Arts/Society The Parsi Religion

[kds1980]

On the SPN we have discussions on many religions except parsi's so I am starting this thread about discussing parsi religion and the reason for their downfall . It looks inevitable
That in another 50 -60 years parsi's will extinct or only handful of them will remain

Parsi a very peaceful religion which produced many Great people in India like Tata,homi bhabha,Godrej etc.Parsi religion hardly came in conflict with other religions in India like hinduism.They hardly promoted their religion or encouraged conversions.so its surprising and quite sad that this type of religion will vanish from the world for no reason.

For more information on parsi's

Zoroastrianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[spnadmin]

I don't know enough about this topic. Thank you kdsji. This will be good to learn more.

 

[Archived_Member_19]

conversion is not possible in parsis

 

[spnadmin]

Interesting amarsanghera ji. That is an important point.

 

[kds1980]

I too heard that conversions are not possible but I don't think there could be any religion where people cannot convert.The ancestors of today's parsi's converted to Parsi religion
that's why we have parsi's in world btw here is the quote from wikipedia
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Proselytizing and conversion: Zoroastrians do not proselytize and living Zoroastrianism has no missionaries. There may be historical reasons for this (in Islamic Iran proselytizing was/is a capital crime), but in recent years, and with the exception of the Indian priesthood, Zoroastrian communities are generally supportive of conversion.
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I think its Indian parsi priests that are against conversions

 

[Archived_member7]

Thanks KDS ji for bringing this topic ..As I have lived in Mumbai I been close to them ..and really admire them and their faith

The Parsis or the Zarthosthis migrated to India around 1000 years ago..they had fled Persia(present Iran) to escape from treachorous Islamic Barbarians who had invaded their land and were on a conversion spree, either become a muslim or die was the islamic way as we all know.

The Parsis had landed in Sanjan in Gujarat and approcahed the Rajah for refuge. It is said the Rajah sent a pot filled with milk to the brim indicating that the land was accomodated completely. The smart elders among the Parsis added a lump of sugar and sent it back indicating that they would dissolve themselves among the people stilling maintaining their distinct identity of 'sweetness' . The Rajah was pleased and on condtions of no further conversions gave them refuge.

Since then this community has mixed so well and has always contributed to the vertical growth of this country. They inspite of being foriegners have always been like the sons of this soil. They have no issues with the majority of this country and there is no record in history which shows any kind of skirmishes with the local population.During the British rule the Parsis were given an opportunity to have separate electorates and their answer was they had no requirement for any separate electorates since they had complete trust in their Hindu brothers.

The Indian Freedom Struggle also recieved major contributions from them and some of them were the most respected like Madam Cama, Pirozshah Mehta, Dadabhai Naoroji. Since they were well educated they also had risen well during the British Rule.

The 'Father' of Indian Steel is Sir Jamshedji Nasarwan ji Tata. He set up the first steel plant in Jamshedpur, then part of Bihar and now Jharkhand

What I admire the most is the funeral rites. They 'give' their dead to Mother Nature at what is called the 'TOWER OF SILENCE' . The body is exposed to Sun rays and also the birds of prey also help to 'clear' the remains. Well I feel atleast there is less pollution since they dont burn or bury and atleast the body is 'utilised' by the various elements of Nature.

 

[Archived_Member_19]

kds ji

parsis are a religion as well as a geographical identity.

though they might have prolestysed initially in times of Zarusthra, it is not done now.

They intermarry in same religion and children of mixed marriage are not considered "parsis".

There were some cases of people in gujrat accepting the parsi religion way back in 18th century, but parsis themselves do not consider those converts as parsis.

i do not have a link to support this info but know it first hand through some parsi firends.

 

[prabhsmart]

But one important point missed is that they r at the point of becoming extinct in next cople of generation.
The major reason is that they don't have a homeland, to care about them or there people or there religion.
I have studied a lot about parsis and jews, and what i have understood is that the lack of motherland had landed them in trouble. the jews ones had a motherland in palestin and isreal, there common revolt aginst rome made the rome government displace them, so that they don't unit again. they settled in europen nation and many other places, but kept there culture intact. But when the Great plague spread in europe, they were made responsible, though it was spread by Rats. There villages in no.s of thousands were burned, millions killed and made sex slaves. The figures that i read was 1500 major jewsish cities and 5000 minor villages. And then the genocide by nazi's.
Today they have there nationa nd they have someone to care about, to fight for them.

Motherland is a must for long term survival.

 

[kds1980]

Motherland is a must for long term survival

If a Religion wants to survive
Then 4 things are must

1) One must have pride in its religion

2)Preach your religion and spread it to other parts of world

3)Keep the birth rate high

4)Children especially women should marry within their own religion because a large number of women that marry outside Give up their faith and their children follow faith of their father.

Unfortunately parsi's mostly abandoned all that and Now result is in front of us

 

[dalbirk]

One thing I always find lacking among even well-informed Sikhs is that they are not at all interested in communicating their beliefs to people of other faiths even when asked . IMHO each & everyone should try to communicate as much as we can starting with their own families & friends . This is also one big service we may be doing towards our Gurus .

 

[spnadmin]

Dalbirk ji

You are right in my own personal experience. I am reluctant to talk about Skihism even when asked. There is a tradition of not preaching and not proselytizing -- and that is why. I find myself more talking about it but always worrying that it may sound like I am doing missionary work. That may be a concern for other people.

 

[kds1980]

Dalbirk ji

You are right in my own personal experience. I am reluctant to talk about Skihism even when asked. There is a tradition of not preaching and not proselytizing -- and that is why. I find myself more talking about it but always worrying that it may sound like I am doing missionary work. That may be a concern for other people.

The problem is that Islam and christianity have given such a bad name to missionaries That other religions are now hesistant to preach.I don't think that in sikhism there was no tradition of preaching.here is the vaar of bhai Gurdas ji

Vaar 11 Pauri 29 Names of the Sikhs of the sixth Guru
Vaaran Bhai Gurdas :Vaar11Pauri31:SearchGurbani.com
In village Suhanda is Bhai maia of lamb caste who sings the holy hymns in the holy congregation.
Line 1

ਚੂਹੜ ਚਉਝੜੁ ਲਖਣਊ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਅਨਦਿਨੁ ਨਾਮ ਵਖਾਣੀ ।
chooharh chaujharhu|akhanaoo guramukhi anadinu naam vakhaanee|
Chuhar of Chaujhar caste from Lucknow is gurmukh who remembers Lord day and night.
Line 2

ਸਨਮੁਖਿ ਸਿਖੁ ਪਿਰਾਗ ਵਿਚ ਭਾਈ ਭਾਨਾ ਵਿਰਤੀਹਾਣੀ ।
sanamukhi sikhu piraag vich bhaaee bhaanaa virateehaanee|
Bhai Bhana of Prayag is a close Sikh who earns his livelihood.
Line 3

ਜਟੂ ਤਪਾ ਸੁ ਜੌਨ ਪੁਰਿ ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਨਿਹਚਲ ਸੇਵ ਕਮਾਣੀ ।
jatoo tapaa su jaun puri guramati nihachal sayv kamaanee|
Jattu and Tappa, the residents of Jaunpur have served in accordance with Gurmat with stable mind.
Line 4

ਪਟਣੈ ਸਭਰਵਾਲ ਹੈ ਨਵਲੁ ਨਿਹਾਲਾ ਸੁਧ ਪਰਾਣੀ ।
patanai sabharavaal hai navalu nihaalaa sudh paraanee|
In Patna Bhai naval and among Sabhaervals Nihala is a pious person.
Line 5

ਜੈਤਾ ਸੇਠ ਵਖਾਣੀਐ ਵਿਣੁ ਗੁਰ ਸੇਵਾ ਹੋਰੁ ਨ ਜਾਣੀ ।
jaitaa saytd vakhaaneeai vinu gur sayvaa horu n jaanee|
One wealthy person is known by the name of Jaita who likes nothing except the service of the Guru.
Line 6

ਰਾਜ ਮਹਿਲ ਭਾਨੂ ਬਹਿਲੁ ਭਾਉ ਭਗਤਿ ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਮਨਿ ਭਾਣੀ ।
raaj mahil bhaanoo bahilu bhaau bhagati guramati mani bhaanee|
Of Rajmahal city is Bhanu Bahal whose mind is absorbed in the wisdom of the Guru and the loving devotion.
Line 7

ਸਨਮੁਖੁ ਸੋਢੀ ਬਦਲੀ ਸੇਠ ਗੁਪਾਲੈ ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਜਾਣੀ ।
sanamukhu soddhee badalee saytd gupaalai guramati jaanee|
Badali Sodhi and Gopal, the rich persons understand the Gurmat.
Line 8

ਸੁੰਦਰੁ ਚਢਾ ਆਗਰੈ ਢਾਕੈ ਮੋਹਣਿ ਸੇਵ ਕਮਾਣੀ ।
sundaru chaddhaa aagarai ddhaakai mohani sayv kamaanee|
Sundar Chaddha of Agra and Bhai Mohan a resident of Dhakka have served and cultivated the true earning.
Line 9

ਸਾਧਸੰਗਤਿ ਵਿਟਹੁ ਕੁਰਬਾਣੀ ॥੩੧॥੧੧॥
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So at the time of sixth Guru There were sikhs even from dhakka which is very far from Punjab.Without preaching Gurmat It was not possible that there were sikhs from various parts of country

 

[Archived_member7]

When i use to reside in Mumbai..i had a clear rule as much as possible ..whenever i use to visit the Gurdwara..i use to take a non sikh along with me ...I might have shared this ..but would like to share this again...there were strange questions asked ..

A friend belonging to the Jain religion asked me ..whether there was a 'body' inside that 'canopy' !!!!
I of course cleared his doubts..

But see the state of ignorence...that too in India !!!

 

[spnadmin]

kdsji

Your message makes everything seem much better and more comfortable. Thank you

 

[Tejwant Singh]

The Vanishing

Little noticed by the outside world, perhaps the most dramatic decline of a wild animal in history has been taking place in India and Pakistan. Large vultures, vitally necessary and once numbering in the tens of millions, now face extinction. But why?

• By Susan McGrath
• Smithsonian magazine, February 2007

The Vanishing | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine
The Vanishing



Video Gallery

Large vultures on the Indian subcontinent—once numbering in the tens of millions—have suddenly become endangered.
Pallava Bagla

• Science & Nature

Vulture Chick

Captive Asian vultures tend to a newborn chick


There is a moment during the capturing of baby vultures when the human nose can be considered an asset. In the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve of central India, this moment comes for us atop a 100-foot-high cliff etched with natural ledges and carved crenelations of an ancient Hindu fort built into the cliff's sandstone face. These high niches are prime nesting habitat for long-billed vultures, but this year only a few of the great birds have returned to nest, and chicks are few and far between. When a pungent, three-day-old diaper smell wafts up to us, we peer down, and there, on a ledge 30 feet below us, lies an eagle-size chick in a messy nest of twigs.
One of the nestling's enormous parents wheels into view. We see its full seven-foot wingspan, the tawny plumage on the adult's back rippling in the updraft, its darker wing feathers splayed at the tips. The bird banks hard and alights on the ledge. It nudges the chick, opens its long bill and urps up supper.
"Uh-oh. Bad timing," Richard Wesley says.
"Yep," says Richard Cuthbert. "You'll be seeing that meal again."
Cuthbert is a biologist with the United Kingdom's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Wesley is taking a busman's holiday from his job managing the New Zealand Alpine Club. The third member of this cliff-side team is a Bombay Natural History Society biologist named Shanmugam Saravanan.
Wesley clips a cloth bag to his rock-climbing harness and steps over the edge of the cliff. The adult bird dives away. Wesley drops 30 or so feet to the ledge, scoops the ungainly chick into the bag and climbs back. A wine-dark fluid seeps from the bag. At this point in vulture catching, the human nose can be considered a liability. "Vulture chicks vomit up the contents of their crops when they're stressed," Cuthbert says apologetically. "Thought to be a defense mechanism. Rather an effective one."
If the bag's stench of twice-regurgitated carrion reinforces one's stereotypes about the repugnance of vultures, the chick that emerges from the bag dispels them. Up close, the baby is a beauty—the bare skin of its swan neck palest aqua, its pinfeathers a wild duck's browns.
The long-billed vulture, Gyps indicus, is one of three vulture species that serve as sanitation engineers in India, Nepal and Pakistan. For thousands of years, they have fed on livestock carcasses. As many as 40 million of the birds once inhabited the region. Obstreperous flocks of vultures thronged carcass dumps, nested on every tall tree and cliff ledge, and circled high overhead, seemingly omnipresent. In Delhi, perching vultures ornamented the tops of every ancient ruin.



In Mumbai, vultures circled the Parsi community's hilltop sanctuary. Parsis, who are members of the Zoroastrian religion, lay their dead atop stone Towers of Silence so that vultures can devour the flesh. This practice, according to Parsi tradition, protects dead bodies from the defiling touch of earth, water or fire.
But across the subcontinent all three species of Gyps vultures are disappearing. Dead livestock lie uneaten and rotting. These carcasses are fueling a population boom in feral dogs and defeating the government's efforts to combat rabies. Vultures have become so rare that the Parsi in Mumbai have resorted to placing solar reflectors atop the Towers of Silence to hasten the decomposition of bodies. International conservation groups now advocate the capture of long-billed, white-backed and slender-billed vultures for conservation breeding.




The Vanishing | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine