A welcome change

"The managing committee of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) at their meeting on 14th December 2012, following extensive deliberations, elected a member born of a Zoroastrian mother and a non-Zoroastrian father and initiated by (a) navjote ceremony. The managing committee took into consideration, amongst other factors, current and prospective UK (United Kingdom) and EU (European Union) legislation on the subject of equality and non-discrimination affecting institutions such as ours."
The ZTFE is to be congratulated on this historic 10 to two vote in favour of the children of Parsi women. Whatever the reasons cited for this momentous decision, the opening up of the ZTFE membership is a most welcome and joyous development. We can only assume the second part of the reasoning — legislation on discrimination — was added to assuage the sentiments of the diehards in the UK community and elsewhere by creating an impression the reform was as much out of necessity as it was to uphold civil liberties. Many in the U.K. and elsewhere sadly still believe that male genealogy alone should determine the racial identity of children.
A few years ago the ZTFE had mooted setting up of a fire temple adjacent to their Zoroastrian Centre in Harrow, admission to which was to be determined on a combination of religion, race and gender. In an informal discussion with a committee member Parsiana pointed out this would amount to racial discrimination. The rationale provided was that it was not illegal in the U.K., unlike in the U.S.A. The proposal was finally laid to rest by the local council on account of insufficient parking space. Some ZTFE committee members hinted the local council’s decision had a racial bias! If so, tit for tat.
In the 1960s and 1970s the ZTFE was in the forefront of liberal thought. Non-Parsi spouses could attend the muktad ceremonies at the former Zoroastrian House. But in an ugly turn of events in the 1980s, non-Parsi spouses were asked to sit outside the prayer room or at least some distance away from where the muktad rites were being performed. The traditional element won control of ZTFE in the elections held at the time while the ousted liberal element consolidated their activities in the newly formed World Zoroastrian Organization. The explanation offered for the shift to orthodoxy was that Parsis from Africa and Pakistan who migrated in later years to the UK favored a faith based on race and gender.
Britain was a more class-conscious society than North America. Merit was not necessarily the only determining factor for advancement. North America was and continues to be a melting pot. Merit and ability, as much as culture, education and lineage determine one’s worth. Thus it is not surprising that the North American Zoroastrian associations are liberal, less class-conscious and more welcoming not only of children of Parsi women but also the non-Parsi spouse! Similar sentiments prevail in other parts of the world as well. Around 40 years ago an Anglo-Indian of Italian descent from Calcutta married to a Parsi woman served as an office bearer in a Zoroastrian association in Australia.
ZTFE now joins a host of enlightened Zoroastrian associations across the globe who are moving away from a racially based religion to one based on inclusiveness, equality and morality.
In Iran the fire temples are open to people of all faiths. Despite being a fundamentalist Islamic state with little regard for human rights, the Zoroastrians in Iran were the first to initiate women into the priesthood. In a democratic, secular India several high priests and other clergymen condemned the initiation without citing any scriptural sources to support their stand. One reason for their reluctance to do so may be that historic references refer to women priests in ancient Iran.
In Pakistan, an Islamic state which has functioned somewhat as a democracy over the past five years, the Karachi anjuman permitted the children of Parsi women admission to the fire temple and allowed the use of the anjuman bunglis to those opting for an alternate mode of disposal of the dead to dakhmenashini. The Delhi anjuman permits entry to children of Parsi mothers, and along with the Nilgiri anjuman, officially permits non-Parsis to attend the funerary rites of Parsis.
It is largely in Maharashtra and Gujarat that a fundamentalist Parsi state of mind exists. In the Chairman’s Message in the April 2013 issue of The BPP Review, Dinshaw Mehta brags about "our vigil at Meher Master Moos’s Sanjan College where we succeeded in preventing a Russian tourist from being ordained a mobed.” This act of vandalism that was condemned even by many moderate minded Parsis, was one of the lowest points in Mehta and the BPP’s annals, but he persists in tom-toming this act of bigotry. The BPP also seeks to oust interfaith couples from community housing, more so if the woman is Parsi.
The Valsad Anjuman bars admission to their fire temple to Parsi Zoroastrian women married under the Special Marriages Act who continue to profess the Zoroastrian faith. A former Valsad resident, Goolrookh Gupta, is challenging the ill-conceived ban in the Supreme Court. What could be a better barometer to judge a society’s progress than by observing the respect meted to its women and children.
According to the blog Bombaywalla.org, "Well into the late 1800s, strict caste and purity codes prevented the experience of inter-dining amongst the native populations of Bombay. Pan-supari, rosewater and nosegays were distributed at the end of public/semipublic gatherings, but no food. As the benefits of inter-dining were felt, cold drinks were first introduced for consumption gradually making way for solid foods.”
While the rest of India and the world moves towards greater inclusiveness, large swathes of the community continue to live in the Dark Ages.