This fresh-water well, situated adjacent to Cross Maidan, holds significant historical and cultural value for...
Heritage Articles
Crumbling homes, vanished people—Gujarat Parsis stare at their roots turning into ghost towns
Udvada and Navsari towns in Gujarat were once home to a thriving Parsi community that is now rallying to increase its...
Parsi Vicissitudes: Of vision and hard work
Amongst the communities whose study has suffered an eclipse are the Parsis. The reason lies in the decline of business studies, but also in the decline of Parsis as a business community. Parsi...
The Khada Parsi: Mumbai’s oldest Parsi set for makeover
Four years after promising to restore the city's heritage fountains, BMC will commence work on the Khada Parsi fountain at the onset of this financial year; work on Flora Fountain will also begin...
The curious case of vanishing Parsis in Hubli-Dharwad
A greatly civilised clan, which has made valuable contributions to the socio-economic growth of the twin cities, has seen such a sharp drop in its population that demographic experts fear the...
Nowrojee & Son’s, McLeodganj’s 152-year-old Nostalgia Shop
For most Indians, colonial British India exists only in movies or Kipling's novels. But in a 152-year-old shop in this Dharamsala suburb the British Raj continues to live on. Located in the heart of...
Udwada & Daman
Living in a multicultural society as we do here in India gives us a wonderful opportunity to observe a great variety of lifestyles. It is fascinating to see how people of diverse religions celebrate...
A look at Mumbai’s dwindling Irani chai shops
UPDATE: Link to the documentary mentioned in this article is here. A lot can happen over chai. Once over 300 Irani tea-shops in Mumbai were as intrinsic to the city as streetside cafes are to Paris....
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...
Bachi Karkaria on the Kolkata Agiary Turning 100
The name is bond. Sacred bond. And it is licensed to send a warm thrill up the spine of every Kolkata Parsi. Not just of only the 550 who still remain, but all of us who had grown into our...
The Empty House: Jehangir and Meherbai Bhabha’s “Meherangir”
Colonial India condemned Indians as a people without history, often quoting John Stuart Mill who argued that for “rude nations”, like India, “fable stands in place of fact” and “the times over which...
Bombay Parsi Punchayet Halts Coversion of Tehmulji Lying-In Hospital to Medicine Centre
Plans to convert the defunct Parsi Lying-In Hospital in Fort into a super-specialty orthopaedic and sports medicine centre has been rejected by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), the lease-holder of...
Dababhai Naoroji’s House in utter disrepair
Fellow Zoroastrians, Is this how we remember one of the greatest Zoroastrians of recent times, by letting his ancestral house fall into ruins and then be sold off to a builder?...
Migration bringing down Parsi population in Kolkata
They number 600-odd in a city with a population of nearly 4.5 million. That nearly half of this 600 are senior citizens may have been a cause for concern for any community but the Parsis of Kolkata....
Mumbai’s original transformers: 5 superheroes you should know
Dadabhai Naoroji As I walk down the road past the maidans, at Flora Fountain Dadabhai Naoroji, book held open in his hand, asks me in Parsi Gujarati, “Are you going to Kala Ghoda? That’s where I...
Elvis and a fasting Parsi
In this Parsi New Year one hoped that things would pan out differently. No major miracles, of course, like India beating England in a Test match or Anna Hazare becoming the Prime Minister of India....
Parsis And Our Cars
This is an old clip from UTV that exemplifies Parsis and their love for vintage cars.
Old Family Ties
“On hearing him say he loved her She felt like a fairy queen When all he meant in saying it Was that the grass in spring is green.” From The Songs of Sinbad by Bachchoo My great grandmother, Avabai...
Jeejeebhoy Senior Citizen’s Centre Navsari
Here are two video clips about the Bai Manechbai P. B. Jeejeebhoy Senior Citizen’s Centre situated in Navsari Gujarat. Part 01.
The fun of being a Parsee
It lies in many things.... It's like belonging to an exclusive Club worldwide. Birth, the only credential and consideration; nothing, but nothing else works, no sirree! No waiting lists, no entrance...
The First Vendidad Sade and Baj in North America
The First Vendidad Sade and Baj in NA at a Dar-e-Meher Inauguration, and Enthronement of Dadgah in the ZANT Brand New Built From Scratch ZCNT (Zoroastrian Center of North Texas) April 29-30 2011! By...
The consecration of a new Afarganyu for a Daremeher
Dear friend and Panthaki Saheb of the Behram Baug Daremeher, Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram has a very nice article about the consecration of a new Afarganyu for the Ustad Saheb Behramshah Nowroji Shroff...
Hanging by a thread
Parsi embroidery is being kept alive by a few patrons in the Capital. At Navjote or during a Parsi wedding, the entire congregation of Parsi women is transformed into a sea of Gara saris, in shades...
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...