Parsis don’t have the reverence for the dead that other Indians do and their irreverence is extreme, as shown by...
Current Affairs Articles
No dignity for some even in death
The death of an 86-year old woman living in a trust-run housing colony in Colaba recently made news in the Parsi...
Forgotten by Sanjay Dutt,Kersi Adajania faces year in jail for helping him
Some flowers strewn outside his room and a few dim candles were the only trappings of an otherwise muted birthday for an ailing Kersi Bapuji Adajania, who turned 83 by the Parsi calender on Tuesday....
British Consul General on Parsi Weddings, Global Businesses and the Influence on Mumbai
I was fortunate recently to attend my first ever Parsi wedding. Two of the 40 or so Parsi staff in the Deputy High Commission in Mumbai, Nazneen (our press officer) and Burzin ( a member of the UKBA...
Growing up Parsi and gay in Bombay
Ten years of a Parsi Purgatory. But that still did not prepare me for the American ‘Paradise’. In 1958, in the proverbial sexual encounters of Bombay’s fast trains, I came to know about sex. We...
BBC Report on Prince Philip’s visit to ZTFE 150 Years Celebration
Below is a BBC video segment on the recent visit of Prince Philip to the ZTFE's 150th year celebrations in London.
Falling Indian minority hopes romance can stop decline
India's ancient minority Parsi community are pinning their hopes on modern methods such as speed-dating, social networking and IVF to stop their numbers vanishing, finds the BBC. By Sanjoy Majumder...
Much noise over names at Towers of Silence
Bombay Parsi Panchayet declares that funerals of woman married outside community will not be allowed at towers. After refusing permission to an inter-caste married Parsi woman to let her body be...
Ervad Mody: Show the strong will to survive
About 100 Parsis were on Sunday reminded again of the need to show the will for survival. The message was communicated to them by one of the most learned members of the community, Ervad Navad Modi....
Zoroastrians Keep Old Traditions Alive in Australia
It's a Sunday morning. A fire is burning on a silver urn in the sanctum sanctorum as about 30 children pray with a priest in the main hall of the Darbe Meher, the place of worship and community...
Thinking Big
In the 10th century, a group of Zoroastrians arrived from Iran on the shores of Gujarat, India, and sought refuge in the kingdom of Jadi Rana in Sanjan. An oft-told tale then describes a meeting...
Oldest Parsi high priest is a lawyer, flautist
By Nauzer K Bharucha / TNN Perhaps for the first time in the more than 1,300-year history of the Parsis in India, the community's oldest high priest at age 83, was anointed at Navsari in Gujarat on...
The Exodus
She calls it the U-Trip. Setting out from Karachi, 15-year-old Rosheen Birdie plans on visiting every major hub of Zoroastrians in the world, just so she can find one to marry. It’s not so easy to...
Can Zoroastrians save their faith?
By Deena Guzder / The Washington Post Many of us recently finished celebrating Christmas, Eid, and Hanukkah; however, few of us have heard of the religion that deeply influenced those traditions of...
Parsi children return to their roots
A decade ago, karate champion Vispi Kapadia (52) lost his five-and-a-half-year-old daughter Fareena. Seven years ago, she appeared in his dreams and asked him to do "something for...
Parsis Seek Seat in Maharashtra Assembly
The Parsis have decided to ensure that, like other communities, they too have a representative in the Maharashtra assembly. Members of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and BJP legislator Mangal...
Free flats for Parsis on the anvil
By Nauzer Bharucha, / TNN In a city where a decent two-BHK apartment within 30 km of the business district is the exclusive domain of crorepatis, the Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP) will sell almost 75...
The Role of the High Priests of Parsis in India
This article is written by Kersee Kabraji of Pune, India and published with his permission. At the outset, I like to make it clear that I am neither a priest nor a scholar of our religion. With some...
Religious Adultery and Parsis
Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram, a good old friend, editor of Frashogard.com and the Panthaki at the Jogeshwari Daremehr has written a hard hitting post on religious adultery. Marzban writes My...
Parsis refuse to do the poll dance
See corporator's attempt to include representatives of the community in the upcoming Assembly elections as a gimmick A proposal from a Malabar Hill corporator to include representatives from the...
Nargol to host a Parsi Festival
Nargol is set to become the first village in the country to host a Parsi festival. This will be similar to government sponsored annual fests like Tarnetar fair, Kutch festival and kite festival. The...
Parsi Priests Challenge BPP Decision after Ban
Zoroastrian priest banned by the apex community trust challenges its decision; says he will not stop conducting rituals for mixed-marriage Parsis A Zoroastrian priest – who was banned from praying...
Own ‘Facebook’ to spur Parsis to marry their own
Worried about outside-the-community marriages, the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) has come upon a proactive solution. It plans to launch its own youth club and a social networking website to promote...
Sea devouring Gujarat’s coastal villages
The rising waters of the Arabian Sea swallowed Girish Tandel's ancestral home in Danti village of Valsad district some 15 years back. He is left only with memories of that home and a videograph of...
Son asked to pay maintenance slams father
"For two minutes, imagine yourself in my place as a young boy seeing his mother being hammered savagely and vomiting blood. Her screams still ring in my ears. Even animals are better than this man....
Burial grounds at city centres may become envy of land sharks
Located conveniently between Kolkata’s biggest cemetery and largest morgue, a bone-collecting firm is doing brisk business illegally, an online tabloid reported. And there are many others as well...
Nestling Vultures: BPP and BNHS join hands
The Bombay Parsi Panchayat in collaboration with the BNHS plan to build a breeding centre for vultures at the Borivali National Park Sonu Bohra hunts for the details. Sonu Bohra While the Parsi...
J D Bharda School Moves High Court Against Closure
A school meant primarily for Parsi community has moved the Bombay High Court after Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai issued it a closure notice. The vacation court has given J D Bharda English...
300th Anniversary of Banaji Limji Agiary Celebrations
More than 1,000 Parsis flocked to the city’s oldest fire temple to celebrate the Zoroastrian Feast of Fire, which fell on the agiary’s 300th anniversary. The Banaji Limji Agiary, in Banajit Street...
Decades later, split wide open
It is seen as a landmark case. After 40 years as man and wife, a Parsi couple is fighting a bitter divorce battle. Roshan Cooper, all of 74, has dragged her 80-year-old husband Dadi Eruchshaw to the...
BPP Elections: Looking Forward
This is an Op-Ed piece by Arzan Ghadially, a frequent contributor to Parsi Khabar. Finally The Bombay Parsee Panchayat elections are over and time for the Trustees to get back to some more fights in...
No more Farzins
Concerned community comes together for last prayers for shunned half-Parsi child who died of starvation By Manoj R Nair in the Mumbai Mirror Neglected in life, Farzin Batlivala - the seven-year-old...
Ratan Tata Addresses Cathedral and John Connon School Alumni
The tug of the old school tie drew the chairman of the Tata Group to the Times of India building on Monday for an interactive session with the students of his alma mater, The Cathedral & John...
Bejan Daruwalla makes some Obama predictions
A widely respected Indian astrologer living in Mumbai predicts that Barack Obama will be better for peace and prosperity in the world than American Presidents of the past four decades. He will...
The Parsis of Delhi
The below is an article titled "Being Parsi" that appeared in the Indian Express. We would also like to give a shout-out to our friends at DelhiParsis.com. They have a very informative and wonderful...
Of Dhansak and Nan Khatai
During the sixties, the city had over 3,000 Parsees. Today, there are just 650, and the community is counting every birth and death. Thus, when the Parsee Club on the Maidan recently completed its...
Calcutta Parsees: Christmas Show as Part of Centenary Celebrations
The Calcutta Parsee Club, founded in 1908, will have the last of its centenary celebrations during the Christmas week. The 100-year-old club will organise a big show on December 25 night, followed...
Young Parsis moving to Silicon Plateau: Bangalore
Dasturji Jamshedji Unvulla, who took over priestly duties at the city's only Parsi temple, the Zoarastrian Anjuman, after his brother passed away last month, reveals an interesting aspect about the...
Zoroastrian faith flourishing in Illinois
Despite declining numbers of Zoroastrians worldwide, immigrants from India and Iran help the religion grow in Chicago area The ancient faith of Zoroastrianism is in decline worldwide, its numbers...
The Roots of a Name: What is Barack?
This is an article I read on a email newsgroup. The original author is Parviz Varjavand Tonight was a very special night as Barack Obama became the president of the United States of America. May the...
44 Parsis allotted houses at new board’s first meet
The newly-elected Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trust allotted houses to 44 Parsis at its first board meeting held on Tuesday. The new trustees were of the view that 44 of the 90 cases that were...
Parsi Panchayat to make elderly a priority
Senior citizens belonging to the Parsi community have a reason to smile. The newly-elected Parsi Panchayat members have promised to put issues related to the elderly in their community to the top of...
Let first Nano drive out of Navsari
NAVSARI: The joy of Nano driving into Gujarat is even more pronounced in small town Navsari, birthplace of Jamsetji Tata. Elated Parsis here feel this shifting of gears from Singur, is a perfect...
BPP elections: Charges fly thick and fast
As reported in the TOI The tension underlining the Bombay Parsi Punchayat elections finally blew up on Tuesday when a meeting called by the BPP dissolved into pandemoniumthe gathered candidates and...
Parsi Meter: Down Down Down
We came across this article via the Delhi Parsis website. Image courtesy DP. The text is from the author's blog. by Mayank Austen Soofi for the Hindustan Times. The city's Parsi population is...
Doomed by faith
India's Parsi community is shrinking fast. For every birth, there are five deaths, prompting fierce debate between reformists and traditionalists who are concerned about ethnic purity. By...
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw in Coma
The Indian Army's first and only surviving Field Marshal, Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw is fighting for his life at the Army Hospital (Research & Referral) in Wellington in Tamil...
Dwindling Numbers: A Legal View
A very interesting article from the Indian Law Blog "Law and Other Things" Dwindling number of Parsis The National Minorities Commission 's Report on the dwindling number of Parsis in India...
Fertility clinic gives hope, aid to dwindling Parsi community
Mumbai: After the Hakims married, they looked forward to a quiet life, interrupted often by the laughter of children. Five years later, none had arrived. Troubled by the void, they began visiting...
Voting rights? But whom do we choose?
Ask Parsi youth, who want to know whether issues like housing will be resolved MUMBAI: Last week, the High Court passed a judgment, one that would in many ways shake the age-old hierarchy of the...
A Passion for Persia, Disneyland and Dolphins
KISH, Iran — The indoor dolphin show was in full swing as Hossein Sabet walked in to a burst of applause from the 1,200 people in attendance. Clad in tight beige equestrian pants and tall black...
All Parsis Can Now Vote in Parsi Panchayat Elections
Every Parsi, over the age of 18 years, will now have a vote in deciding the future of the Parsi community. In a significant judgment, Bombay High Court on Wednesday entrusted the process of electing...