Preserving for posterity

Dastur (Dr) Firoze M. Kotwal has teamed up with the Parzor Foundation to record, collate and publish his works so that his phenomenal store of learning can be preserved for posterity. With his considerable knowledge of the sacred Zoroastrian texts and the Avestan, Pahlavi, Gujarati and Old Gujarati languages, and having studied Sanskrit and Persian, the orthodox scholar priest is well positioned to place Zoroastrianism within the context of the world history of religions, notes a press release from Parzor, forwarded to Parsiana by its director Dr Shernaz Cama.
Kotwal has worked as a researcher with the late Dr Mary Boyce, Prof Emeritus, School of Oriental and African Studies in London and with scholars across Europe and America. He was teacher and later principal of the M. F. Cama Athornan Institute in Bombay. For the past half century he has been conducting courses, giving lectures and guiding scholars, researchers and priests. His traditionalist views are utilized by WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) to attack the liberals and liberal causes. He once termed spouses in interfaith marriages "adulterers” and the children of such unions "illegitimate” and refuses to perform or even attend jashans if non-Parsis are present.

Dastur (Dr) Firoze Kotwal: creating an archive

Kotwal’s knowledge of rituals, priestly traditions and history exists largely in the form of hand written notes or reposes in his memory. Without a published archive his life’s work will be lost forever. The project will result in the publication of a series of books, the rights of which, along with those of all his unpublished works and notes, has been given to Parzor, the press release reveals. Dr Dan Sheffield from the Iranian and Persian Studies Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University has been chosen as editor of these publications as Kotwal and he have worked together for several years at Navsari’s Meherjirana Library and at international conferences. Sheffield, who is fluent in 15 languages, is a leading young scholar of Zoroastrianism today.
Others who will be on the team are Cama who was guided by Boyce for her own doctoral thesis and has worked closely with Kotwal recording oral traditions and rituals, Dr Meher Kelawala Mistry, a young researcher with extensive knowledge of Parsi history who has worked with Parzor earlier in Surat recording the late Dr Ratan Marshall’s life and Feroza Punthakey Mistree, Kotwal’s close associate. Together they plan to bring out a lexicon of Avestan, Pahlavi, Persian, Pazend and Old Gujarati; The Rivayet of Kotwal; his published works and unpublished public lectures as a collation; teaching and research notes from 1960 onward; a biography with his correspondence on religious matters, including historical studies on Zoroastrians.
In the 1990s Kotwal had written a series of articles titled "Religious Nook” in the Jam-e-Jamshed. As the Jamé’s archives are incomplete, readers who have saved any of these articles may contact Cama at shernazcama@ hotmail.com or on her mobile at +919810007717. Kotwal’s students who have any anecdotes, copies of his public lectures or knowledge about his family are requested to share these with Parzor.
The twin aims of the project are to "ensure due honor and recognition” for Kotwal and to raise funds to cover the costs of photography, digitization, researchers’ fees, travel and the publications which will include CDs on ritual practices and chanting. Being a nonprofit organization, Parzor will need to recover administrative and other expenses. Any profits made by Parzor are plowed back to sustain future works. Royalties from the sale of publications from this project will be shared with Kotwal.
Donations (exempt from income tax under Section 80G and 12A of the Indian Income Tax Act) for this venture may be sent in the name of "Parzor Foundation” to Dr Shernaz Cama, Parzor Foundation, F-17, Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi 110016; tel: 011-26513560/41626248 (O). As Parzor has FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) clearance it is entitled to receive donations from abroad and cheques in any currency can be mailed to the same address. Direct transfers can also be made (please contact them for the modalities). A separate account has been created for the Dastur Kotwal series and donations/expenses for this cause will be separately maintained, the press release mentions.
Another Parzor initiative is the publication of textile designer Ashdeen Lilaowala’s book on kusti weaving, Threads of Continuity, currently a work-in-progress.