We want to educate the youngsters of the Parsi community about their religion and culture…
The Russian Cultural Centre at Peddar Road is currently showing an exhibition on the Zoroastrian religion, their history in Iran and their presence in India. The exposition will be on, today and tomorrow from 11:30 am to 9:30 pm followed by a cultural program in the adjoining auditorium at 7:30 pm on both the days.
The journey of the Zoroastrians is beautifully explained with the help of illustrations on big boards, where details are explained in such a simple manner, that even a non- Zoroastrian will find it equally interesting.
This exhibition is being held by the Frohar Foundation to celebrate 101 episodes of the only serial dedicated to the Zoroastrian religion, currently being aired on television. Directed by Cyrus Dastoor, Humata Hukhta Hvarshta airs every Sunday on Zee Gujarati.
Speaking about the display, Dastoor said, “We didn’t want to have a dinner party to celebrate the occasion. By holding this exhibition, we want to educate the youngsters of the Parsi community about their religion and culture and also inform people of other castes about our history and customs. We hope people take advantage and come here to view the exposition.”
Different rituals of the Zoroastrian religion like the jashan ceremony, the yasna and vendidad (prayer rituals), the navjote (thread ceremony), the mukhtad (remembering the dead) and the dokhmenashini (disposing of the dead) are very simply explained without going too much into details.
The dynasties that were ruled by the Persian Empire are also given a lot of prominence. Dynasties like the Peshdadian Dynasty, the Kayanian Dynasty, the Achaemenian Dynasty, the Parthian Dynasty and the Sassanian Dynasty are all given their due importance.
One side of the exhibition is dedicated to the different items that are used in Zoroastrian prayers and rituals. The Bardot caves and the Iranshah Atash Behram at Udvada are also described with the help of pictures. Portraits of long gone eminent Parsees are lined up on one side of the room. The exposition is on today and tomorrow. It is definitely worth a look.