Drawing the devout
There appears to be a renaissance in the community’s marketing of religious and cultural events. After centuries of wilfully or unknowingly adopting a low profile, soft sell approach to religious institutions, this year saw a marked change. Probably for the first time an advertising campaign was launched to draw attention to the 250th anniversary of the Navsari Atash Behram and augment funding for the institution. The event was a rousing success with devotees flocking to the south Gujarat city, once the cradle of the community. Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, Jamsetji Tata and Dadabhai Naoroji were born here, among countless other greats. The celebrations once again placed Navsari in the community limelight. Videos and photographs shot by Parsiana and posted on our Facebook Page reached 1,33,300 visitors.
Community members who were unable to make the journey to Navsari thanked us for giving them the opportunity to view the event as it transpired, while a small number questioned whether such events should be put up for public display. We pointed out four high priests were present and raised no objection to our recording the event; and no consecrated fire was photographed or videotaped. On the whole both the advertising campaign and the Facebook posts were accepted by most as being in sync with the times.
This December end in Udvada around 2,500 Zoroastrians and others will be present for the Iranshah Udvada Utsav (IUU) with the numbers swelling to possibly double that on the last day when many expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be present. His absence may deter some from undertaking the three to four-hour train or car journey from Bombay to the south Gujarat coastal village/town but many will attend to seek the blessings of the oldest existing consecrated fire in India. The IUU was publicized through the media with the Parsi Times weekly being a media partner and Wizcraft, the leading event management company in the country, lending their expertise. Poona based billionaire and philanthropist Dr Cyrus Poonawalla has generously sponsored the event (the organizers have requested the amount not be made public) plus the delegate fees must have garnered around Rs 20,00,000 (US $ 29,921). The lavish entertainment though may or may not reflect the Zoroastrian or Parsi culture or ethos.
How the town with its narrow lanes and building clusters will manage such an influx is to be seen. Udvada has around 70 rooms in hotels and dharamshalas. The neighboring Union Territory of Daman with the popular Devka resorts have thus benefitted from the gathering. December weekends are anyway popular draws for people from the surrounding areas, more so because liquor flows legally there, unlike in Gujarat where alcoholic beverages are prohibited (though freely available).
Nearly every major religion, and several minor ones, have occasions to draw the faithful. Christmas is perhaps the best known and has become a multi-billion dollar event. The late millionaire and philanthropist Nari Pavri of Hong Kong, who made his fortune supplying Christmas knickknacks to the USA, used to say that shops there sold more at Christmas time than the entire year put together. Aside from the practice of exchanging gifts, Christmas trees, songs and movies, food also generates enormous business. Religion and business mix well together.
Among Muslims, the Haj pilgrimage is a top priority, with every devotee, young or old, rich or poor, sick or healthy endeavoring to make at least one visit to the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca in his/her lifetime. This itself generates billions of dollars for airlines and all those who sell items required for the journey. For most Hindus, Diwali is the biggest draw. Newspapers are full of advertisements for the occasion which is now being observed by the diaspora and even governments abroad. The firecracker industry survives on this festival.
The Meher Baba complex at Ahmednagar has a shop selling artefacts related to the 20th century charismatic Irani. Every few months arrangements are made for a few busloads of people, mostly Parsis from Bombay, to visit the ashram and especially the samadhi.
In contrast to all the efforts made by others to rally their flock, the Parsis do little. That may be largely because we are not a proselytizing religion. But by opting for an exclusive, low profile approach, Parsis may have failed to market the religion to their own. Aside from the occasional gahanbars, anniversaries of fire temples, the Navroz celebrations, the annual Sanjan and ZoChild days, there is little other organized activity. In North America congresses are held every two years which can be attended by all. In India even holding an executive council or annual general meeting of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India is problematic.
What therefore brought about the sea change in the community’s outlook? One plausible explanation could be adult franchise in Bombay. In 2008 advertisements in the Parsi Press lured the electorate to finally have a say in community matters, with the added incentive of free food and entertainment. For the first time the leadership was reaching out to the community which in turn showed up to vote. While the first batch of Bombay Parsi Punchayet trustees proved disastrous because of their inability to get along with each other, the recently elected pentad holds the promise of doing better. Three trustees informally told Parsiana that the new board is working well and clearing up the earlier mess.
There is also nationally and globally a greater emphasis on religion. The present Bharatiya Janata Party government is pushing the Hindutva agenda. The Islamists in the Middle East and elsewhere are pursuing armed confrontation, donning the cloak of religion to justify their atrocities.
In such an environment where religion is in the limelight, it is logical that Parsis too should want to promote their religion. We are no longer the alpha religion/community. We are viewed as eccentric, quaint, racist, gregarious, quarrelsome individuals who once contributed to the country’s development. People are tolerant of our quirks because we pose no threat. By once again making efforts to revive our religion and, hopefully, the principles of gender equality, charity, brotherhood, our and the public perception of Parsis as have-beens or museum relics may change.
Errata
In our Editorial Viewpoint ("Still the ‘status quo,’" Parsiana, November 21, 2015) we stated the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees invited the local Bharatiya Janata Party office bearers to the BPP boardroom. BPP trustees Kersi Randeria and Zarir Bhathena inform us the politicians were not invited but asked to meet with the trustees. A call from a Parsi gent earlier that afternoon said they wanted to come and BPP chairman Yazdi Desai and Bhathena happened to be in the office at the time to meet the auditor. Randeria was informed of the visit and came while BPP trustees Armaity Tirandaz and Noshir Dadrawala had come earlier for signing some papers, according to the duo.
Parsiana regrets the error.