“Faithfully laying…”

My first reaction on reading about the new adarian at New Bombay ("Faithfully laying the foundation,” Parsiana, July 7, 2014) was similar to that of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s. Is there a need for another new agiary when the old ones are neither maintained nor used due to our dwindling population, and with hardly any priests wanting to work full time? Having one more fire temple would only add to our future woes as we are an aging population who will, if not very soon at least in the near future due to physical immobility, not be able to even visit the adarian.
But then I was struck by a hopeful note when I read that "they accept into their fold the families of men and women who are married out of the community.” There was also a very significant statement by the managing trustee of the New Bombay Zoroastrian Association Charitable Trust Sharukh Doctor in answer to a query about admitting to the temple children of interfaith spouses, where he says the question "will be decided later by the trustees.” In fact it was admitted by none other than Dastur Khurshed Dastoor, high priest of Iranshah, Udvada, that there is "back door entry; how long will we deny” such persons entry in our fire temples.
In whatever little association and interaction that I have had with Dastoor, I have found him to be open minded and aware of the need for change. He was the first to openly side with and admire Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter was chief minister of Gujarat, unlike many other Parsis who are the self-pronounced human rights activists. But that’s another issue.
It is time we follow the Iranian system and open up our religion so that non-Zoroastrians are permitted to pay their respects and visit our fire temples. If this is allowed in the land of Zoroaster why should we shy away from doing so here? Why this sort of discrimination and non-acceptance of children from interfaith marriages? The days of "sugar in milk” are in the past. Times have changed, but Parsis in India are still stuck in a 1,500-year-old time warp.
The orthodox don’t allow the navjoted children of interfaith married couples to enter fire temples and this is why "back door entry” prevails. How can one stop anyone from entering our fire temples? Time and again this issue has cropped up and persons in authority have been unable to find a solution. Today it is easy to have navjotes performed of children of Parsi mothers and non-Parsi fathers — in the West, in Delhi and Jamshedpur, and on the sly in all other places. Is it not time to end this farce and move with the times? And isn’t standing on one’s ego and taking a hard line only diminishing the community’s coffers because of the colossal amounts spent on litigation? It’s also time to withdraw the case against the so-called "renegade” priests, because by harassing just these two it will not have an iota of effect as many others will still perform such navjotes and also pray for those who opt for other routes to cross the Chinwad Pul.
The spotlight on us is doing much harm by making the community a laughing stock in the eyes of other communities who have so far admired the honest, philanthropic, friendly Parsis. Let us be candid and admit the fact that all our agiaries and atash behrams — not sparing the Iranshah — have been "polluted” by the entry of half-Parsis at some time or other. So where is the so-called sanctity anymore? What people don’t see or hear does not hurt and this ostrich-like behavior has added to our being reduced to becoming a minuscule minority. Zoroastrianism is flourishing in the West, whereas in India we are a going-going-gone race! I rue the day this will happen. Our epitaph will read: "The sugar in the milk has curdled it.”
I feel we are a selfish, self-centered lot who refuse to see reason and who will rather be wiped out than accept the much needed change. RODA D. HAKIM
Baroda
vadhakim@yahoo.com