Religion, ritual, bonhomie

Water, the element that sustains all life, was venerated by the Zoroastrians of Nagpur on the occasion of Ava Yazad nu Parabh on March 26, 2011, Avan mah, Avan roz. A special jashan was performed on the patio of a farmhouse set among sylvan surroundings bordered by a serene blue lake some 20 km outside the city by four priests and attended by about 80 co-religionists. The sonorous sounds of prayer, the fragrance of sandalwood and loban and the hambandagi at the end of the ceremony bound the gathering together in the warm embrace of a shared religion and ethnicity.

The Avan Yazad jashan being held in Nagpur; (below): worshippers paying obesance

While the jashan fruits were being cut many families went down to the water’s edge to do their kusti and to offer dar-ni-pori and flowers to Ava Ardvisur Banu (the holy yazad of water). The repast of choicest fruit and malido as only Ervad Sohrabji Bharucha can provide was supplemented by a khumcha (tray) of dry fruits brought by a magnanimous Zarthoshti. Snack boxes, each containing a chicken sandwich, chicken puff, cupcake and cold drink were on sale at Rs 60 each.

The function was organized by the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana, headed by president Shiraz Gimi and buses were provided to transport people to the venue. Khushnoor Chugh, Khursheed Dalal and Tauby Bhagwagar worked hard to make it an evening of religion, ritual and bonhomie.

For Chugh it was a very special day. Having been born and brought up in a conservative, religious family, she had yearned for the past 29 years to have her home resound with the jashan prayers. But after an inter-faith marriage, out of respect for her parents and in deference to elders of the community she had never stepped into the Nagpur Agiary or asked for a jashan to be performed at her marital home until she was approached by the Zoroastrian community with a request that the Ava Yazad nu jashan be done at her weekend home. It was a joyous day for the Chughs and a defining event for the Zoroastrian community of Nagpur.

Dilnavaz E. Bhagwagar