“A marriage of minds”

In your Editorial Viewpoint ("A marriage of minds,” Parsiana, February 21, 2011) you have highlighted the reasons for the depleting number of community members and the rise in inter-faith marriages. In my opinion the real reason for this is that many community members, including priests and trustees of punchayets and anjumans, suffer from a certain mindset, a deep-seated belief not based on reason, logic or rational thinking.

For example, in ancient times people believed that the earth was flat. This was their mindset. When Copernicus’ theory that the earth is round was propagated by Galileo, no one wanted to listen and the authorities punished him severely. Formerly, among the Hindus, widows could not remarry. They had to shave off their hair, wear white and do menial work in the house. The entire community suffered from this mindset.

As per the community’s present day mindset, a Parsi is a Zoroastrian and unless one is born of Parsi parents one cannot be a Zoroastrian. Actually, Parsi denotes a community (a sub-race of Aryans) and Zoroastrianism is a religion, a way of life. These are two separate things. Surely no one can become a Parsi, but anyone can become a Zoroastrian if he/she chooses to. A religion is nobody’s personal property.

This mindset has its roots in the history of the Parsis and not in any religious scriptures. When the first group of Zoroastrian refugees from Iran (later known as Parsis) landed in India, they came to a country with a very strong caste system. The Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas would not accept us and we would not accept the Shudras. So we had to have a caste of our own. And so the Parsi community came into being to help us maintain a separate identity as well as our religion. Apré apri kom saachavvani, apro dharam saachavvano (we must preserve our community and our religion) became our central thought that ultimately formed our mindset.

Over a period of time the community became synonymous with the religion. Today, keeping the identity of the community has assumed more importance than preserving and spreading the religion! If Parsis are to survive, they must shift the focus from the community to the religion. Surely they came to India to preserve the religion and not the community?

KERSEE KABRAJI

Poona

kerseekabraji@gmail.com