Issues Articles

Mumbai’s Parsi sahibs have an inconvenient secret—tribal cousins in distant Gujarat villages

There’s a subtle caste system in place. Most Mumbai Parsis don’t want to discuss their tribal brethren. Priests refuse to live in the villages and no fire temples have been built.Article by Shubhangi Misra | The PRINTThe World Zoroastrian...
Drug ban could save vultures

Drug ban could save vultures

Vultures in danger of being wiped out by a drug used to treat livestock in India have been given a reprieve after the Government called on companies to phase out the medicine. While perhaps not the...

Parsi debate: panchayat vs federation

Don't force radical changes on us: Ahmedabad panchayat to governing body Express News Service Ahmedabad, April 30: Accusing it of forcing its radical propaganda upon Parsis, the Ahmedabad Parsi...

Vultures That Vanish

Vultures That Vanish

Spare a thought for the scrawny vultures -- those once-familiar birds of prey that used to circle lazily high in the air, scanning for anything to scavenge. In my youth, they even perched on tall...

Mumbai Mirror: Protest In Peace

Recently Parsi Khabar wrote about the controversey that erupted from the naming of a sculpture after Prophet Zarathustra. Today the comments are published in the Mumbai Mirror. The article is...

DOKHMENASHINI CONTROVERSY

by Mr. Noshir H. Dadrawala Thanks for provoking me to respond on the latest controversy surrounding 'Dokhmenashini. I believe this controversy has a time cycle of its own for the past century or...

Indian Cattle Drug Is Killing Vultures

Indian Cattle Drug Is Killing Vultures

Wednesday, March 29, 2006; 6:20 PM BOMBAY, India -- Conservationists said Wednesday that they expect Indian authorities soon to ban a cattle drug blamed for killing more than 90 percent of the...

Prophet in the park

THE Elisabeth Murdoch Sculpture Foundation commissioned a 4m-high nude bronze from sculptor Peter Schipperheyn, to be exhibited in the McClelland Gallery + Sculpture Park in Melbourne. It is the...

Thank You Peter

This is a letter from Shirin J. Mistry, circulated on a newsgroup which sums up the end to the controversey of the sculpture. These are the views of the author, and not Parsi Khabar Dear Mr...

Sculpture Controversey put to end

Peter Schipperheyn, the sculptor shot into the Zoroastrian spotlight all of a sudden a few days ago because of his upcoming work Amidst all the controversey and the mud-slinging, Peter was gracious...

Plans to woo Parsi Students

CONCERNED over the number of Parsi students leaving the country to pursue higher studies abroad, the Ministry of Social Justice and ... Read on here technorati tags: parsi, study

Agiaries will go high-tech

'Parsi Resource Group' (PRG) aims to strengthen pillars of Parsi community - its Agiaries, priests and youth.. Jimmy Mistry, an architect by profession and owner of Della Tecnica, has launched...

Kurshetji murder puts spotlight on Parsis

The Adi Kurshetji murder case of May 2003, which culminated in the conviction of the accused on Friday, has exposed the soft underbelly of the Parsi community. With an increasing number of aging...

“Farsi” or “Persian” ?

"Farsi" or "Persian"?: Persian (Iranian) people in the English-speaking countries are the only community who use two different terms to refer to their language, "Farsi" and "Persian." This behavior...

Cursetjee’s Rs 35-cr property has no heir

Two weeks after the suicide of 73-year-old Adi Cursetjee's adopted daughter Geeta Soni (35), no one knows who will inherit Cursetjee's Rs 35 crore wealth. Legally, though, the property should end up...

Intermarry Me

Like other aspects of globalization, social integration threatens cultural uniqueness. And Jews aren't the only ones sounding the alarm. Among Parsis living in the West, intermarriage rates are...

Going with the flow

"Very risque," says our tour guide, Jasmine Kotval. She's a Parsee, a follower of Zoroastrianism that claims to be the world's oldest religion, having originated in Persia (contemporary Iran) 3500...

Mandirs for devotees or tourists?

Organiser - New Delhi,India ... Even Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, personally a very devout Hindu, was denied entry to the Puri temple because she married a Parsi and thereby shared that ...

Jagannath Temple Ponders Entrance Policy

Similarly, many sevakas of Jagannatha temple belonging to traditional sevaka families have non-Hindu or lower caste origin, such as the Parsi pujaris (still worshiping the Deity of Satya Narayana in...

Freeze-drying touted as new green burial

Scotsman - United Kingdom ... THE Parsees of Mumbai in India leave their dead on top of Towers of Silence to be eaten by vultures, while in the Solomon Islands, the deceased are laid out on ......

Parsis look for new path to spiritual world…

Sydney Morning Herald ... To dispose of the dead a group of Parsis, the ethnic group that practices Zoroastrianism, are using solar panels and lenses like a magnifying glass to ... It is one of the...

Tradition dying out for lack of vultures

... The Indian Parsi diaspora includes conductor Zubin Mehta, writer Rohinton Mistry and the late Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. Continue reading at The Guardian 

Parsi tradition dying out for lack of Vultures

The Guardian It is one the most poignant images in India. Muslin-wrapped mourners carry the dead up a leafy hill to a temple, conducting an ancient ceremony in modern Mumbai. They reach the Towers...

No vultures, Parsis turn to sun

The Asian Age - Bombay,India ... Basically, they harness sun rays and allow them to penetrate the body and aid decomposition," said a source in a prominent Parsi organisation in Mumbai. ...

MSUM bans suspected cult leader

In-Forum (subscription) - Fargo,ND,USA Feroze Golwalla, a 42-year-old man who professes to be a Christian missionary to the Parsee people of Southeast Asia, was recognized near Bridges Hall on Sept....

Infertile laws

Hindustan Times - India This is an anomaly that arises out of the personal laws of minority communities (Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis) that don't recognise adoption. ...

Times of India – India … Should the…

Times of India - India ... Should the right to adopt a child, currently restricted to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, be extended to Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsis as well? ...

Vegetarian rules in housing hunt

CNN International - USA ... Gujaratis. There are buildings for non-meat eating Hindus, Muslim-only buildings and Parsi-only colonies, says Jobanputra. Vegetarian ...

To count or not

HindustanTimes.com UK edition - India ... In one of the most extreme cases, the Parsi's of India will die out completely in a few decades, one of the living examples of an entire religion,...

Communal bias in building blocks

Calcutta Telegraph - Calcutta,India ... the society's bylaws restricting membership to non-Parsis were illegal, the Supreme Court ruled: "It is open to the members of the Parsi community, who ...