(Not) alone in Amroli

"A maachi was conducted at 7.30 a.m, just as the rays of the early morning sun reached the porch of the quaint makaan (structure) seated in the midst of towering constructions. At 10 a.m., a celebratory jashan was held. For about an hour, chants of the Avesta echoed in a room full of devotees,” noted newly appointed trustee of the Amroli Anjuman, Zarin Amrolia. The occasion was the 230-year-old Seth Kanjibhai Dorabji Mithaiwalla Daremeher (Adarian) in Surat’s Amroli area celebrating its salgirah on November 22, 2023. A congregation of 200 was in attendance, Ervad Kaizad Mandviwala, the lone priest who serves the fire temple, informed Parsiana. Mandviwala was accompanied by High Priest Dastur Cyrus Dastur of Surat, and Ervads Navroz Pandol, Mehernosh Minocherhomji and Kersi Mandviwala.

Clockwise from top l: Dastur Cyrus Dastur (3rd from l) with Ervad Kaizad Mandviwala (2nd from l)

with trustees, guests and audience; views of interiors and exterior of Seth Kanjibhai

Dorabji Mithaiwalla Daremeher Painting of the Daremeher by Zarin Amrolia

"Across the courtyard stands a well, auspicious and topped with roses and garlands, by those who have faith in its miraculous power to grant wishes. Beyond the well is a diminutive crumbling dwelling where the fire was first consecrated…In a world where entire landscapes are transformed within a blink of an eye, we have sanctuaries that link generations — our Zoroastrian fire temples, where we can walk in the steps of our ancestors.” Amrolia, a deputy general manager at Shapoorji Pallonji And Company Private Limited, is a self-taught painter and has executed watercolors of many fire temples, including the one at Amroli, and religious ceremonies (see "Culture colors,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, August 7-20, 2021).

The earlier fire temple in Amroli was endowed by one Hormusji Wadia in memory of his wife Meherbai in 1803, stated Mandviwala. The Wadia family built a new building for the fire temple in 1837, states Marzban Giara in his Global Directory of Zoroastrian Fire Temples. When that building too deteriorated, Kanjibhai Mithaiwalla endowed the current building to house the consecrated fire opposite the old structure and gifted it to the Amroli Anjuman.

Amroli, once a sleepy area now subsumed into the urban sprawl of Surat, is well connected to other areas of the diamond city. "Ghana Jarthoshti o naman karva aavé chhè (Many Zoroastrians come to worship),” Mandviwala stated, adding that the fire temple, at a distance of 30 minutes from the Surat station, receives one or two footfalls daily. The well opposite the fire temple receives offerings on important rozs, he stated. Mandviwala offers all five bois. When he is called upon to serve Surat’s Modi Atash Behram, colleagues from the mobed fraternity stand in.

Besides Amrolia, other trustees of the Funds and Properties of Amroli Daremeher, who also double up as trustees of the Funds and Properties of Amroli Anjuman are Faredoon Amrolia, Percy Amrolia, Behram Amrolia, Khojeste Mistree, Meher Panthaki and Anahita Desai (who listed the names for Parsiana). She wrote on her social media account that "it was a very happy and emotional occasion as today I have been newly appointed as a trustee in place of Yazdi (her husband and erstwhile Bombay Parsi Punchayet chairman)…. A photo frame of my Yazdi is kept in the Agiary.”