“Marriage vows”

The letter titled "Marriage vows” by Ervad (Dr) Rooyintan P. Peer (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, January 21, 2016) brought to light a tradition that I am sure few of us knew about: that the vows exchanged during a Parsi marriage include words "…to take this bride in marriage for the bridegroom on promise of paying her (a monetary consideration, jewelry, etc).”

While giving of mahr (bride price) is a practice among Muslims, one did not know that the latter probably adopted the custom from the Zoroastrians. Nevertheless, in today’s day and age when we consider these words, the hallowed ceremony of joining two hearts and souls in matrimony seems to be reduced to a cheap commercial transaction.
The fact that erudite senior priests of the recent past like Dastur Khurshed Dabu and Ervad Peshotan Peer could alter the words to make them more contemporary encourages me to wonder why today’s priests have not deleted the words altogether and/or replaced them with others that have spiritual or ethical connotations rather than commercial ones.
Another custom that has always perplexed me is the recitation of ashirvad in Sanskrit. Undeniably, Sanskrit is to be respected as a rich sister language of Avesta and the parent of most modern Indian languages, but why should a Parsi wedding ceremony be in Sanskrit at all?
KHURSHED PASTAKIA
kpastakia@deloitte.com