Readers' Forum
“Riposte to ‘acceptance’”
In my letter "Riposte to ‘acceptance’” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, July 7, 2016) you have described the word potlatch as "community dining.” That may well have formed part of a potlatch program. This ancient anthropological term actually refers to a competitive ceremonial activity when tribes met and exchanged extravagant gifts among the chieftains to demonstrate their power and wealth. Among the Pacific Indian tribes to this day, the exchanges occasionally took on a destructive aspect when a chief outdid this power tussle by destroying his own property as visible proof!
Thank goodness, among the early Zoroastrians the entire exchange was generally benign. Zarathushtra himself refers to this custom as the "maga” where the generous patron outdoes the miserly one. Unfortunately the absurd legend persists of the "magav sahibs” (!) lurking about on Mount Damavand, visible only to the initiated, and awaiting the call to rescue the world from doom! That nonsense still holds among the fear struck and abjectly superstitious Parsis for whom there seems to be no help.
FARROKH VAJIFDAR
London
f.vajifdar@btinternet.com
Thank goodness, among the early Zoroastrians the entire exchange was generally benign. Zarathushtra himself refers to this custom as the "maga” where the generous patron outdoes the miserly one. Unfortunately the absurd legend persists of the "magav sahibs” (!) lurking about on Mount Damavand, visible only to the initiated, and awaiting the call to rescue the world from doom! That nonsense still holds among the fear struck and abjectly superstitious Parsis for whom there seems to be no help.
FARROKH VAJIFDAR
London
f.vajifdar@btinternet.com
◆ ◆ ◆
From the archive