Another milestone

The news of the foundation laying ceremony of a fire temple in New Bombay fills one with mixed emotions. One is elated that a handful of Parsis living at a distance from the 50 or so fire temples that dot Bombay city, have managed after many years of efforts and setbacks, to achieve a major milestone. The acquisition of the plot from the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited and the proposed construction, is reminiscent of the pioneering spirit of the Zoroastrians not only in India but also overseas. At a time when the community is facing a threat of survival, these hardy souls have defied fate.
The last four agiaries to be constructed in and around Bombay within a span of five months were the Ustad Saheb Behramshah Navroji Shroff Dar-e-Meher at Behram Baug in Jogeshwari in March 2000, Seth Ardeshir Bhicajee Patel Dadgah at the Salsette Parsi Association Housing Complex in Andheri in January 2000, the Shapoorji Fakirji Jokhi Agiary at Godrej Baug in December 1999 and the Manijeh Pirojsha Sachinwalla Dar-e-Meher at Vasai in November 1999.
In North America, the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY) is in the process of rebuilding a new Darbe Mehr in Pomona designed by noted architect Dinyar Wadia. In Toronto an attempt at rebuilding their center met with failure as enough funds could not be raised to meet the escalating costs. Many of the initial centers were built through the munificence of Iranian Zoroastrians such as Arbab and Madam Rustom Guiv and Faridoon and Mehraban Zartoshty.
Why should one view the New Bombay accomplishment with a tinge of concern? Because there are so many fire temples in India bereft of devotees and/or priests. Most of Bombay’s fire temples were built to cater to a population of around 75,000. Today the figure is closer to 40,000. Enter a fire temple after sunset and you may be the only devotee present. In Bharuch four agiaries serve less than 250 Parsis (and this includes the floating population). Now at least one of the consecrated fires, that of the Pestonji Aslaji Doongaji Agiary (adarian), will be installed at New Bombay.
Muktad vases are fewer in most fire temples. But that loss of income may partly be compensated in Bombay by the increasing number of families opting to have funerary prayers subsequent to the paidust performed at neighborhood fire temples. Due to the geographic distribution of the Bombay community, the congestion and traffic pileups, around 70% of families opt for this alternative. As a result 80% of the 11 Doongerwadi bunglis lie unutilized (see "Bunglis’ utilization 18%,” Events and Personalities, pg 14). The majority of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees refuse to permit the Doongerwadi bunglis to be used for funerary prayers of those opting for alternative forms of disposal to dakhmenashini. Priests who perform such ceremonies are termed "renegade” and barred from praying at Doongerwadi and two fire temples controlled by the BPP.
The agiaries likewise do not permit any of the four-day prayers on their premises for those cremated. But surprisingly subsequent prayers are permitted. In the old days this practice may have been followed to avoid clashes with the priests who performed ceremonies at Doongerwadi. But today with the ceremonies being performed at agiaries the distinction is meaningless.
In Valsad the local anjuman has passed a resolution barring Parsi women married to non-Parsi from entering the fire temple or Doongerwadi. Even if the woman has had a civil marriage and continues to practice the Zoroastrian faith she cannot enter. All these restrictions and limitations also affect the agiaries/mobeds’ incomes. Almost 40% of Bombay Parsis’ marriages in 2013 were outside the faith. This comprises a sizeable loss of income for priests if they refuse to perform the ashirwad ceremony of such couples and subsequently the navjotes of their children. Over a month ago the H. B. Wadia Atash Behram was in the news when trustees informed the Bombay High Court they did not have sufficient funds to repair a residential building on their grounds. The judges advised the trustees to seek the assistance of Parsi philanthropists. This was surprising as most atash behrams are either flush with funds or are able to raise resources. A handful of agiaries also have healthy balance sheets, but for most it is a battle for survival.
In 1974 when the Bombay Parsi population was between 55,000 to 60,000 Parsiana asked 10 people including four BPP trustees, if there were too many fire temples in Bombay. Eight replied "yes.”
The Council of High Priests and the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India must discuss how one should go about addressing these pressing issues. They should decide whether it is permitted to shift a fire and under what circumstances. What is to be done with the agiary premises and property once the fire is moved? Can the property be sold? Leased? Developed? Converted into a school or college or library? If sold or leased to what purpose should the funds be allotted? New agiaries in the suburbs? Abroad? More housing? Medical assistance? Scholarships?
Of course, the trustees of a fire temple and the local devotees are the final judges but they should be given an acceptable framework to function within.
The community leadership can also decide whether the children of Parsi women married to non-Parsis should be permitted to enter the agiaries as is done in Delhi and Karachi. This will not change the declining demographic figures but may at least help hold the community and families together.
The Residential Refresher Programme for Ostas and Ervads and Residential Workshop for Behdin Pasbaans conducted by the Ex-Students’ Association of The M. F. Cama Athornan Institute over the past years shows many more behdins than athornans availing of the scheme. Could lay priests be the answer to the dwindling mobed problem? Should women be allowed to become mobedyars as in the West and Iran?
Should not agiaries become more user-friendly? Why do they have to be such dreary, dismal centers? No wonder the young shy away from mobedi. The
sanctum sanctorum should remain a refuge for those seeking solace in prayer but the rest of the premises can be better lit and decorated. Some of the atash behram and agiary halls are magnificent, furnished with antiques and period furniture. But these spaces are unutilized except as passageways for devotees proceeding to the kebla. Why cannot fire temples also be community centers, places where people can gather to socialize, play games, hold cooking demonstrations, host fund-raising events, play musical instruments, recite tales from the Shahnameh, perform plays, read, celebrate birthday parties? Why cannot children bring their books/computers to study there when homes are so cramped for space? Years ago two Parsi men sitting on the beach at Udvada bemoaned the lack of a center to congregate in the evening. Should not the community critically and objectively re-examine the role and purpose of the fire temples?
The real test for the New Bombay agiary will come after it is constructed. Will the planned facilities be adequately utilized? The answer may well indicate if Zoroastrianism can be made a relevant and living religion or whether the faith along with its houses of worship is doomed.