behram. The Bangalore Anjuman had appointed their panthaky Nadirshah Unvalla as a dastur but after his death in November 2008 at the age of 91 the South Indian software hub is without a high priest. Similarly in Poona, after the death of Sardar Hormuzdiar Dastur there has been no replacement.
Of the present six high priests, JamaspAsa’s son Jamasp is a doctor in England. He has also studied Zoroastrianism at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and has expressed interest in returning to Bombay. He reportedly intends to continue with both the practice of medicine and the priesthood. Kotwal’s sons are settled abroad. Mirza and K. N. Dastoor’s sons are unlikely to take up the family gaadi. Khurshed and Surat high priest Cyrus Dastur’s sons are still tots.
This means the number of six high priests could be reduced to three in the course of time. Of course new high priests can be appointed. But who qualifies? Does it have to be hereditary? Of the present six, the fathers of four, Kaikhusroo, Khurshed, Peshotan and Cyrus were dasturs before them. The others were appointed because of family ties, learning, knowledge of the religion and customs, community service, leadership qualities and so on.
When Unvalla was nominated high priest in Bangalore by the anjuman the other dasturs objected stating it was not the prerogative of the laity to decide on ecclesiastical appointments. Eventually because of Unvalla’s advocacy of orthodoxy, a willingness to take on controversial subjects and outspokenness, he won acceptance. In that regard Unvalla stood in contrast to JamaspAsa and Kotwal who say they seek to avoid controversies but invariably are drawn into them, mostly at the urging of their orthodox supporters.
Thus Kotwal labeled those who married outside the faith as living in adultery. And in 2003 six dasturs believed they were above the law of the land and unwisely passed a resolution stating that even children of Parsi fathers and non-Parsi mothers should not be considered Parsis. Faced with a possible legal battle and the embarrassment of having court strictures passed against them, JamaspAsa, Kotwal and Noshirwan Dastur of Surat withdrew the fatwa, Dr Hormazdyar Mirza of Udvada, Meherjirana and Unvalla did not.
In 1994, five of the seven high priests consented to the conversion of Neville Wadia from Christianity to Zoroastrianism. Their decision raised a hue and cry from both the orthodox and the liberals. The orthodox opposed the sanction on the grounds that Wadia was born of a Parsi father who converted to Christianity. The liberals claimed the high priests followed double standards, one for the ordinary Parsi and another for the well born. Neville was a scion of the Wadia family that owns the largest number of shares in Bombay Dyeing and several other large corporations. His family built several housing colonies for the community including Nowroz Baug, Cusrow Baug, Rustom Baug, Jer Baug and Ness Baug.
Looking to the family’s phenomenal contribution to the community, five priests — Hormazdyar Mirza, JamaspAsa, Kotwal, Hormazdiar Dastur and Noshirwan Dastur — consented terming it an “exception.” Noshirwan later retracted his consent. Kaikobad Dastoor of Udvada and Meherjirana opposed the navjote held on September 24, 1994, from the beginning. It was alleged Kotwal was rewarded with two flats in Cusrow Baug for granting the favor. One has only to visit Kotwal’s austerely furnished, book and paper lined home in the queen of the colonies to know that he is not a man enamored with material possessions. Whether one agrees with his philosophy or not there is no doubt he is not a person who can be purchased. He has devoted his life to the priesthood and till today turns out scholarly treatises that are published in the leading academic journals both in India and abroad. It is his fundamentalist leanings that are the point at issue, not his integrity.
So also for JamaspAsa and the late Hormazdyar Mirza who devoted (and JamaspAsa still devotes) their lives to dasturi and scholarship at a considerable loss of income. With their qualifications they could have earned handsomely in a corporation or as faculty members in universities abroad.
What about the future crop of high priests in India? Will Ervads (Dr) Rooyintan Peer, Dr Ramiyar Karanjia, Parvez Bajan or his son Darayus, be offered dasturships and if so, would they accept? Are there others in the sidelines that may emerge as strong contenders? And if not, then what? As it is we have fire temples bereft of full-time mobeds. Now we may soon find all atash behrams bereft of high/scholar priests.
In the mid-1800s Khurshedji Cama and other scholars/reformers created madressas to train priests in modern, scientific, philosophic teachings of the religion. Now the madressas are bereft of students. The education imparted is not liberal but orthodox.
Many well intentioned people attribute the lack of priests to monetary considerations. Pay more, you’ll get more, they reason. If one looks at the priests of yore and today it is apparent they did not enter the profession for money. The priesthood is a calling. But it is one which few are answering. Without any research and analysis of what ails the clergy, it does appear the Parsi priesthood will die out well before the community does.
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