"The Time Bomb"

It is necessary that an invaluable issue of Parsiana (May 1974) be revisited to illustrate how dangerous dogmatism of a diehard nature can be to Zoroastrians and their future. The article, "The Time Bomb," referred to a controversy surrounding the write-up and photos of dakhmas that had appeared in Time magazine. Then chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayat, Nadirshah Mulla wrote to Time that the reformists in number were a microscopic minority.

The photographer Jehangir Gazdar was blessed with great foresight, and Parsiana did him proud by quoting him: "To my mind, too much heated argument is going on unnecessarily. When more information is available to the community, the mode of disposing of the dead may change or may remain, but then it will be an informed opinion." That was a bold statement which after almost 43 years is proving to be true. Gazdar further added: "I think Nadir Mulla is right when he says that a ‘microscopic minority’ of the community have made observations against this method (of dakhmenashini) but this ‘microscopic minority’ will soon become a majority once the blindfold is removed."

Over the years many intelligent people have felt repulsed by this ineffective, dysfunctional practice and several have written to express their disillusionment with a dying custom with an imaginary religious relevance that stands exposed now that the blinkers or "blindfold" is removed. As the article in Time had stated, "The origins of this bizarre practice are ancient."

The same issue of Parsiana vents the ire of 25-year-old Barbara Darayus Irani (pictured) ("The Doongerwadi ban"), who was not permitted to pay her last respects to her father-in-law, Major (Dr) Aderbad Irani, a renowned eye surgeon. She stated, "No one has been able to give me a satisfactory answer why non-Parsis are not allowed in the agiaries and at certain ceremonies. Parsis say that fire is sacred and anybody who is not born a Zoroastrian is going to defile the fire or have a bad influence on it. If that is the reason then I feel that it is a very holier-than-thou attitude."

She further declared, "The sudreh and kusti mean nothing to many people who wear them. Tying the knot is just a ritual that they perform every morning. You can’t blame them. The services and prayers are in an ancient Persian language… Merely saying prayers isn’t going to set you right with God… rituals don’t have so much meaning. It’s the basic principles that count." Parsis should comprehend how deep Barbara was hurt. In Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Rustom tells Zal, the old king: "The wound of the word / Is worse than the wound of the arrow."

RASHID KHOSRAVI