Some of the most enduring ancient myths in the Persian world were centred around gardens of almost unimaginable beauty...
Heritage Articles
Seth Pestonji Meherji Dar-e-Meher: All you want to know about 178-year-old fire temple in Secunderabad
The Seth Viccaji Meherji and Seth Pestonji Meherji Dar-e-Meher is the oldest Parsi Fire Temple in Secunderabad. It was...
Weaving a Kasti: Threads of Continuity
Ashdeen Z Lilaowala walks us through the creation of the hallowed Zoroastrian kusti or sacred thread that is an integral part of spiritual tradition among members of the Parsi community [ TOI...
Weave of glory: Parsi Panorama Exhibition in New Delhi
At a time when the Parsi-Zoroastrian community records a drastic decrease in its population with every count, what's the point of basking in its glorious past, a few cynical minds can always ask,...
Vada Dasturji Invites Narendra Modi to Udvada
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday wished that all Parsis settled in various parts of world should come to Udwada once a year and celebrate the occasion. A Chief priest of Parsis...
Update on the Udvada Land Issue: Dinyar Patel
Below is an update on the Udvada Land Issue by Dinyar Patel. Dinyar is a doctoral student at Harvard University. He is currently in India doing research for his thesis Dear all, I know that there...
India’s Zoroastrians dying out for lack of Parsi clergy
In the cramped heart of the suburb called Andheri, the MF Cama Athornan Institute was strangely quiet. The institute, founded in 1923 to train Zoroastrian priests, is a large, M-shaped edifice with...
Udvada: The Land Controversey
It's a change of different sort, a not-so-nice one, where one of the world's most ancient religions finds its nook of worship threatened. Parsi-Irani Zoroastrians in India and around the world have...
Dorabji Damania and Life in the Indian Railways
Below is an article by A. B. Damania who talks about his uncle Dorabji Damania. Parsis were once a very large presence in the Indian Railway system, both pre and post Independence. MY FATHER’S OLDER...
Dishoom: An Irani Cafe in London
Bombay's old Irani cafes are dying a slow death, and the only people doing anything about it are in London Irani cafes -- of which Mumbai has less than 20 original examples left -- have recently...
Wadias: Built Oldest Surviving UK Warship
India has been shamed in front of the world, thanks to crumbling bridges and cracking ceilings at the Common Wealth village. But, about 200 years ago the same Indian hands built for the British...
Desperate measures for a fading Indian faith
What do musician Freddie Mercury, the Tata family who own Corus and Jaguar, and the conductor Zubin Mehta have in common? They all descended from migrants who fled Iran more than a 1,000...
The Story of the Taj Mahal Hotel
The Taj Mahal Hotel was founded, according to legend, after Jamsetji Tata was refused entrance into a European-owned hotel which displayed a sign forbidding entry to dogs and Indians. He vowed to...
Gara Sari Sorority: Haute Fashion and Parsi Ladies
Sari sorority: Why Parsi ladies are a national fashion treasure As this small but influential Indian community has their new year this week, CNNGo's shop section celebrates the embroidered Parsi...
Racing against time to preserve India’s Parsi past
High in the hills of western India, Homi Dhalla looks around the Bharot Caves complex, pointing out the cracked and crumbling stone in the roughly-hewn rocks. By Phil Hazlewood (AFP) "If we...
Muktad Days: When The Souls Come Visiting
Ervad Marzban Hathiram at Frashogard.com writes a very informative piece on the Muktad Days at the end of the Parsi Calendar year. Ten days before the Parsi New Year, fire temples around the city...
Bombay Panjrapole
If you aren’t looking for it, you’d probably miss it. Tucked somewhere in the by-lanes of the crowded Bhuleshwar bazaar is the Bombay Panjrapole, a 176-year-old infirmary that primarily looks after...
The last Bhuj Parsi passes away
Roadaben Sorabji Botwala spent her whole life in Bhuj Bhuj, the district headquarters of Kutch, which once boasted of a large population of Parsis is sad at the death last weekend of the last...
Zoroastrianism: Its Stewardship for all Creation, the Animate and the Inanimate.
Below is the text of presentation by Pervin J. Mistry at the Parliament of Worlds Religions, Melbourne, December 5th, 2009. This was circulated by the author via email to a newsgroup. All copyrights...
On Navroze Parsis Fight For Survival
Adil Fatakia literally lives in the past; the 65-year-old bachelor takes great pride and interest in the rich legacy of his community. In fact, he can trace his family tree 13 centuries back to when...
From Persia to Bangalore
Dinshaw Cawasji, President of The Bangalore Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman narrates the history of Parsees; how they took refuge in a small coastal town in Gujarat after agreeing to several conditions...
Navroze Recognition by United Nations
The UN has acknowledged the festival of Navroze as a Heritage of Humanity. The below is an email forwarde by Mickie Sorabjee. Dear All, You will be happy to know that finally, after some years of...
Parsis have civilization; other Indians don’t
Culture is our attitude to beauty and ugliness, to power, to religion, and to family. It shows in our music, in what makes us laugh. Civilization is our attitude to mankind By Aakar Patel / Mint...
Think value, think vintage
Luxury is now about a different idea, an out-of-the-world experience, not just products and names… This week I am in Bombay where, between interviewing the Chief Minister and an encounter specialist...
Of An Edwardian India
When life in a Parsi household was lived at a leisurely pace... By Silloo Mehta Indian cities were beautiful a century ago. Bungalows had gardens, leafy parks were well maintained and flowering...
The Zorastrian Journey
The below video is a presentation by ZAGNY and IZA New York.
Hawkers Evicted from around Bhikhabehram Well
After 30 years, 100 hawkers evicted from Cross Maidan It was jubilation on Saturday for local residents, who finally succeeded in ridding the southern tip of Cross Maidan of a major nuisance By...
Parsis fight to keep Sanjan coastline clean
Over a thousand years ago, Parsis landed on the shores of Sanjan on the Gujarat coast, seeking shelter and were welcomed by the local raja who allowed them to settle on his land. The descendants of...
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...
The Parsis in Colonies
This is a hilarious forward sent to us by dear family friend and regular Parsi Khabar reader Bakhtavar Mistry. BE PROUD as After the the British colonies there is only the parsi colonies on which...
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...
Sapat Makers: Kerawalla and Company
Somewhere in the noisy lanes of Dhobi Talao stands a picturesque shop; a little old fashioned, with a small cosy bench, and loads of memories. The owner is a fourth generation Parsi; but the heavy...
Pune’s Sorabji Ratanji Patel Agiary: Temple of subdued grandeur
Demure and unassuming, Sardar Sorabji Patel Agiary in Nana Peth is quite like the Iranian and Parsi Zoroastrians who worship at this fire temple. And, although the community is arguably among the...
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...
Parsi Journeys: The Gara, Lost Crafts
By PUSHPA CHARI for the Hindu Where have the old Parsi garas gone, with their bewitching stitches and magnificence? How does one describe the sheer perfection of Parsi gara embroidery in which birds...
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...
Zoroastrian Anthropology Museum in Kerman, Iran
The idea of establishing the museum goes back to the year 1983, when the library of the Kerman Association of Zoroastrians was established. Head of the association Parviz Vakhshuri and library...
BVS Parsi High School Karachi celebrates 150 years: Postal Stamp Issued
KARACHI - On the eve of completion of hundred and fifty years of Bai Virbaiji Soparivala Parsi High School, Karachi, the Pakistan Post has issued the commemorative stamps of Rs. 5 each. The stamps...
A Peep into Parsi Lives a 100 years ago
This article is taken from a book “A Manual of Khshnoom” by P.N. Tavaria. [Often people ask today, where has our “PARSIPANU” gone and what are the reasons of our gradual decline as an ethnic group?...
The Origins of Zoroastrian Priesthood in India
By Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram, Panthaky, Ustad Saheb Behramshah N. Shroff Daremeher, Jogeshwari, Mumbai. All Parsi priests of India draw their origin from Mobed Shahpur Mobed Sheriar, who is...
An Overview on Zoroastrianism
This is a very well compiled overview on Zoroastrianism by Khushnaz Bode. Life before birth of Zarathushtra Thousands of years ago a race called the Aryans settled near the Middle-Asian Valleys....
Mumbai’s Parsi Restaurants: Get It While It’s Hot
TIME Magazine: Deena Guzder With the warmth of an endearingly eccentric relative, 86-year-old Boman Kohinoor of Britannia Restaurant, tel: (91-22) 2261 5264, in south Mumbai, exclaims, "You...
Cambridge Univ to observe 1,000 years of Shahnamah
Cambridge University will observe 1,000 years of the Shahnama or book of kings by the Persian poet Firdausi in 2010. This epic verse was compiled in 1,010 AD which narrates the history of the...
Banaji Limjee Agiary Repair Fund
Below is an appeal sent to us by the trustees of the Banaji Limjee Agiary. This is Bombay's and perhaps India's oldest agiary. BANAJI LIMJEE AGIARY Appeal for contribution to Repair Fund Dear...
Action Plan for Udvada proposed by Dr. Meher-Homji
Dr V M Meher-Homji outlines a proposed action plan for the small fishing town of Udvada on the west coast of India. BEACH EROSION which has ravaged Kerala and other parts of the west coast of India...
Parsis Reminisce about Karachi of yore
Karachi’s finest mayor: it’s not who you think By Sabeen Jamil If there is anyone who can comment on the administration of Karachi in its early days, it is the elderly members of the Zoroastrian, or...
Parsis and Vintage Cars
This is a lovely video clip about Parsis and our love for vintage cars. Are you a vintage car/bike owner. Would love to hear your sentiments and stories.
Vintage Flour Mills of Karachi
The following is an article by Ghulam Baloch in the Dawn (link to article below) ACCORDING to a recent media report, there are a total of 77 flour mills in Karachi, out of which 72 are currently...
The Last of the Zoroastrians
Postcard from Yazd By Deena Guzder Tuesday, Dec. 09, 2008 Far removed from Tehran's bustling tin-roofed teashops and Isfahan's verdant pomegranate gardens, the deserts known as Dasht-e Kavir and...
Parsis of Navsari Want Taj in Original Form
As the restoration work of the ravaged Taj Mahal Hotel has kicked-off, Parsis of Navsari are worried over something that is very dear to their heart - the beauty of the heritage structure. They want...
Rebuilding the House of Tata
By Richard Orange When Vehran Irani, a senior staff member, stepped for the first time into the central stairway of the Taj Palace hotel on Saturday, what he saw broke his heart. The walls were shot...
A monument to love – Mumbai’s Taj Mahal
By Russi M. Lala A horrific terrorist attack has ravaged one of Mumbai’s most-loved symbols and taken the lives of many of its dedicated staff. This heritage hotel was not started as a commercial...