Nirangdin in Navsari

There was a time when there were very many yozdathregar mobeds (those who have qualified as navar and maratab) in Navsari, each one eager to perform the nirangdin ceremony. They would offer one rupee out of the Rs 18 they would receive for their services to other priests to step aside and permit them to perform the ceremony, Dastur (Dr) Firoze Kotwal recounted after the higher liturgical ceremony performed at the 874-year-old Vadi Daremeher in Navsari concluded at midnight on November 20, 2015.
Conducted by yozdathregar mobeds Ervads Aspandiar Dadachanji and Darayus Bajan of Bombay under the guidance of Dasturs Kaikhushroo Navroji Dastoor Meherjirana and Kotwal, the ceremony, in memory of the late Edulji Rustomji Adajania, was commissioned by his wife Naju and son Kaizad. A jashan in the hall of the Navsari Atash Behram on November 21 followed the 18-day ceremony, after which its import was explained to the audience. Incidentally, the family that requested the ritual, and the priests who performed it, all hail from Navsari, informs community historian Marzban Giara in an email sent to Parsiana.
It is claimed that the urine of the varasya (sacred white bull) is consecrated into nirang by the power of prayers which renders it free from bacteria. Used for nahan, navar, navjote, wedding and death, the nirang is an important component of our religious rituals. Special apparatus is used during the ceremony and a fire is kept burning in an afarganyu throughout. Two priests perform the nirangdin and the cost of the ceremony is around three lakh rupees today, Giara writes. He mentions that some years ago World Zoroastrian Organisation India had felicitated yozdathregar mobeds at a function at Allbless Baug. Ervad Jehangirji Turel, who has performed as many as 168 nirangdins, was publicly felicitated at the Wadiaji Atash Behram when he completed 150 ceremonies, he writes. For Dadachanji, now 78 years old, it was his 68th nirangdin, while for Bajan, 40, it was the 11th.