Parsi Zoroastrians

Parsi Zoroastrians John R. Hinnells Parsi Zoroastrians in Britain The Parsis formed the first Asian religious tradition in Britain in 1861, though the first Parsi known to have visited Britain came in 1724 to protest against injustices done to his family by the East India Company. He stayed for a year and won his case, returning to India a vindicated and wealthy man. The first Indian firm to be opened in Britain was started by Parsis in London and Liverpool in 1855; thereafter individuals came for education and trade. The numbers are unknown, but probably there were only around 150 at any one time until after the Second World War when several retired here from the Medical Corps, and more came in the 1960s for education and trade. They currently number approximately 5,000. They are centered mainly in London, especially in the Harrow area, but there are small groups in many other large cities. The fact that they are so few in number, and so little is known about them, means that they are a vulnerable group subject to media disparagement. For example, the Observer newspaper produced a supplement on new cults in Britain and under ‘Z’ included Zoroastrians, despite the fact, as we shall see, it is probably the oldest prophetic religion in the world. To the protests of Zoroastrians and interested academics the Observer’s staff simply replied ‘we wanted something under ‘Z’’, completely disregarding the distress this caused and parental concern that their children’s peers might mock them. Similarly when in 1994 Prince Charles said he wanted to be Defender of Faiths and listed among those he named the Zoroastrians, a columnist in the London Evening News of 27 July wrote scornfully of the Zoroastrians. Being unknown can make a group vulnerable. Since the mid 1990s Parsi Zoroastrians have become active in inter-faith activity, and this has given them recognition in the outside world, so that they are now one of the nine ‘official’ religions of Britain, being invited to public functions such as the Commonwealth annual service in Westminster Abbey and to meet members of the royal family. There have been some important figures, notably Dadabhoy Naoroji, the first Asian MP (Liberal) in 1892, then Sir Muncherji Bhownaggree (Tory) in 1895 and in the 1920s Shapurji Saklatvala stood first as a Labour, then as a Communist, MP. In 2006 Karan Bilimoria, the creator of Cobra beer, was elevated to the House of Lords. Other notables include Zubin Mehta, Freddie Mercury and Farrokh Engineer, wicket keeper for Lancashire and India. In 2006/7 it was announced that British Steel was being bought out by an Indian firm, the Parsi company Tatas. Their roots The prophet Zoroaster lived in approximately 1400 BCE in North-East Iran, making his religion probably the oldest of the prophetic religions. When Cyrus the Great built the famed Persian empire (and on the way liberating the Jews from exile in Babylon), he established the first of three great empires which dominated the Middle East until the 7th century and the rise of Islam. At the beginning of the Common Era (CE) it was probably the world’s biggest religion, influencing Judaism, Christianity and later Islam. But in the 7th to 8th centuries a number of Zoroastrians left their Iranian (or Persian) homeland to escape Islamic oppression and to seek a new land of religious freedom. They were known as the people from Pars (Persia) or Parsis. They settled on the North West coast of India, where they lived in the security of obscurity until the arrival of the European traders, and especially under the British they rose to positions of eminence, first in ship building and trade, then education and thence into India’s industrial revolution, social reform, commerce, the law and politics. Parsis were pioneers in the growth of the Indian National Congress as well as having MPs at Westminster. In the course of the 19th century they travelled overseas for trade, to China, Sind, East Africa and Britain. In the 1960s Parsis migrated to Britain for education and trade and subsequently to America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and currently there are a number in the Gulf States. So Zoroastrianism is now practiced in more countries than at any other time in its long history. But as the numbers are so small (approximately 120,000 world wide) that the jam is spread very thin. Some key Zoroastrian beliefs Zoroaster was convinced that he had seen God (Ahura Mazda – Wise Lord) in visions and that he was personally chosen by Mazda to teach humanity the truth (‘Asha’) about life and duty. His teaching is preserved in verse form rather like hymns, the ‘Gathas’. Later texts elaborated that core message. If good in the world makes you believe in a God, and they believe it does, then equally the evil in the world must make you believe in an independent opposite figure of evil, ‘Ahriman’ (the Lie). Ahura Mazda created all that is good; evil in its counter-creation produced all that causes suffering misery, disease, decay and death. As good is associated with order, so evil is associated with chaos and destruction. God created the Bounteous Immortals (‘Amesha Spentas’) of the Creative Spirit, Good Mind, Righteousness, Devotion, Desirable Dominion, Wholeness and Immortality (Spenta Mainyu, Vohu Manah, Asha, Armaiti, Khsathra, Haurvatat and Ameretat respectively). Apart from the Creative Spirit, all are qualities which the good person can and should embody. The history of the world is the arena of conflict between good and evil, but they believe that good will ultimately triumph, so at the renovation (Zoroastrians do not speak of the end of the world, for, as the world is God’s creation, its end would be the victory of evil) when the dead will be raised, the good and evil creations will pair off in the final battle, and evil will be overcome. A saviour will come and the final judgment take place; the earth will be leveled by molten metal and will be perfect, as heaven and earth unite in what is literally the best of both worlds. The final judgment is actually the second judgment, for everyone is judged at death as their good thoughts, words and deeds are weighed in the balances against their evil thoughts, words and deeds. If the good outweigh the evil then one proceeds across the bridge of judgment to heaven but if the evil outweigh the good then the soul falls from the bridge into deepest darkest hell where the punishments fit the crimes committed in life. But clearly the first judgment is in the spirit, for the body can be seen to remain on earth. The final judgment following the resurrection is in the body, for people should be judged in both spirit and body as Ahura Mazda created both. The final judgment is followed by another return to heaven and hell but then the whole being is reunited to dwell for eternity with God. We are judged only by our own thoughts, words and deeds. The fundamental principle of ethics is that every person’s duty is to fight evil, to overcome violence, to care for the world and everything that is good. In the mythology the ideal is held up that farmers and shepherds are icons of goodness for they care for and expand the good creation, as everyone should do by raising a family. Worship in both home and temple is before a living flame of fire, expressive of he who is himself pure undefiled light. In the ritual the priest tends the fire and when venerating the sacred fire each worshipper applies a pinch of the ash to his or her forehead as a token of being united with God. After initiation (usually just before puberty), all Zoroastrians wear the two sacred garments of the ‘sudre’, a sacred ‘vest’ made of cotton worn next to the skin at all times, and the ‘kusti’, a sacred cord of lambs wool, as the armour of the religion. The cord should be untied and retied five times per day to the accompaniment of short prayers. There are seven major festivals marking the cycle of the year, the ‘gahambars’, with the two most important being No Ruz, the New Year and the celebration of the prophet’s birth in August. Naturally there are different internal groups among Zoroastrians. One obvious one is the difference between Iranian Zoroastrians and Parsis from India, the former for example tend to reject the later priestly literature. Among Parsis there are groups which are more orthodox in their attitudes to rituals and liberals who have been influenced by western thought and practice. There are also some groups which follow different holy men. Some sensitive issues In the 19th century Christian missionaries attacked the Parsis as fire worshippers and as dualists worshipping two gods, Ohrmazd and Ahriman. The charges still rankle. Zoroastrians stress they no more worship fire than Christians worship wood when they look at a crucifix. Fire is the representative of God, as such it is holy, but the sole focus of worship is God who is beyond form. It is nonsense to say they worship two gods, for the abjure Ahriman and look forward to his ultimate destruction. The Amesha Spentas are no more evidence of polytheism than archangels and angels are in Christianity and Islam. Another feature of the religion which is sometimes mocked is the form of funerals, that is, exposure in Towers of Silence. Zoroastrians believe that as divine creations the earth and fire are holy, therefore burial or cremation of a dead body, the scene of the (temporary) triumph of evil, desecrates the sacred elements; hence they expose the dead to the vultures in Towers of Silence (‘dokhmas’).

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