“A little learning”

Hearty congratulations on your superb editorial "A little learning...” (Parsiana, March 7, 2010).

If (and I emphasize if) Dinshaw Mehta and his followers did in fact vandalize the Zoroastrian College at Sanjan with damage thereto, and/or roughed up the person of Mikhail Chistyakov, then Mehta should hereafter aptly be known as "Dinshaw Thackeray.”

D. T. GANDHY

daragandhy@hotmail.com

I agree that neither the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) nor its trustees have any right to object to the conversion of anybody to the Zoroastrian faith. The Zoroastrian faith is not the sole property of the Parsis of India. The Kurds follow the religion, the Tajiks follow it and the whole of Armenia was Zoroastrian till the Islamic conquests.

The Parsis in India are a dying race ever since they moved out of their rural and small town habitats and migrated to Bombay. That migration which began at the instigation of the British has led to the downfall in our numbers. And if we are not there in numbers, then all is lost. The Parsis will be extinct in India in the next 35 to 50 years. But the Zoroastrian faith will live on and even prosper thanks not to the Parsis but to the Iranis, Tajiks, Kurds, and now the Russians!

ARDESHIR B. DAMANIA

Davis, California, USA

abdamania@yahoo.com

I was very disturbed to read that 45 men and women stormed into the Zoroastrian College at Sanjan, run by Meher Master-Moos, and vandalized the property there. Is that how we Parsis are entering the national mainstream?

I have just one point of debate: How can we prevent anyone re-seeking his/her roots in Zoroastrianism? Evidences of stone and fire altars have been found in Balkh (Bactria, where Zarathushtra preached, and in Azerbaijan, Kazakh-stan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and western Russia). If today’s nationals of those countries are researching their roots in our great, liberal, scientific and simple religion, how can we prevent them?

Ostracized Russian Mikhail Chistyakov

A Himalayan blunder which Master-Moos committed was the selection of Sanjan as the venue for the initiation of Russian Mikhail Chist­yakov. Had she chosen Calicut or Bhubaneshwar, no one would have been the wiser. Master-Moos must be wiser by now, and I presume she will redouble her efforts to counter the hooligans by undertaking such initiations outside of Maharashtra and Gujarat, and perhaps even India. I agree that all initiations should be properly ritualistic.

In a democracy everyone has the right to adopt, or even abandon, one’s faith. As a Zoroastrian, I hang my head in shame at the hooliganism displayed by 45 Parsis.

B. T. DASTUR

It is indeed sad to see what our community is coming to. Dinshaw Mehta and most of the BPP trustees think they own the community. They do not respect the basic tenets of our religion — which are humata, hukhta, hvarashta, meaning good thoughts, good words and good deeds. Was it a good deed he practiced when he stormed the religious institute near Sanjan run by Meher Master-Moos who has more knowledge of the Zoroastrian faith than most Zoroastrians?

The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees are bringing our community down to the level of the goondas of the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Nav-nirman Sena. The trustees are custodians of properties belonging to the BPP, and nothing else. They and their rabble rousers must apologize to Master-Moos and in future mind their own business. We don’t need obnoxious people in our once peaceful community!

They also need to apologize to all Zoroastrians for desecrating the holy fire at the same premises.

JEROO CAMA

jerusha42@gmail.com

Given the recent fracas in Sanjan, one may be forgiven for surmising that those responsible suffer from amnesia. There’s a gripe that Mikhail Chistyakov is a foreigner, belongs to a non-Zoroastrian religion and is hence prohibited from following the teachings of Zarathushtra, and that Zoroastrianism forbids conversion.

In his article, "Zarathustra at Kai Vishtaspa’s court,” (Jam-e-Jamshed, February 21, 2010), Dr Jimmy Sidhva states: "When he heard that Zarathushtra had arrived in Balkh, the capital city of Bactria, the wise ruler invited him to address his court assembly for three days.” From this it is evident that Zarathushtra too was a foreigner in Bactria. King Vishtaspa did not unleash goons on the Prophet, but instead embraced His teachings.

In another article in the Jam-e-Jamshed titled "Zarathustra Spitama: Harbinger of Hope,” Sidhva writes that Zarathushtra promised to cure King Vishtaspa’s horse provided he, his son Asphandiar and Queen Hutaosa embraced Zarathushtra’s religion, and the King made Zoroastrianism the state religion.

If this was not mass conversion, then what was it?

The city of Balkh is located in Afghanistan, 21 kilometers west of Mazar-i-Sharif. It is listed as a heritage site by UNESCO on its website. Doesn’t it imply that at one time the population of what is now Afghanistan was also Zoroastrian?

We are led to believe that there are two types/categories of Zoroastrians: Parsi Zoroastrians, and Irani Zoroastrians. Can any one of the many savants in our community enlighten us about where in the Zoroastrian scriptures is it stated that there will be only these two classes of Zoroastrians? Why, out of so many provinces in Iran, do only the inhabitants of Pars enjoy the exalted status of being a class of Zoroastrians unto themselves, and all other Zoroastrians are clubbed as "Irani Zoroastrians?” Was the Prophet Zarathushtra a Parsi, or was he an Irani?

Should we allow hedge parsons, demagogues, and self-styled hierophants to deny history, to deny geography, to turn science on its head, and make a mockery of the community?

BARAK AGA

barak.aga@hotmail.com