The Parsi community’s connection with the steel city dates back to its earliest days. Following the establishment of...
Heritage Articles
Now reopened, the Parsi Museum in Mumbai offers a compelling insight into Zoroastrianism
Pheroza Godrej, co-curator of the Framji Dadabhoy Alpaiwalla Museum, gives AD a special tour of the Parsi Museum in...
The Story of Two Mumbai Riots in the 19th Century
In 19th century Bombay, Parsis and Muslims fought each other on the streets on two separate occasions but eventually buried the hatchet and moved on. In 2013, we are still grappling with the problem...
Parsi community to teach their fold how to make the sacred cord
Anxious to preserve a dying art of their diminishing community, the Bombay Parsi Punchayat is promoting kustiweaving classes for those in their fold; 67-year old Dolly Mistry's sessions have been...
Kei Kianpoor's Cyrus the Great: A hero for all ages
In a world spiralling out of control, one man hopes that the story of one of history's most secular leaders would prove an inspiration. Joanna Lobo talks to the man bringing Cyrus the Great's story...
Prominent Parsis of Karachi
The below is a short compilation of some of the prominent Parsis of Karachi, Pakistan. This write up was compiled and forwarded by Phil Masters of Canada. Baba-e-Karachi "Jamshed Nusserwanjee...
The Marshalls keep the Parsi flame alive in Kozhikode
Though Marshalls, the lone family of Kozhikode keeping the lineage of the Parsi tradition, seems to have embraced the rhythm of Malabari culture, they remain intact in Zoroastrian beliefs and...
The Parsi baugs of Mumbai
Kaizad Bhamgara takes a closer look at some of the popular Zoroastrian settlements in the city and discovers that they are a lot more than just places to live for this closely-knit community. With...
In Hong Kong, a Once Prominent Parsi Community Faces Demise
Each Oct. 12, Homyar Nasirabadwala, the gaunt, white-haired priest of Hong Kong’s Parsi community, pays a visit to the University of Hong Kong to conduct a brief ceremony of thanks on the birthday...
Lucknow Parsis: A wish that is breathing its last
Till a couple of years back, few elderly Parsis in Lucknow nursed the desire of breathing their last in Mumbai, thanks to the 'Tower of Silence', the last abode where bodies are left for the...
Wear it Parsi style: Lady Gara
Parsi girls become women the day they wear a sari. The sari perawanu or sari-wearing ceremony is a rite of passage. At the centre of the celebration are five married women who help the girl wear a...
Kainaz Amaria in Conversation: Being Zoroastrian
Photographer Kainaz Amaria has been born and brought up in America. As a child, when she’d tell her friends at school she was a Zoroastrian, they thought she was pretending to be a superhero....
A community poise: The Bngalore Parsis
he sun is at its peak, and so is the city’s maddening rush on the roads. The traffic policeman, who takes refuge under the shades of myriad trees that adorn the premises of the Fire Temple, is...
Khada Parsi: Restoring the ruptured heritage
We have done so many things to our heritage and history which we were not expected to do. We have distorted it, twisted it and have disrespected it. Realising what we have done is the least we can...
Toilet near Bhikha Behram Well to be Razed
The Bombay high court has directed that a toilet built close to a religious place near Cross Maidan – the over-280-year-old Bhika Behram well, a grade 1 heritage structure – be demolished. The Parsi...
Sassanian: Legendary Irani Restaurant Turns 100
There was a time when you could do an Irani café crawl in the Dhobi Talao area. by Pronoti Datta | Mumbai Boss You could start with chai at Edward Restaurant behind Our Lady of Dolours Church, hoof...
Amitav Ghosh on Navsari
Amitav Ghosh the famous Indian writer was recently in Navsari for the Conference organized to celebrate the 140th Anniversary of The First Meherjirana Library in Navsari. He has some interesting...
A treasure trove for antique lovers
The Parsi community paper has ads on old items for sale Relic hunters, collectors, dealers and researchers search a weekly newspaper for antiques By Prabhat Sharan | Deccan Herald They are objects...
Fresh bids for Tehmulji Parsi Lying-in hospital revamp next month
The tussle between the managing committee and the Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP) over the future of the Parsi Lying-in Hospital at Fort notwithstanding, the Punchayat has again decided to invite bids...
Dome Sweet Dome: Contractor House, Vadodra
Renowned Parsi lawyer and philanthropist Jeru Contractor's grand old mansion, located on Vadodara's RC Dutt Road, may not be formally labelled as a heritage building, but it is definitely a part of...
Teenaz Javat: Sandcastles and Fire Temples
Udvada is a coastal town in Gujarat, about 240 km north of India’s bustling commercial capital, Mumbai. It is a small town but for Zoroastrians (Parsis) it is as venerable as the Kaaba in Makkah and...
Parsi enclave wins UNESCO award
A good-hearted initiative by the Parsi community to preserve its old architecture while securing the housing needs of poor members has earned it international recognition. By Bella Jaisinghani | TNN...
Surti gave mystical insights into the Avestha
After Mumbai, Surat has the largest number of Parsis in India. The city has also played an important role in the religion of the community as it is the birthplace of a school of Zoroastrian...
Flashback: Like sugar in milk
Gulbano Bamji talks to Moniza Inam about her golden childhood in Quetta: Legend has it that when the Zorastrian king of Persia, Yazedird, was defeated in the Battle of Nehavand, many Parsis fled...
Atashkadeh in North America: A Paper by the North American Mobeds Council
At the request of many FEZANA Associations, NAMC have been working on a paper: Atashkadeh in North America which gives guidelines for constructing an Atashkadeh (Dar-e-Maher, Agiary, etc.) in...
Nargol and Sanjan: Fire, water and a holy calm
The sandy shores of Nargol and Sanjan along the Maharashtra-Gujarat coast offer respite and a quiet escape, as well as a look at the Zoroastrian community's strong ties with this land. Chikoos,...
Thread Bare: The Art of Kusti Weaving
An unusual book on the weaving of the sacred thread worn by the Parsis adds to the craft revival stories in India Few, even among textile conservationists, would imagine a book deconstructing kusti,...
The Carriage of Pestonjee Press of the Fort Coach Company Exhibited in San Francisco Museum
An ornate silver carriage, built in 1915 by Pestonjee Press of the Fort Coach Company for the Maharajah of Bhavnagar, was featured at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum’s “Maharaja” exhibit that...
Do Parsis lack a proper sense of history?
Our good friend Dinyar Patel asks a very valid and pertinent question Do Parsis lack a proper sense of history? It is a question that I have often wondered while traveling and conducting research...
Pervez Damania In Conversation: ‘Udvada is a microcosm of the Parsi way of life’
Parvez Damania, offers a glimpse into the Parsi community through a photography exhibition in the city. By Jayeeta Mazumder | DNA What prompted you to go on a photographic documentation of the...
The compilation that could save a community
Two members of the Zoroastrian community have taken the initiative to preserve the community's oral history by compiling a book on Parsi-Gujarati idioms. You can contribute too By Aviva Dharmaraj |...
The Parsis, Once India’s Curators, Now Shrug as History Rots
In the course of over one year of archival research in India, I have been heartened to see how, in a few institutions like the National Archives, the country’s rotting history now has a fighting...
Remembering Parsi greats on Navroze
Today Parsi’s celebrate Jamshedi Nauroze and will engage in celebrations, largely featuring good food and drink. They are possibly the smallest but most visible Indian minority. You will find a...
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...