In India, an ancient religion known as Zoroastrianism is under threat.There are fewer than 60,000 believers and their...
Issues Articles
Last rites: Parsis turn to tech as vulture numbers decline
The Tower of Silence located in Parsi Gutta, the final resting place of the 1,200-strong Parsi community in Hyderabad,...
Kamalrukh Khan: Anti-conversion law should be nationalised
Wife of late Wajid Khan writes on her sufferings in an inter-faith marriage, says anti-conversion law should be nationalisedMonths after music composer Wajid Khan of the Sajid-Wajid fame passed away...
Zoroastrians And USA Voting: Ava Damri in Conversation with Tanya Hoshi
The United States will be voting in a couple of days to elect its next President. Two Zoroastrian youth discuss voting, its importance and the consequences thereof in this very interesting instagram...
Parsis breathe easy on mixed-marriage ban
Parizad Cama is breathing a lot easier nowadays. If all goes well, she can again call herself a Parsi.Even a few days back, Cama — born of a Parsi father and Punjabi mother — wasn’t sure if she...
Menstruation and Zoroastrian Doctrine
A complex issue of womanhood The entire 16th pargarad/chapter of the Vendidad is dedicated to the matter of menstruation, and later Pahlavi texts comment on this subject...
‘At 60, I still encounter condescension and pity’
Freny Manecksha on fighting the myopic vision of society that denounces single Parsi women for being 'choosya and 'selfish'My progression into singlehood happened, perhaps, because I had started...
Delhi Parsi Anjuman Defends Right of Entry to Fire Temple
Parsi body defends ‘right’ to keep people out of fire temple The bench was hearing a PIL which alleged that persons belonging to other races and religions were being discriminated against as they...
Parsis in Mumbai move SC to realign Metro-3 tunnel below Atash Behrams
A special leave petition was filed challenging the HC order, which was mentioned before Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.Article by Yesha Kotak | Hindustan TimesThree days after the Bombay high court (HC)...
JIYO PARSI: CARE OF ELDERLY DEPENDANTS
Our dear friend and mentor Dr. Shernaz Cama write in the Jame Jamshed newspaperThe Jiyo Parsi Scheme was set up to arrest the decline in our community’s population. However, over time, it has been...
Suspension of Banaji Atashbehram priest questioned amid dwindling Parsi population
Since last year, the community has been trying to stop the rapid decline in the number of Zoroastrian priests through Jiyo Parsi and Jiyo Mobed Workshop Article by Yesha Kotak | Hindustan Times...
Parsi woman contests Raj-era personal law
Encouraged by Muslim women's successful fight against triple talaq, a Parsi woman has moved the Supreme Court questioning the validity of many provisions of Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, alleging...
Jal and Pervin Shroff Clear The Air on the Parsi General Hospital Medanta Issue
Recently a lawyer from Mumbai wrote to various government authorities as well as the CEO of Medanta raising false alarms and insinuating issues that do not exist regarding Medanta’s handling of the...
Parsi Women Fight For Equality And Religious Identity
Should a Parsi woman be deprived of her religious identity and community rights if she marries outside her own religion? The Supreme Court has referred the matter to a 5-judge constitution bench and...
Right To Equality : Parsi Women Fight The Injustice
The Goolrukh Gupta case has reached the Supreme Court, where a 5 judge bench will deliberate on it. Below is a video segment on a local TV channel in Mumbai.
In Parsi genes, new clues on old cultures
Strict inbreeding is often blamed for the dwindling population of the Parsi community in India. New research by Indian and other scientists now suggests that this might not always have been the...
Why Parsis need their distinct family laws
They are a tiny community, whose ancestors came to India due to religious persecutions in Persia (Iran). Their numbers are down to a critical 61,000 and diminishing by the day. India's population...
Sam Bulsara: Jiyo Parsi – The subject is delicate, but needed to be tackled
Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director of Madison Worldwide, spearheaded the creation of the campaign with his core team, including daughter Lara Balsara Vajifdar, Executive Director at Madison...
Asking Parsis to Have More Kids, in the Most Regressive and Patriarchal Way
The article below raises some interesting points, but it completely misses the reason why the campaign, and the actual program Jiyo Parsi exist. It is to preserve ethnicity. Otherwise it would have...
Intermarry and be damned 2 Parsi women challenge bias
India’s Parsis are so respected because they alone have never been involved in communal skirmishes. Ironic then that our own ugly wars are hurtling us to our doom. The most divisive issue is...
India’s ‘Parsis’ Renounce Sky Burial as Vultures Go Missing
Parsis are the followers of the ancient Zoroastrian religion, whose ancestors settled in Indian 1,000 years ago to escape persecution in Iran (erstwhile Persia) that had turned Islamic. They brought...
Heritage Walk at Doongerwadi
Dr. Viraf J. Kapadia opines on the subject in the Mumbai Samachar. Since the last few days turmoil has enveloped the orthodox members of the Parsi Community when the proposed 2 hours heritage walk...
Surrogacy bill bother for Parsis
The country's Parsi community is in a bind over a proposed law to regulate surrogacy, a little over a year after it had successfully negotiated resistance from within to this assisted reproductive...
Most divorces among Parsis due to adultery
Jury trials came to India with the British and were abolished after the now infamous 1959 Nanavati murder trial, not many know that matrimonial disputes among the Parsi community is still tried by a...
India’s vanishing people
India's vanishing people New Delhi: It is a fact that India's tiny Parsi community is dwindling but the latest census figures show the ethnic group hurtling towards extinction. Parsis are...
Petition: Secure the future of Persian GCSE and A-level qualifications
100,000 signatures are required for the UK Parliament to pay attention to Secure the future of Persian GCSE and A-level qualifications Sign and share with anyone you know. ZTFE President Malcolm...
Pakistan Parsi community’s migration alarming
KARACHI: As you enter the Parsi Colony from MA Jinnah Road you experience a strange feeling. You are truly taken away by the architecture of beautiful bungalows and houses. But then you are taken...
Reluctance to Intermarry Puts Zoroastrians on the Brink of Extinction
Over ten centuries after coming to India, the Zorastrians are facing the challenge of assimilation in India. Many of them fear that, soon, there won’t be any Zoroastrians left behind. The...
Section of Parsis Cry Sin As More Opt For Cremation
Cremation among Parsis see rise Article by Ashutosh Shukla | DNA India The information by weekly magazine, Parsianna, stated that the number "Parsi/Irani deaths recorded at the new Prayer Hall in...
A half-breed in Bombay: Suhasini Haidar
How do you preserve the purity of lineage and yet propagate the line of an ever-dwindling community? This is the question that Parsis continue to debate fiercely Article by Suhasini Haider | The...
Challenges of being Parsi in a mixed marriage
At 20, India-born Dilnawaz Zaveri nee Bharucha was gasping to see the world. The daughter of a retired engineering company manager and a doctor, she was looking for a ticket out of India. Now 46,...
India’s Parsis search for new funeral arrangements
India's Parsis search for new funeral arrangements as there are not enough vultures to dispose of bodies by Leila Nathoo | Independent UK Katy Gundevia spent her final days in an apartment in one...
Parsis battle threat of extinction
The government has sponsored schemes for assisted reproduction so that Parsis increase in number. Article by Vinaya Deshpande | The Sunday Guardian Twelve hundred years ago, we fled to India for our...
Why Are India’s Parsi People Going Extinct?
There are less than 60,000 Parsis in India today. That fact itself is so alarming that it demands measures to help the community from fading away. Despite their low numbers, their contribution in...
How India makes Parsi babies
The Parsis of India are a unique community, but their numbers are declining fast. In an effort to change this, the government is spending $1.5m to encourage them to have more children. Persis Aspi...
Spotlight’s on khandias, the Parsi ‘untouchables’
Sam Vesuna was 19 when he became a pallbearer at the Parsi Towers of Silence at Malabar Hill. Today, bodies laid to rest in the roofless towers putrefy below solar panels, but at that time, hungry...
Clarification with regard to consequences of the Settlement of 17th February 2015 in the Ban on Priests Case
On 27th April 2015, the Hon’ble Supreme Court approved the Settlement arrived at in February 2015 between Messrs. Kanga and Khusrokhan and the BPP Trustees. The following is the factual position on...
Oh Khodai: Parsis in Ahmedabad
A bawa wearing a white bandhgala coat with cylindrical black hat driving a gorgeous vintage car overloaded with a garadraped wife and squabbling kids: that's how films in the early '80s portrayed...
Parsis: Keeping the Flame Alive
The world’s longest continually-burning flame, found in Udvada, a town in Gujarat, is the most important pilgrimage site for the Parsis of India. Parsis have lived in the country for 1,200 years...
Flyways of fortune
The Zoroastrian diaspora as we know it today is spread across the globe. As a mercantile community the Parsis have been traders and no place was considered too far or too dangerous to venture, if it...
Activist’s Idea of Composting Bodies as an Alternative to Dokhmenashini
With vultures fighting for their survival, the Zoroastrian community finds itself at a crossroad. A Parsi community activist has triggered a debate by suggesting an alternative method to dispose off...
Can marriage deprive women of their religion? Parsi woman asks Supreme Court of India
Can a woman be prohibited from practising her religion if she marries a man from a different religion? Is she bound to follow her husband's religion? Can her religious places bar her from offering...
Bawas and Babies
Coming from an ancient movie projector, the image is shaky and scratchy. Kajol and Anil Kapoor's marriage seems beset with problems. But, that does not stop the usual Bollywood song and dance...
Parsi sisters move SC seeking freedom to enter religious places
Kindling hope for a large number of Parsi women who marry outside their religion, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition challenging a decision by its religious council banning their entry...
Must a Zoroastrian Date only Zoroastrians?
After we linked to the article you will read below, we received emails from Karishma Patel, who is one of the subjects of the article below; and Homi D. Gandhi; Vice-President FEZANA. Their emails...
Knot so classified
Though matrimonial ads have changed substantially, the emphasis on looks, caste and income persist, mirroring the complexities and paradoxical nature of Indian society, says Roshni Nair as she...
Parsi Priests’ Court Battle with BPP Likely To End Amicably
Two priests were banned from fire temples after they were found to have performed ceremonies for Parsis who chose to be cremated and children of non-Parsi fathers The Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s (BPP)...
Parsis consider surrogacy to boost population
Ultra orthodox in the community are debating if scriptures allow renting of a non-Parsi womb. Article by Jyoti Shelar | Mumbai Mirror Parsis are considering the option of surrogacy under the...
A Death Rite At Peril
There are roughly 500 Parsis in Kolkata. But sadly, even this small community finds it difficult to maintain their age-old death ritual owing to a drop in the number of vultures and other problems....
Death in the city: How a lack of vultures threatens Mumbai’s ‘Towers of Silence’
In exclusive Malabar Hill, the city’s dwindling Parsi community continues with the Zoroastrian tradition of disposing of dead bodies by exposing them to scavenger birds. How much longer can this...
Can Higher Salaries Save Parsi Priesthood?
Ardeshir Nariman, 15, is fast approaching graduation. Like many boys his age in Mumbai—educated and upwardly mobile, his curiosity heavily seasoned with ambition—he’ll continue to college to study...
Aging Parsis Turn to Community Charity
The Parsi ward at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital seems a particularly sunny convalescent home. Its full-length gothic windows and yellow-beige walls light 45 beds, which most patients cannot leave. The tiny...