“Others don’t need to learn”
When Parsiana put up on Facebook short videos of the jashan at the Navsari Atash Behram’s 250th year celebrations in October 2015, many viewers welcomed the post but a few questioned the propriety of our doing so. Burges Wania commented, "I don’t seem to understand that is it necessary to post this video on Facebook." To which our reply was, "So those who could not be present could view a short portion of the ceremony." Wania and others then complained that non-Parsis were viewing the videos. We replied, "Let others learn about the religion and its customs" to which Khushnuma Wania responded, "Others don’t need to learn about our religion and its customs."
When on December 4, 2016 we uploaded videos of the jashan at the Dadysett Atash Behram on the occasion of the inauguration of the shrine to Behram Yazad, Wania and others once again objected. Reader Nazneen Karbhari inquired, "Why film things we don’t or are not supposed to share..?" Porus Havewalla claimed that by sharing the video, "it is the same as if outsiders have been invited inside the consecrated Atash Behram." Hemin Bharucha added, "The only way to stop this rag magazine (Parsiana) is to stop subscribing," while Behram Dhabhar commented, "none of us subscribes to it anyway." The only ones who do, he alleged, are those whose children have married out of the faith and "would like to find out about loopholes for being accepted."
The detractors mercifully are in a minority, with many others being appreciative of the videos and Parsiana. Phiroz Dubash commented he saw copies of Parsiana in fire temples and therefore did it follow that "families of priests are married to persons of other communities?"
Firebrand social media writer and critic of orthodoxy Farzana Cooper noted that one traditionalist priest criticized the hosting of the Iranshah Udvada Utsav last December as "it allows non-Parsis to visit Udvada where they may do immoral things like sex! My grandfather who lived in Udvada and was a boiwalla priest at Iranshah had a large family with eight children...all conceived and born in Udvada! How immoral!"
The traditionalists have also targeted the heritage walks at Doongerwadi conducted by Ervad (Dr) Ramiyar Karanjia under the auspices of the Mumbai Research Centre of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai (see "Walk the talk," pg 27). Not only did they file a police complaint alleging their religious sentiments were offended, they also turned up at Doongerwadi on Sunday December 11, 2016 and confronted Karanjia at the pavilion where non-Parsis are permitted to sit. The scholar priest handled them with an amiable but firm hand. The Parsi Times weekly of December 10 carried a front page message from Dastur (Dr) Firoze Kotwal supporting the tour and requesting community members to "Please allow (Karanjia) to enlighten non-Parsis on the subject," a call that was echoed by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet chairman Yazdi Desai who observed that "over the years there has not been a single complaint from anyone regarding these walks." As the news was carried on zoroastrians.net this year "a few Parsis...mistook this as an affront to their religious sentiments," added Desai. Parsiana Facebook visitor Dinyar Navroz believes the walks "will help non-Parsis to understand what is dakhmenashini," while Behroze Sidhva questioned if priests like Kotwal and Karanjia "will now be called renegades/deformists on account of supporting conducted tours of Doongerwadi?"
A few months earlier a group of Parsi vigilantes confronted a seller of footwear as some slippers carried the emblem of the asho farohar. A police complaint was filed alleging their religious sentiments were hurt. The winged man-bird’s origins are traced to Egypt and then Iran where it is popular with Iranians of all faiths. For the Parsis and Zoroastrians it has become a symbol of their faith. The farohar and the afarganyu are the two most commonly used motifs to denote Zoroastrianism. Under duress the sale of the footwear was halted. Many hailed the alertness and alacrity of the vigilantes.
But why have the traditionalists become more vocal and aggressive now? Maybe there is some apprehension regarding the creation of the Prayer Hall (PH) in Worli where the four-day funerary prayers are performed for those Parsis opting for cremation. While on the one hand the creation of the PH weakens any calls for a cremate ni bungli at Doongerwadi, the traditionalists view the institution as a threat to age old traditions. What happens if more Parsis opt for alternate means of disposal to dakhmenashini? How will the vast Doongerwadi estate be maintained? Already the bunglis lie unused as families opt to have the prayers subsequent to the funeral at fire temples closer to their place of residence.
But globally also one sees the conservatives gaining the upper hand. The election of the right wing pro Hindutva Bharatiya Janata Party to power in India two years ago, the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, the election of Donald Trump in the USA and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, the rise of conservative leaders in Europe, the new military assertiveness of China and so on. Underlining much of their support is an anti-immigrant sentiment, racial profiling and a strong sense of nationalism. Even the Indian Supreme Court has ruled people must stand up while the national anthem is played in the cinema halls (of all places) and should be denied ingress and exit while the song is being sung.
Today a politician can make politically incorrect statements, a government can restrict the amount of money one withdraws from one’s bank account, one can rape one’s spouse (it’s not illegal in India), jail homosexuals (homosexuality is a crime in India) and still be popular and elected to public office. In such an environment, the assertiveness of the traditionalist Parsis is not unusual.