Wishful thinking
Some of the 2013 demographic figures for Bombay compiled for the Parsiana Milestones column make disturbing reading. The number of deaths has declined from around 760 in 2012 to 756 or so in 2013. In 1990 the figure for deaths was 976 (964 consigned to the Towers of Silence and 12 cremated. The cremated figures are only for the Chandanwadi crematorium.)
The total number of marriages for 2013 is 254 of which 156 were Parsi to Parsi and 98 interfaith. More men (57) married out than women (41). The Parsi to interfaith marriage percentage works out to 39%, the same as 2012.
The total number of marriages in 2012 was 222 of which 129 were within the faith and 93 outside. (Many Parsis avoid tying the knot in a leap year.) In 2011 the total marriage count was 288. In 1990, there were 350 marriages with an interfaith count of 22%. In 1988, when Parsiana first began collecting the data, the figure was 14%.
The birth figures for 2013 are still awaited from the Bombay Municipal Corporation.
The declining death rate means that around two bodies per day are consigned to the Towers of Silence. Of the 756 or so deaths, 711 opted for dakhmenashini. Those opting for cremation are around 45 [Parsiana does not have an accurate total figure as we collect data only from the Chandanwadi electric crematorium (38)]. The percentage of people opting for cremation was around 6% in 2013 as compared to around 4% in 2012. In 1990 the percentage was a little over one.
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) financial accounts for 2012 published in the erstwhile The BPP Review showed a deficit of around Rs 2.5 crores for Doongerwadi. The cost includes the bill for litigating on the so called "renegade" priests case. Whether the 2013 accounts will ever be made public is unknown. In the internecine quarrel between the trustees the contract to publish the monthly was scrapped. (The issues published in 2013 did not feature the accounts.) The majority of trustees viewed the publication as a propaganda tool for the chairman Dinshaw Mehta. Alternatively, they could have adopted a different editorial stance but apparently chose not to.
Even if we assume the Doongerwadi deficit remains at Rs 2.5 crores for 2013 the subsidy per body would work out to Rs 33,000 a corpse. What the family spends for prayers, etc is, of course, extra. In contrast, the cost for cremating a body is Rs 250. Here the government bears the subsidy. While one may argue that costs should not be a consideration in preserving religious traditions, the fact remains that as the number of deaths continues to decline, the per body cost will mount. But why not mitigate the expenses by permitting those who opt for alternative means of disposal to avail of the bunglis (prayer halls)?
With seven or more bunglis being available for use (of which one/two have been lying locked and unused for the past five years or more on account of some pending plumbing/sewer repairs), there is obviously a surfeit of halls. Allowing that many families opt to have the four days’ ceremonies performed at neighboring fire temples, the bunglis are grossly underutilized.
Still the BPP trustees are adamant on not permitting funeral prayers to be performed for those Parsi Zoroastrians opting for cremation. Not only that but they are bent on hounding those priests who courageously perform such ceremonies.
The BPP’s obstinacy has resulted in some Parsis setting up a prayer hall at a cost of Rs 1.5 to two crores at a Bombay Municipal Corporation crematorium plot in Worli. This constitutes a colossal waste of scarce community resources when bunglis are lying unused at Doongerwadi and the deficit is ballooning.
Opting for alternate means of disposal, marrying outside the faith, restricting the number of children, remaining single are all realities the community has to accept. They cannot be wished away. At public functions speakers exhort Parsis to marry young, marry within the fold and have three to four children. They appear divorced from ground realities, like Alice in Wonderland.
People are not going to obey the dictats or the advice of the anjuman and punchayet trustees. They will marry if and when they want to, whom they want to and have as many children as they deem fit. The subsidies extended for fertility treatment are a welcome step but will not make a dent in the downward demographic graph. The current trends will continue regardless of what leaders say. Instead of expending time and energy on wishful thinking, the decision makers must take steps to cope with a diminishing population and a diversifying community.
Whether one accepts the non-Parsi spouses and their children is also not going to make any meaningful difference to the community’s falling numbers. But it could improve the quality of life for all concerned. A change in attitude will demonstrate the ability to adapt, an essential quality for survival.
In North America, the United Kingdom, Iran, Pakistan and elsewhere, changes have been made and continue to be made. In India also adjustments are being made willy-nilly, usually bereft of institutional support. Instead of reiterating their point of view, the leaders’ approach should be to ascertain the requirements of the community and then adapt to its needs.