Uzbekistan Anjuman

"The Uzbekistan Zoroastrian Anjuman has been officially registered with a membership of 7,000 Zoroastrians,” stated a note by Dr Khodayar Attaie, chair of the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce, Iran chapter. This message was given further publicity by Dr Arde­shir Damania of USA. Whilst they sought to inform the community of this development came a clarification from Rustam Abduka­milov, an Avestan teacher and member of the Zarathushtrian Anjuman in Uzbekistan stating that although the Uzbekistan Zarathushtrians are keen to register their anjuman they will need to "wait until future.”

He also maintained, "Here many people — millions — are interested in Avesta and Mazdayasna Zarathushtri daena — Zarathushtri din — but our Zarathushtrian pupils are about 400 at this time… Some of our pupils can read, write and speak the Avestan language but not all of them…” Among those who enjoy learning the Avestan language is 11-year-old Anna Mavlichenko who also excels in school and gained the first place in her mathematics class. Another young man Andrey Kubatin, one of their best students in Avestan, won the first place in the Republic Linguistic Olympiad.

Uzbekistan Zoroastrians at Gatha class

The members of the Anjuman speak different Indo-European languages, mostly Russian, but there are a few who know English as well. Inviting those interested to visit them, Abdukamilov wrote, "There are many nice ancient Zarathushtrian temples in Tashkent and you can see them and enjoy the hospitality of Uzbekistan.”

The people of Uzbekistan, a country in west central Asia, with their Zoroastrian cultural roots celebrate Navroz and Sadeh as their two important festivals when they visit the ancient fire temples and offer Avestan pra­yers, stated Attaie, adding, "In Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent, reading of the Shahnameh has gained importance among the people. The Avestan Gathas and Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh have been translated in the Uzbek, Russian and Tajik version of Persian languages.” He referred to the FEZANA Journal issue of 1999 which stated that the currency of Uzbekistan bears the Sassanian and Achemenid symbols.

"The greater the followers of Zarathushtra in the world, the less likelihood of our religion dying out,” conveyed Damania, advocating, "We must encourage, not discourage anyone who wants to join us because we need the numbers. Some say ‘Safety in numbers.’ Others are saying ‘Quality before quantity.’ That is fine and I would support it if our fertile numbers were high enough to sustain a stable population.”