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Winter07.Pdf FEZANA JOURNAL FEZANA ZEMESTAN 1376 AY 3745 ZRE VOL. 21, NO. 4 WINTER 2007 WINTER 2007 MahJOURNALJO Dae-Bahman-Aspandarmad AY 1376 AY (F) G Mah Amardad-Shehrevar-Meher 1377 AY (Sh) G Mah Shehrevar-Meher-Avan 1377 AY (K) HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008! Also Inside: Meherjirana Libary at Navsari NextGenNow Conference Zarathushti Games PUBLICATION OF THE FEDERATION OF ZOROASTRIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA PUBLICATION OF THE FEDERATION OF ZOROASTRIAN ASSOCIATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA Vol 21 No 4 WINTER 2007 ZEMESTAN 1376 AY - 3745 ZRE President Rustom Kevala, Ph.D. www.fezana.org Editor in Chief: Dolly Dastoor 2 Editorial [email protected] Technical Assistan: Coomi Gazdar Dolly Dastoor Consultant Editor: Lylah M. Alphonse, Rustom Kevala [email protected] 4 Financial Report Graphic & Layout: Shahrokh Khanizadeh, www.khanizadeh.info 8 Critically Speaking Cover design: Feroza Fitch, [email protected] Columnists: Hoshang Shroff 10 Academic Scholarships [email protected] Homi Davier: [email protected] 13 The 5th Zarathushti Unity Cup Shazneen Rabadi Gandhi [email protected] Fereshteh Khatibi: [email protected] 16 NextGenNow Behram Panthaki: [email protected] Behram Pastakia [email protected] 18 Manuscripts Mahrukh Motafram [email protected] Nikan Khatibi [email protected] Copy editors: 42 Zoroastrianism& Christianity R Mehta, J Udvadia & V Canteenwalla Subscription Managers: 44 Women in Ancient Iran Kershaw Khumbatta [email protected] Arnavaz Sethna [email protected] 46 Story of the Women of Africa 48 Page from NAMC Spring 2008 Bringing Religion into Medicine 54 In The News Guest editor Nikan Khatibi Summer 2008 Living with Challenges 66 Interfaith /Interalia Guest editors The Critical Care Committee 76 Youthfully Speaking Photo on cover: 78 Farsi Section 81 Personal Profile 82 Milestones 86s Between the Covers s 92 WZCC Courtesy PARZOR Original SANAD Opinions expressed in the FEZANA Journal do not necessarily reflect the (charter) issued views of FEZANA or members of this publication's editorial board. by Mughal Emperor Akbar. to first Dastur Published at Regal Press, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Meherjirana FEZANA Journal Vo 21 No 3 ISBN 1068-2376 (USPS 021-495) published quarterly by FEZANA 5750 S. Jackson St Hinsdale Il 60521-5109. Periodical postage rate is paid at Oakbrook, IL 60523 and at additional mailing offices. Annual subscription $15 (US) ; $20 (Canada); $30 (surface) and $50 (air) for other countries; details on subscription Form. POSTMASTER: send changes to Fezana Journal, 8787 W. Airport Blvd. Houston, TX 77071 1 FEZANA JOURNAL – Winter 2007 A word from the Editor Dolly Dastoor In preparing this issue the need for the Ontario, are preservation of manuscripts became very evident.. In contributing in their here we do not deal with the contents of the different own way to preserving Zarathushtrian manuscripts, as that was well the written treasures documented in FJ Summer 2005 but today we rather and artifacts of the emphasize the why and how to preserve. Zarathushti religion. It is generally accepted that under the Attempts are also Achaemenian rulers, the 21 nasks were deposited and made at preservation preserved with great care in the royal treasuries of through digitalizing Persepolis and Samarkand, but these two archtype (see articles by copies were destroyed during the invasion of Alexander Joseph Peterson and in 330 BCE. The next five centuries brought in the Natalie Gandhi) period of darkness in the history of Zarathushtis, and Manuscripts not the scattered scriptures were preserved in the only enhance our understanding of the religion and memories of the priests, till they were ordered to be worship in the narrow sense, but they paint a picture of written down by Arsacid king Vologese and then by the the history, geography, social life, current affairs and Sasanian kings Ardeshir Papakan, with high priest international relationships of those times. The Tansar and Shapur I, with high priest Kirder. A final Dunhuang manuscripts collection unearthed from the revision of the Avesta was made during the reign of cliff caves near the city of Dunhuang, China in 1900 Sasanian King Shapur II (309-380 CE) under the and then sold to Aurel Stein in 1907 (see articles by direction of his chief minister and high priest Aturpat Daraius Bharucha and Lylah Alphonse) raises a lot of Marespand at which time a “canonical” text consisting questions about the spread of the Zarathushti religion. of a fixed number of books was established. The Arab It contained the Sogdian manuscript with a version of conquest of Iran in the seventh century caused civil the Ashem Vohu, dating ninth or tenth century, about disturbances, religious persecutions and the burning of 300 years older than the oldest extant copies of the many Zarathushti scriptures and books. A small group Vendidad from India. The oldest manuscripts in India of Zarathushtis who remained in Iran or escaped to date from the thirteenth century and the manuscripts in India were able to preserve a small body of texts Iran date from around the seventeenth century. (manuscripts)``. In India these manuscripts were So how did this happen? How did a Sogdian copied and recopied from time to time but somewhere manuscript get buried in a cave in China? Did some along the line neglect set in, and the manuscripts travelers carry manuscripts with them to pray and began to decay. perform rituals while on the “silk road”? or was there a Presently, our most important manuscripts and group of people in China practicing the Zarathushti books are at The Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, The religion? Are there other manuscripts buried in other Staatsbibliothek, Munich, The India Office Library, parts of the world which would give us a clue to the London, The British Museum, London, The Bodleian social practices of the religion, beyond the parameters Library, Oxford, The University Library, Copenhagen, of India and Iran? Will the Zarathushti history be retold The University Library, Cambridge, The University when more archeological digs surface and the world Library, Florence. The K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, pays more attention to the legacy of the Zarathushti Bombay, The First Dastur Meherji Rana Library, religion. Navsari. (see article by Ramiyar Karanjia). The books in the last two are not in very good condition and heroic efforts are made by World Zarathushti Cultural Happy 2008 to all, may there be peace around the Foundation and PARZOR to preserve their integrity. world in all nations and in all hearts. (see article by Homi Dhalla) Here in North America, the libraries organized by the Zoroastrian Association of Houston, the California Zoroastrian Centre, and the Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Chicago, the Zoroastrian Society of Read and Send a gift subscription to family and friends 2 FEZANA JOURNAL – Winter 2007 A Message from the President Each person has a personal view of religion that is Zarathushtis will donate their libraries to FEZANA in molded by family, friends and their wills. experiences. It is not surprising that one religion can have many different We must have qualified staff to interpretations and diverse catalog everything for easy retrieval, opinions. In addition, people and to ensure that all valuable have differing worldviews documents are secure and safely about what other religions and preserved. In today’s electronic age, cultures are all about. But in we can make digitized files for spite of these differences, we important works, stored on a server all seem to agree that we are and linked with all the major libraries, all seeking the same thing -- including the K.R. Cama Oriental trying to make sense and bring Institute in Mumbai, the Mehrjirana meaning to our existence. Library in Navsari, and other worldwide scholarly resources. Today, many more people in North America are aware You must be thinking: but we that the Zarathushti religion offers many excellent already have libraries here in concepts, and has many followers living among them. Chicago, and in New York, Houston, and California. We are organizing conferences, empowering our youth, Why don’t we link them together? Yes, that is a helping those who may be less fortunate than us or may possibility, if the associations can provide the staff, be impacted by calamities, and participating in interfaith computer resources, and the money to make it all activities; and we have a voice as a non-governmental happen at each location. Or we can pool our resources organization in the UN. But we are hampered by our by elevating one of these libraries to make it a FEZANA tendency to expect our volunteers to do all the hard Resource Center, with a full-time professional librarian work, often without proper guidance, resources, or in charge. infrastructure. The Infrastructure Working Group will look into all In the last 25 years, we have built some community our options; and make a recommendation within six infrastructures, starting with the foresighted help of months, in time for our Annual General Meeting in May Arbab Rustam Guiv. But dare-mehrs and meeting halls, 2008 in Los Angeles. Anyone interested in working scattered across USA and Canada, are not all we need. with this group, please contact any of the FEZANA We now have the mandate to open a FEZANA office executives. with a part-time administrator in Chicago. The office will Rustom Kevala, FEZANA President serve as a central contact point for all our work in North America. Now with the concurrence of the FEZANA executives, I am initiating the next step. I have asked the Infrastructure Working Group to explore the feasibility of establishing a central resource for Zarathushtrian literature, books, magazines, scholarly research material, etc. -- in essence, a North American library. This will provide us with a focal point for reliable information about our history, religion, scriptures; and our achievements, culture, hopes and aspirations.
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