While not as well-known as that of the Achaemenid dynasty (550–330 BC), the second Persian empire ruled by the Sasanian dynasty (AD 224–642) is a pivotal but often overlooked period of ancient Western Asian art and archaeological history. Standing at the cusp of the ancient and medieval worlds, the Sasanian empire was the last great Iranian empire to rule over Western Asia before the coming of Islam, extending at its height in the seventh century from the Nile to the Oxus. Over the course of late antiquity, Sasanian art, architecture, and court culture created a new dominant aristocratic common culture in western Eurasia, beguiling their Roman, South Asian, and Chinese contemporaries and deeply imprinting the later Islamic world.

Article by Matthew P. Canepa | From the February 2021 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.

Head of a king (detail; c. 4th century), Sasanian. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The arts of Sasanian Iran play a central role in two major upcoming exhibitions due to open in London this spring and Los Angeles next year. ‘Epic Iran: 5000 Years of Culture’ at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London presents some 350 objects in a survey of Iranian visual and material culture from around 3200 BC to the present day, focusing primarily on small objects, manuscripts and textiles as well as modern and contemporary painting and photography. At the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, ‘Persia: Iran and the Classical World’ (scheduled to open in March 2022), will explore the many exchanges between ancient Iran and the Mediterranean throughout the rise and fall of Iran’s great empires.

Before their rapid ascent to becoming the Iranian kings of kings – an ancient Western Asian imperial title used by the Achaemenids before them – the Sasanians ruled as local kings of the south-western province of Persia amid the ruined palaces and tomb monuments of the first Persian empire. The Sasanians, however, understood their own dynasty to have originated from the ancient and legendary Kayanids, celebrated in the Zoroastrian religion’s sacred texts and in contemporary oral epic traditions. Although the Sasanians were not able to read the Old Persian cuneiform inscriptions, their own Middle Persian inscriptions contain many themes and phrases present in the Achaemenid inscriptions suggesting a robust oral tradition, which amalgamated the historical Achaemenids with Iranian epic and Zoroastrian religious historiography as preserved in the Avesta, the oldest Zoroastrian texts. Like the Achaemenids, the Sasanians understood their empire to spiral out from Persia, and conceived of themselves as battling the forces of evil to set the world in its proper god-given order.

Cameo showing Shabuhr I capturing the Roman emperor Valerian (after 260), Sasanian. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

The Sasanian empire was founded when Ardaxshir I (r. 224–c. 242) revolted from his overlord, the Parthian king of kings Ardawan IV, defeating and killing him in the Battle of Hormozgan. After mopping up resistance in northern Iran, Ardaxshir I took control of the Iranian plateau and pushed into Mesopotamia and Syria, soon bringing him into conflict with the Romans. His son and successor Shabuhr I (c. 242–272) expanded the empire eastward into northern India at the expense of the Kushan empire and westward into Roman territory, raiding several important Roman cities and deporting their inhabitants, including those of Antioch. Turning back several Roman armies, Shabuhr I even captured the Roman emperor Valerian (and held him prisoner until his death in 260), which he celebrated in his later monumental rock reliefs and luxury objects.

Head of a king (c. 4th century), Sasanian. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Ardaxshir I named his empire Erānshahr, the ‘Empire of the Iranians’, adapting the ancient religious concept of the ‘Iranian Expanse’ – the eastern Iranian ‘holy land’ and one of the legendary homelands of the Iranians. While used in a religious sense in early Zoroastrian texts and by the Achaemenids to designate their ethno-ruling class, ‘Iran’ and ‘Iranian’ were employed by the Sasanians for the first time in history in a unitary religious, ethnic, social and political sense. As they took supreme power, they soon laid claim to the more expansive eastern Iranian legacies of the mythological Peshdadian and Kayanid ‘dynasties’ who presided over the first golden ages of the earth as well as fought against dragons, demons and evil non-Iranian usurpers. This mythological history, present in the texts of the nascent Zoroastrian religion, appealed to a wider number of Iranian peoples beyond Persia. After his victories over the Roman armies and successful invasion of northern India, Shabuhr I proclaimed himself to be ‘King of Kings of Iranians and Non-Iranians’.

Despite setbacks, the new empire contended with, and often defeated, the economic and military might of the Roman empire and resisted the military pressures of the steppe while harnessing trade over sea and land. Aided by the reforms of Husraw I, by the late sixth century the Sasanians had forged from heterogenous crown lands, client kingdoms, semi-autonomous city-states, and aristocratic estates a centralised empire. With mercantile networks that extended from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea, the ‘Empire of the Iranians’ exercised power over Mesopotamia, Iran, portions of the Caucasus, South and Central Asia, and briefly during the empire’s apogee under Husraw II (590–628), Egypt, Anatolia, and Thrace, to the walls of late Roman Constantinople. By the late empire, the Sasanian court had produced an epic history, the Xwadāy-nāmag (The Book of Lords), the inspiration for Ferdowsi’s medieval poem the Shāhnāma (The Book of Kings), which presented the dynasty as the inheritors of an Iranian tradition of kingship that began with the first king of humanity.

Rock relief of Ardaxshir I (r. 224–c. 242) at the Achaemenid necropolis, Naqsh-e Rostam, Iran. Photo: © Matthew P. Canepa

To support their claim to royal power, the Sasanians repurposed and reinterpreted venerable ruins such as the Achaemenid necropolis of Naqsh-e Rostam and the palace of Persepolis, splicing the old ‘Achaemenid-Kayanid’ sites, with new Sasanian monuments, inscriptions and rituals. Parts of Persepolis were rebuilt and served as a fire temple and one of the empire’s coronation sites. At the old Achaemenid necropolis of Naqsh-e Rostam the Sasanian kings carved monumental rock reliefs into the living rock below the Achaemenid tombs. Moreover, Shabuhr I details in an inscription carved into the site’s Achaemenid tower the foundation of a memorial cult centred around sacred fires. Functioning as both reliquary and stage set, they connected the Sasanians not just to historical kings but also to the Iranian past stretching back to the beginning of time.

The Sasanians also built new sanctuaries, palaces and thrones that they presented as primordially ancient. Some had been sacred sites for centuries but were lavishly rebuilt, such as the sanctuary at Kuh-e Khwaja, which marked the site where, according to Zoroastrian eschatology, the Future Saviour would emerge to fight the final battles between good and evil. Others were ‘newly ancient’ sites created ex novo to buttress their burgeoning imperial cosmology and new vision of the Iranian past. For example, the fire at the grand temple of Adur Gushnasp in Iranian Azerbaijan was understood to have existed since the beginning of time, though archaeological investigations prove that the first building phase of the complex commenced only in the fifth century, not coincidentally, around the same time the empire lost control of much of its eastern Iranian ‘holy land’ to Central Asian invaders. In the late Sasanian empire, the Iranian king of kings was understood to reign at the cosmological centre of the earth with other lands and peoples in constellation around him. Sasanian palaces and audience halls encompassed a stunning array of spatial and topographical symbols to manifest this royal vision, and their domed and vaulted palace and temple architecture pushed premodern engineering to its limits. Although it has suffered over the ages, the arch of their main palace in Ctesiphon remains the largest brick arch in existence.

The Great Palace of the Sasanian kings (the Taq-e Kesra) (c. 6th–7th century), Aspanbar (present-day Iraq), photographed by Marcel Dieulafoy before 1888

The interiors of the palace not only modelled Sasanian cosmology but also animated it before the eyes of the king, court, and foreign envoys. Late antique and medieval sources note that Sasanian audience halls and banqueting halls alike contained fixed places, which were specially assigned to each member of the Iranian aristocratic hierarchy, from his high officials to the governors and nobles of the realm, to minor court functionaries. The proximity of a courtier’s place to that of the sovereign manifested his relative stature and importance, and if the king of kings became displeased, a courtier’s place in the audience hall or his banqueting cushions could be moved or removed completely. This spatial map also included places for all the sovereigns of the world as well as members of Iranian courtly society. The four golden thrones provided around that of the king of kings for the emperors of Rome, China, India and the steppe were of course never occupied by any actual emperors, but presented them as servants of the Iranian king of kings who could be rewarded or punished at will like a disgraced courtier.

The space of the audience hall expanded to encompass symbolically not only the seven continents, but also the entire cosmos. Descriptions of miraculous Sasanian thrones or throne rooms appear in a variety of post-Sasanian literary sources, including evidence from multiple corroborating traditions. These include Roman campaign dispatches, reports of the Arab sack of the empire’s sprawling administrative centre in Mesopotamia clustering around Ctesiphon in AD 637, medieval Islamic chronicles and poetic remembrances deriving from Sasanian court propaganda, and later tenth-century eyewitness accounts of the ruins in geographical texts. The audience hall at the sanctuary of Adur Gushnasp (modern Takht-e Solayman) is said to have been equipped with automata to create artificial thunder and rain and portrayed the king of kings in heaven among the heavenly spheres and angels. The enormous throne that Husraw II built in the royal district outside Ctesiphon portrayed the heavens, zodiac and the seven continents in its vault as well as a mechanism that told time, which according to some descriptions, consisted of a vault that moved in time with the night sky.

Much like Sasanian art in general, the Sasanian royal image represents the final stage of transformation of the traditions of ancient Mesopotamia, as well as Iranian and Central Asian Hellenism, while marking the emergence of the new medieval visual cultures of the Mediterranean and Western Asia. But compared to the conservatism of the Achaemenid and, for that matter, the Seleucid and Roman imperial image, Sasanian kings revelled in variety and innovation. The Sasanian court produced a repertoire of simple yet powerful themes and iconographies that appear in a range of media. As indicated by coinage, which provides the most complete record of how Sasanian rulers represented themselves, all kings wore a personal crown distinguished by increasingly complex combinations of astral divine symbols, such as solar rays, lunar crescents, stars and wings. According to literary sources each king’s royal costume differed in colour and ornament. The image of the king dominates all aspects of Sasanian art and appears in a wide variety of media, including architectural reliefs in stucco, fresco, silver vessels, rock crystal, semi-precious stones, cameos, seals, and textile. Even enemies grudgingly described the Sasanian sovereign’s court costume as visually overwhelming – and envoys of rival empires counted themselves fortunate to view the Iranian king in his glory, dripping with pearls, glinting jewels and shimmering gold-stitched robes resplendent with representations of supernatural creatures.

Plate with king with the crown of Shabuhr II slaying a stag (c. late 4th century), Sasanian, Iran. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum, London

Sasanian precious metal vessels and silk robes of honour represent two of the great artistic and political traditions of late antique Western Asia. Transmitted materially and reinterpreted conceptually, they were one of the key mediums wherein Roman, Iranian, Indian, Turkic and Chinese tastes commingled and competed over centuries, and the rituals involving their gifting and use survived until the early modern period. Sasanian silver served two primary purposes within and eventually beyond the frontiers of the Persian Empire. A special group of objects were specifically designed to bring the royal image before the eyes of the great and minor nobility in a medium that was intrinsically precious. The most popular types of vessels portrayed the king hunting a variety of quarry. These vessels were, in a sense, portable and distributable monuments, supplementing the static repertoire of the early rock reliefs and offering a variation of the themes known through literary sources and stucco fragments that graced palace interiors and the landscape of the empire.

A larger group of objects played a more practical, though certainly not prosaic role, as tableware for the bazm, the formal banquets in which the ritualised consumption of wine was a prominent feature. While many vessels were created for provincial gentry at their own tables, a small number of objects were gifts from the courts of high officials and even the king of kings. They rendered a courtier socially and politically visible and powerful, albeit always dependent on largesse flowing from the king of kings. In this the vessels were part of the same symbolic order as the banqueting cushions that marked a courtier’s place at the bazm (and, consequently, his social standing), and the rich clothing, elaborate headgear, belts, and jewellery that the king bestowed on them to be worn at table.

Finely woven Sasanian textiles were the envy of the world and their innovative ornamental patterns lived on for centuries after the fall of the empire. Iranian textile ornament became increasingly entangled with Central Asian trends, Sasanian figural ornament being imitated widely by the Sogdians, an eastern Iranian people who were the great mercantile middlemen of Eurasia. Once the empire fell and sumptuary restrictions evaporated within Iran (and associating closely with an enemy became irrelevant), waves of Sasanian-inspired textiles flooded Eurasia and became part of the visual repertoire of power for many who had previously just viewed them from afar. Elites in China, Korea and Japan all prized Iranian silver and glass and a comparison among objects found in tombs and temple treasuries around the Sea of Japan illustrate this transregional and transcontinental aristocratic taste for Iranian luxury tableware, silver and silk.

Textile portraying a creature symbolic of the Iranian Royal Fortune (xwarrah) (7th–8th century), Eastern Iran. Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In the face of the inexorable advance of the Arab armies through the Iranian Plateau, the last Sasanian king, Yazdgerd III, fled towards China but was killed in 651 in Merv. His sons and descendants lived on as a court in exile in China, serving as Tang officials for several generations. Despite Islam’s subsequent expansion into eastern Iran and Central Asia, Iranian aristocratic traditions lived on among local Iranian elites in the highlands of the former Sasanian Empire and in Sogdiana, and the Abbasid caliphs looked to Sasanian court protocols for inspiration. More importantly, Sasanian kingship became the touchstone for the development of later royal and aristocratic identities under Islam in Iran and Central Asia as breakaway states emerged from the Caliphate’s sprawling holdings. With Persianate culture as an aristocratic common culture from the Balkans to Bengal, the early modern empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals all shared an appreciation for Persian culture and this ancient heritage. The Sasanian dynastic history became the ultimate historical referent, joining Islam as a source of legitimacy for Muslim kings as well as a framework for understanding interstate relations and the cosmic order, and for living a noble, cultivated life.

‘Epic Iran’ opens at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, on 29 May 2021.

Benazir Bhutto said to have been his patient

One of Karachi’s most famous gynaecologists, Dr Faridoon Setna, FRCOG, has passed away, according to information on Saturday.

His funeral prayers will be held at 9am on Sunday at 8th Mary Road, Bath Island in Karachi, according to the Setna family.

“In light of the prevailing Covid pandemic, the arrangements will be for the family and close friends only, but we will deeply appreciate your prayers,” they said in a statement.

Dr Sethna was the Clinical Director of The Fertility Clinic. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, UK and did his training in Scotland. He was the former Medical Superintendent of the Lady Dufferin Hospital, in Karachi, and was awarded the Sitara-e-Imtiaz for his contributions to the field of maternal medicine in Pakistan.

He worked in the field for over 50 years and was known for dealing with high-risk obstetrics, complex gynecological problems and infertility treatments. He was one of the most experienced practitioners in Pakistan in the field of infertility and helped hundreds of couples to conceive through IVF.

“Heartbroken that old friend,comrade, doctor, and humanitarian par excellence, Dr Faridoon Setna passed away,” Senator Sherry Rehman wrote on Twitter. “His philanthropy was legendary.”

Sindh CM’s adviser Murtaza Wahab called it terrible news, adding that Dr Setna was his family doctor.

“Visited his clinic many times & was always surprised to see people from all strata of society come to him,” he said. “A very kind & humane professional who will always be remembered.”

Who do you think you are? The esteemed Indian ancestor no one in my white British family knew about

Image: Ardaseer Cursetjee, the first South Asian Fellow of the Royal Society, has been awarded a blue plaque from English Heritage

Today, a blue plaque will be unveiled on a west London house to a man they describe as “the first modern engineer of India”.

The plaque is part of a series in which English Heritage has set about trying to promote the under-recognised historical contribution to Britain of people from diverse communities – by marking the houses where they have lived, as hundreds of white historical figures have already been.

Article by Philip Whiteside | Sky News

Others in the series who also now have blue plaques include Reggae legend Bob Marley, Noor Inayat Khan, a wartime special operations agent, Ottabah Cugoano, an author and anti-slavery campaigner, and the physicist Abdus Salam.

It is a special moment for me because Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia – the latest person from a diverse community to get a plaque – was my great-great-great grandfather.

It is also particularly poignant because he is an ancestor who, until 12 years ago, no one in my family – one we thought was entirely British – knew about.

Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia now has a plaque in his honour because he was the first South Asian to be elected to the Royal Society, Britain’s oldest national scientific institution, and was subsequently the first Indian to be placed in charge of British workers in the East India Company, where he was chief engineer.

Born in 1808 into an already successful family called the Wadias, who built ships for the East India Company (EIC) in Bombay, he quickly fostered an interest in the latest scientific developments.

He was the first to use gas lighting in Bombay when he illuminated his house and garden and showed it off to the then provincial governor, the Earl of Clare.

But he was also fascinated by steam power and installed engines of his own design in his family’s ships, at a time when there were very few in use outside of Europe, and pioneered the use of steam to pump water for agriculture in India.

Image: The HSC Semiramis, a steam ship of the type that Ardaseer Cursetjee would have maintained in India. Pic: Philip Whiteside, from The Bombay Dockyard and the Wadia Master Builders, RA Wadia

Steam was the cutting edge of technology at the time and perhaps equivalent to the highest-performance electric vehicle engines, or clean-burning jet engines, of today.

The EIC spotted his talents and in 1839 he was sent to the UK for the first time to improve his knowledge.

Although relatively unknown until recently, his travels to and around early-Victorian Great Britain are actually well-documented as he wrote a diary that was published.

He travelled from Bombay, as everyone did at the time, by ship to Egypt, then, overland via Cairo to Alexandria, then through the Mediterranean to London where he rented a house in Poplar, east London.

While in England, he was presented to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at a private reception ceremony in St James’s Palace and gave evidence to a parliamentary select committee, which included William Gladstone and Sir Robert Peel.

Image: Queen Victoria

And it was around this time, because of his prior achievements, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) – the hallowed bastion of scientific progress which had been viewed as the nation’s principal arena for invention and understanding since the 17th century.

Ardaseer attended Royal Society meetings many times, along with the meetings of numerous other scientific organisations, mixing freely with the great and the good of the day.

When he returned to Bombay, he was appointed the chief inspector of machinery (i.e. the head) of the Bombay Steam Factory, responsible for maintaining all the steamship operations at the time for the EIC and later the Indian Navy.

It meant he was in charge of up to 700 men, including “many English” and “a great many” other Europeans. His only superior, by his own account, was the commander-in-chief of the Indian Navy – something unheard of at that time.

I had no idea about any of this until my mother – who had been carrying out family research of the type made popular by the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are? – emailed me in 2009 and told me she had found an ancestor with an unusual name.

Image: The marriage certificate that identified Ardaseer Cursetjee as part of Philip Whiteside’s family

The man was listed on a marriage record my mother had found as the father of my great-great-grandmother and a quick Google search found details about him on the Royal Society website.

It was something of a surprise – an entirely pleasant one. But, until that point – as I still do – I had answered every question on racial identity on job applications or census returns as “White British”, assuming I had no other ancestry in the family.

It posed a huge list of questions – how could we be descended from not just an Indian, but someone who was relatively esteemed in their day, and not know about it?

In 2012, I decided during a career break to go to India to find out about it, travelling overland as Ardaseer had done, to try to answer those questions.

As it turned out, a distant relative had already been working on getting some answers for some time and was able to fill me in.

Image: The Royal Society headquarters in Carlton House Terrace, St James’s, central London. Pic: Philip Whiteside

The relative, Blair Southerden, found out that Ardaseer was married in India before he left for England in 1839, with Indian children, and lived in Bombay, apparently quite contentedly, for some ten years after returning in 1841.

But in 1851 he returned to England, by his own account on sick leave, bringing with him his son. The exact chronology of where he went during this trip is not fully clear but it is known he crossed the Atlantic to visit Boston, Massachusetts, possibly being among the earliest Indians to do so.

But what was most unclear was how he might have met my great-great-great grandmother, a woman listed in most records as Marian Barber, whose parents lived in Mile End, east London.

Image: Philip Whiteside, on the Italy-Greece leg of his own journey following in the footsteps of his ancestor Ardaseer Cursetjee in 2012

Her family were far from wealthy and most definitely did not move in the same circles as Ardaseer – her father was a messenger in the customs service and they appeared thoroughly working class.

What Blair had managed to find out, and later had published in the journal Genealogist, was that Marian and Ardaseer had three children, the first in late 1853, called Lowjee Annie – partially after the founder of the Wadia dynasty Lowjee Nusserwanjee – the second in 1856, and the third, my great-great-grandmother Florence, in 1859.

What was also intriguing was that the first two children were born in Bombay and Florence was born near to the Royal Courts of Justice in central London.

Blair had been told that Ardaseer returned to Bombay in February 1853, apparently taking with him, according to one historian, equipment for wood cutting. After the trip, he is also said to have introduced photography and electroplating to Bombay.

Image: Bombay’s wharf, where people arriving from the UK would disembark. Pic: Philip Whiteside, courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, India

The best theory as to how Marian could have crossed paths with Ardaseer and formed such a close relationship was that she may have been his nurse, as he had some ailments at the time, or had met him on one of the voyages to or from London.

Despite two weeks in Mumbai (previously Bombay), I was unable to shed any light on how they met, but I carried on researching when I got home.

At the time, large amounts of printed documents and newspapers were being digitised, which was making historical research available to amateurs like myself.

Eventually I found a series of entries in journals of the time that showed he had stayed in England longer than we had previously thought and would have been in London around the time when Ardaseer and Marian’s first child was conceived.

Among them was another pair of Hansard records that showed him giving evidence to both House of Lords and Commons select committees in March 1853, to panels of Lords and MPs including Benjamin Disraeli.

Image: Ships being constructed in the Bombay Dockyards in the 19th century. Pic: Philip Whiteside, courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, India

The records I found showed it was his servants that returned home in February 1853. Perhaps he had stayed on to give evidence to parliament, leaving him without anyone to help at home.

The most logical conclusion to me was that Marian, as a local working class woman – who we had been completely unable to locate on any censuses up until that point – must have had sought employment, perhaps as a housemaid, and ended up being taken on by Ardaseer until he left the UK.

It’s speculation but the rest, as they say, is history – or at least family history.

Marian somehow moved to Bombay and they clearly continued their relationship – how secretly we shall never know. How difficult she found it we will also never know, but if she was kept secret it must have been extremely isolating for her – bringing up two children in the back-streets of Bombay, unable to integrate with the rest of society.

Image: Bombay’s harbour during the period of control by the East India Company. Pic: Philip Whiteside, courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, India

She returned to London in 1859 and, it appears, Ardaseer did too, around the same time.

It could have been an unhappy story; so many stories from that time feature men who abandon women who they have relationships with.

Thankfully, this one was not.

Despite having an Indian family – including several children who went on to found successful businesses in Bombay and grow very rich – he set up home in London, appearing on the census several times after that with Marian and their children. Periodically, it appears he returned to Bombay, possibly for work, but probably to see his Indian family.

His last location was in Richmond, at the house he also named after his dynasty’s founder.

Thanks to Blair, who put forward Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia’s name to English Heritage, that house – at 55 Sheen Road, Richmond upon Thames – had the plaque installed on Tuesday that showed he made it the home that concluded his British legacy.

Image: The blue plaque to Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia, on the house at 55 Sheen Road, Richmond, London

Ardaseer died in 1877, leaving a will acknowledging Marian’s children as his own and was buried in Brookwood cemetery, Surrey.

Whether his other, British, family and departure for England had an impact on his legacy in India is hard to determine.

He was commemorated in 1969 in India with a stamp but at the time I started my research was not widely known as the first Indian FRS, with some in India writing on blogs they believed a mathematician called Srinivasa Ramanujan held that honour.

Image: Ardaseer Cursetjee, featuring on an Indian stamp from 1969. Pic courtesy Blair Southerden

His Indian direct descendants are the Wadia dynasty, some of whom head up a firm worth billions of dollars. Today, they are on India’s rich list.

It’s perhaps less hard to fathom why Ardaseer’s name remained unknown to my family. As well as my immediate relatives, Ardaseer has dozens of other descendants living in the UK.

While it is difficult to accept there may have been racism in anyone’s family in the past, it undoubtedly existed widely at that time. But, even if it was not buried because of racism, Ardaseer’s daughter Florence later suffered a mental illness that led to her being institutionalised in an asylum – something that could have been influenced by attitudes to people of dual heritage at the time. Consequently, hidden from society until her death many years later, she became forgotten, or at least unspoken about.

Image: Lowjee Nusserwanjee Wadia, the founder of the Wadia dynasty, Pic: Philip Whiteside, courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, India

But, besides the story of Ardaseer’s family being a fascinating insight into the past, his getting a plaque is doubly satisfying because it underlines the achievements of a man who has been long overlooked.

English Heritage’s Dr Rebecca Preston, who carried out the research confirming the location of his house, says he was remarkably pioneering for his day.

She told Sky News: “He was very clever, very passionate, and although he trained to be a marine architect, it was steam that really drove him. Obviously, he’s most associated now with applying steam to ships.

“He also used steam engines for agricultural purposes in India but the advancement of steam-powered navigation is his key legacy. But his interests spread, and he introduced gaslight, electroplating, photography and various other new technologies to India.”

Image: The grave of Ardaseer Cursetjee at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. Pic: Philip Whiteside

“He’s at the forefront of advancing science and engineering in modern India, I think.”

What his and my story may also hint at is how many other people may have ancestors in their lineage that may surprise them.

Dr Preston adds: “The very fact of (Britain) having an empire and it being a seafaring nation meant that it was possible for people to mix with people from other places (and there may, as a result, be many of mixed heritage).”

“As to how many, I couldn’t say, but I’m sure this must be the case, going back hundreds of years.”

Part of the reason for English Heritage’s call for more figures from diverse communities to be nominated for plaques is to recognise how many in the past played significant roles and were present in British life, even if this has been hidden from history or they are overlooked today.

Dr Preston added: “We rely on the public to nominate notable individuals for a blue plaques, we don’t do the nominating.

“So hopefully, as more are suggested, we’ll be seeing more people of colour, of mixed heritage being recognised with a plaque on buildings in London where they lived or worked.”

Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia (1808-1877), a pioneering naval engineer and former member of the Society has recently been awarded an English Heritage London blue plaque marking the 180^th anniversary of being the first South Asian to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. The plaque will be placed at 55 Sheen Road in Richmond where he spent the last 10 years of his life with his British family. Ardaseer died there on the 16^th November 1877, aged 69.

Article by Emma Jones | Royal Asiatic Society

Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia (1808-1877). Image courtesy of Blair Southerdern. Copyright: 2021 East India Company at Home 1757-1857 https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/eicah/ships-steam-and-innovation-case-study/ships-steam-and-innovation-an-indian-shipbuilding-dynasty/

Ardaseer Cursetjee was the son of Cursetjee Rustomjee of the wealthy Wadia family of shipbuilders and naval architects. He was particularly interested in the application of steam power for maritime use. However, his fascination with technology was not just confined to shipbuilding as he is also credited with the introduction of photography and sewing machines to Bombay.

In 1837, Ardaseer was elected a non-resident member of the Royal Asiatic Society and in 1839, at the age of 31, he travelled to England to further his studies of marine steam power on behalf of the East India Company. His journey is described in The Diary of an Overland Journey from Bombay to England, which was published in London in 1840. On arrival in London, he worked with John and Samuel Seaward who were early advocates of auxiliary steam power on ships. He was elected an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers, gave evidence on the ‘opium question’ in the House of Commons, and was presented to Queen Victoria. On 27th May 1841, Ardaseer was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. The nomination, made by Spencer Compton, Marquess of Northampton, the then President of the Royal Society, describes him as a “gentleman well-versed in the theory and practice of naval architecture and devoted to scientific pursuits.” He remained Chief Engineer at the Bombay Docks until 1 August 1857, when he retired and returned to England where he lived until his death.

The Society holds portraits of Ardaseer’s great-uncle, Jamsetjee Bomanjee (1756-1821) and uncle, Nourojee Jamsetjee Wadia (1774-1860) who were also master shipbuilders. The portraits are currently on long loan to the Museum of London but can be viewed in the Society’s Digital Library.

RAS 01.007-01.008 Jamsetjee Bomanjee (1756-1821) and his son, Nourojee Jamsetjee (1774-1860), Parsi master shipbuilders. Both figures wear shawls that were customarily presented by representatives of the East India Company on the launch of a new ship.

More information about Ardaseer and his family can be read in the following blog post: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/eicah/ships-steam-and-innovation-case-study/ships-steam-and-innovation-an-indian-shipbuilding-dynasty/ To find out more about the blue plaque scheme please visit  www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques

Blue plaque at 55 Sheen Road in Richmond. Copyright: English Heritage

Opium, Silk and the Missionaries in China Exhibition:

On Monday (17^th May), staff from the Society were invited to a preview of an exhibition at the SOAS Brunei Gallery entitled ‘Opium, Silk and the Missionaries in China’.

Exhibition Poster

The exhibition draws on several collections using objects and artefacts to examine the history of the Opium Wars, silk production and missionary work in China.

On display is a letter dated the 24^th May 1836, from the British merchant, Thomas Weeding to Captain Harkness, Secretary of the RAS.  He offers to donate ‘The Grand Chop’ ( the Chinese customs’ clearance document ) of The Sarah, the first independent commercial ship to dock in London from Canton after the East India Company had lost its trade monopoly.

Thomas Weeding letter: GB 891 RAS COLL3/2/2/8 The catalogue entry for this letter can be found here:

The Society’s Librarian Edward Weech with the Curator of the exhibition, Iris Yau.

The exhibition is now open to the public and visitors will need to pre-book their ticket by visiting this page. The exhibition will run until the 26^th June 2021 and will be open Tuesday-Saturday (11am-5pm).

The Gujarat High Court has issued notice on a petition filed by Surat Parsi Panchayat Board seeking permission to perform Dokhmenashini, a customary practice among the Parsi community of putting the dead body in a tower of silence, even for those who succumb to Covid-19.

Article by Akshita Saxena | Live Law

The Petitioner, represented by Advocate Manan Bhatt, has stated that they have a fundamental right to perform the last rites of its community members in accordance with their religious practices and they cannot be forced to opt for burial or cremation.

It is submitted that presently, there is no law or notification which explicitly prohibits Dokhmenashini. However, the Central Guidelines on management of Covid-19 dead bodies prescribe only cremation and burial as the two modes of disposal, and it is completely silent on other religious practices.

“There is no evidence of corona virus being spread through dead body. Therefore, there is no reason to deny the decent funeral to the petitioners’ members.

By not allowing the petitioners to follow their religious mandate, the fundamental rights as protected under Articles 14,19,21,25,26 and 29 are being violated without any reason, whatsoever,” the plea states.

It is argued that there is no scientific proof available that a dead body can transmit Covid 19. On the contrary the research shows that it is transmitted through living being only.

The matter is fixed for consideration on May 27.

As per the petition:

Dokhmenashini is a religious practice among the Parsi community wherein the dead body is kept at a height in a structure referred to as “well/tower of silence” to be eaten by vultures and the remains being exposed to Sun to be decomposed. The well is situated at secluded place and only accessible to “nasheshalars” who handle the dead body and place it in the well.

Alternative method of disposal of dead body through cremation is said to be against the faith and religious ethos of Parsi Community as they consider ‘Fire’ as an agent of purity, whereas the dead body is considered to be impure.

Similarly, burial is not possible for the reason that there is no burial ground allocated to Parsi Ground and furthermore, burial is considered by Parsis to be as sinful as cremation, since it pollutes the ground and surrounding.

On May 16^th, 2021, the Southern Californian Zoroastrian Community gathered for the first time in many months at the ZAC Community Hall after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

The community was also fortunate to be able to celebrate the achievement of four young Zoroastrian Scouts who were awarded the Good Life Zoroastrian Emblem by Rooky Fitter, President of ZAC and Homi Gandhi, Immediate Past President, FEZANA.

The Good Life program is designed to offer Zoroastrian youth aged twelve to eighteen residing in the US, an award that culminates their religious educational experience and is also recognized by scouting organizations such as BSA.

During a brief presentation Homi Gandhi gave a touching recount of the history of the program and his family’s significant involvement in the preparation of the original Good Life booklet.

The four Scouts Zane Commissariat, Avamehr Vaghaiwalla, Rashna Vaghaiwalla, and Rishad Vaghaiwalla, completed the year-long program, after fulfilling the religious education and community service requirements.

L to R: Rooky Fitter, Zane Commissariat, Avamehr Vaghaiwalla, Rishad Vaghaiwalla, Rashna Vaghaiwalla, Homi Gandhi

The Good Life Zoroastrian Emblem

Learn more about the Good Life program here https://zagny.org/goodlife/

Mark Manuel’s tribute to Dr. MAZDA …

The Irani doctor of Dahanu has gone, flying away…

I bring sad news. Dr. Behramshah Mazda, MBBS, of Dahanu is no more. The message came on Whatsapp: “Your Flying Doc just passed away this morning. Lost his battle against Covid.” This is a season of disease and death. And losing somebody to Covid is heartbreaking. But it’s also tragic here because the victim was a doctor himself. He must have treated hundreds of thousands in his day as Dahanu’s go-to doctor. Poor people, free. Everybody trusted the burly, blustery Irani and knew him as the coastal town’s Flying Doc. Even me, though I’m not from this hometown of Zoroastrian Iranis.

Dr. Mazda was known as the Flying Doc in Dahanu because he flew an ultralight aircraft. He took me up once and I swore, if I got away with my life, I would never fly again. I was writing on the Dahanu Thermal Power Station that was becoming an ecological disaster. The hospitable Iranis invited me to have dinner with them. Some grew lychees. Others chickoos. There were also bakers and restaurateurs. There was only one doctor and he was also an aviator. Dr. Mazda was an excitable person as well. He convinced me to fly over Dahanu in his ultralight aircraft next morning. I was lightheaded with local toddy and recklessly agreed.

I thought he had a small plane like what JRD flew from Karachi to Bombay in 1932. Or a crop-duster aircraft used to spray pesticide over fields. I wondered where Dr. Mazda parked his ultralight because Dahanu had no airport. I met him on Dahanu beach at 7 am next morning. He was beside a strange contraption. Like a tricycle with a motor, propeller and hang-glider’s wings. It had two tiny seats. I looked at it in disbelief. “Ready for take-off,” he boisterously asked, giving me a helmet and strapping himself down with a seat-belt. I sat behind. Holding his shoulders. And rested my feet on his seat.

The propeller whirred, the motor sputtered, and Dr. Mazda gave the ultralight acceleration. Its controls was a crossbar between the wings. We taxied down the beach and jerkily took off. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I held my breath, Dahanu was a green forest of chickoo wadis, Parsi-Irani mansions, and modern bungalows with swimming pools and big cars spread beneath my feet. Dr. Mazda headed for the gigantic and ugly power station with sinister dome-shaped buildings and chimneys puffing out black smoke. I squeezed his neck in alarm. “If you strangle me, who will bring us down,” Dr. Mazda choked in protest.

He took us over Daman. “That’s the Coast Guard Station,” he indicated jerking his head, “If I fly closer they might shoot us down.” I squeezed his neck again. After 20 minutes of flirting with the Gods and elements, Dr. Mazda brought us back to Dahanu beach. The little flying tricycle plunged down in terrifying jolts, buffeted by air currents that threatened to take us up again, the sea restlessly pounding few  metres away. “Ready for landing,” Dr. Mazda shouted, laughing like mad. And like a Boeing coming in to land, we rode the air currents carefully so that the ultralight did not suddenly lose height and plunge into the sea.

I spoke to Dr. Mazda last year. He had given up flying after 35 years. A Coast Guard Station coming up at Dahanu had banned flying as a security threat. To get permission he had to submit a flight plan. “That was a headache. It was a hobby. But the guy upstairs was telling me, enough! Now it’s dangerous to fly a kite in Dahanu,” he said humorously. I don’t know when he went down to Covid. But I understand he put up a fight. All of Dahanu praying for him. Yesterday he came off the ventilator and was recovering. But this morning he was gone. I like to think Dr. Mazda’s now flying over Dahanu, free as a bird, on favourable winds. Garothman Behest Hojoji.

Next Hearing To Take Place On June 9; Parsi Trust’s Petition Says Burial Or Cremation Of Parsis Succumbing To Covid-19 Is Against Their Religion

The Central government on Thursday sought time from the Gujarat High Court to file its reply to a petition seeking right to perform customary burial of Parsis succumbing to Covid. At present, as per the central government Covid norms, Parsis are either buried or cremated against their traditional burial Dokhmenashini that involves placing the dead body in the Tower of Silence while exposed to sun.

The counsel for the central government sought time to file the reply by saying that they are yet to receive the copy of the plea. The state government’s reply would depend on the stand taken by the Centre which has been given time till June 8 to file its reply. HC will hear the case on June 9.What the petition says The petition was filed by Surat Parsi Panchayat Board citing lack of scientific evidence that a dead body can transmit Covid-19. The court had issued notices to the central government, the state government, Surat Municipal Corporation and the Surat Collector.

The plea said authorities were not allowing the community members to follow their religious right which is fully protected under the Constitution. Instead, they were being forced to opt for cremation or burial. The central government guideline on March 15 last year is silent about the mode of disposal of Parsis who died due to Covid-19.

It further said, “Fire is considered an agent of purity whereas the dead body is considered impure in Zoroastrianism. Therefore, disposal of dead bodies through cremation is against the faith and religious ethos of the Parsi Community. Moreover, the burial is not possible for the reason that there is no burial ground allocated to the community. The other communities, such as Muslims and Christians, do not allow others to use their burial grounds.”

It also said, “The practice of burial is not in accordance with the Parsi religious tenets. Ground burial is as sinful as cremation, since it pollutes the ground and surroundings. Hence, the only option available is a cremation. Disposal of their near and dear ones through cremation or burial, due to the misinterpretation of the present government guidelines, has subjected Parsis to immense emotional

trauma.”

We are deeply saddened to hear about the passing away of Soli Uncle. This is a huge loss for the community in North America and all over the world. Soli Uncle was a huge supporter of Parsi Khabar right since inception nearly two decades ago. He would regularly correspond with us either thanking us for highlighting something, or pulling us up when the information was inaccurate. We will miss his readership and we will forever be greatful for his mentorship and for his service to the community in the years gone by.

FEZANA informs us…..

In the passing away of Ervad Soli P. Dastur, the North American Zarathushti community has lost one of it’s leading lights. Soli Uncle, as he was fondly called has left a huge legacy and touched the lives of thousands he came in contact with.

On the request of the Dastur Family donations collected shall be used for the upliftment of Mobeds in Udvada and their housing and health and wellbeing needs.

Garothman Behest to Soli Uncle’s ruvan, and oGarothman Behest to Soli Uncle’s ruvan, and our condolences to JoAnn Aunty, his daughters Shirin & Anahita, his sons-in-law Marvin & Jimbo, his grandchildren Cristina (and Trey Cain), Allison, Taj, Zain & Nev, his siblings, nephews and nieces and the entire Dastur family in India.

As the youngest of 11 children Soli was in born in Tarapur, a small village, , to a priestly family from Udvada. he joined the M. F. Cama Athornan Institute, where he completed all the requirements for becoming Navar, Martab and Saamel and was initiated as a full-fledged Mobed in the Udvada Iranshah Atash Behram.

On completing his B. Chem. Eng. from the Bombay University, and M. S. and Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from the Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Soli joined the Procter & Gamble Co. in Cincinnati in 1964 and after retiring in 1994, he worked as a partner in the Partnering Group for 5 years.

An active member of the North American Mobed Council (NAMC) Soli has been performing Mobed duties all over Florida and North America wherever requested. In 2009 he started and continued for 8 years the first ever annual all Florida Muktad Gatha prayers in Miami, has conducted Religious classes  in Tampa, Orlando and Miami started a teleconferencing ZRC and conducted 17  Tele Classes. Soli has published 395 Weekly Zoroastrian Scripture Extracts (WZSE) with translation and audio recitations, distributed to over 900 people. He has contributed articles in WZO Hamazor and FEZANA  Journals.

He was awarded the Outstanding Zarathushti Award by FEZANA in 2010 at North American Zoroastrian Congress, Houston, and the  Distinguished Scholar Award in 2018 from NAMC at AGM in Washington DC and the Ervad Darab B. Unwalla Award for 25 years of dedicated service to ZAFat  the 25^th anniversary  of ZAF.in 2019

Soli retired and lived in Bradenton, Florida with his wife Jo Ann of 54 years. They have twin daughters, Shirin and Anahita and five grandchildren. Soli was an avid tennis player and dabbled with the computer in his free time.

A Jashan of Victory

  “….The Most courageous Beheram yazata then speaks unto him (i.e. seeker for help): I am the most courageous in courage, I am the most victorious in victory, I am the most glorious in glory; I am the most favored in favor, I am the most profitable in profit, I am the most health-giving in health.”- Behram Yasht  para 3 

A Behram Yazad Jashan will be performed at the ZAC Atashkadeh/Agiyary for Victory over the virus on Dae mah Behram roj, on

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

07:30 PM India,

8:00 PM Pakistan,

3:00 PM London,

7:00 AM Pacific,

9:00 AM Central,

10:00 AM Eastern

Also, DASTURJI DR. FIROZE M. KOTWAL’S message to our community will be readout.

What could be better than starting the month with a Jashan of Victory?

This Victorious Behram Yazad Jashan is performed to welcome better times especially in India, Pakistan and to bring about Health, Strength, Wealth, Longevity, and Happiness amongst our community members and all human beings.

Normally during Dae mahino (month), many of us have a Jashan performed in our homes, but due to current circumstances, we cannot. Hence, this is an excellent opportunity to stream the Jashan prayers in your home to receive an abundance of blessings through the Powerful Vibrations of our Mathravani prayers.

During the last Behram roj Jashan, we reached maximum capacity within the first 3 minutes of prayers. In order to facilitate everyone this time we have increased our capacity to 1000 participants.

Please attend this Jashan, Humbandagi, and DASTURJI Dr. KOTWAL’S message by clicking on the following

Topic: Behram Yazad Jashan to Achieve Victory over the virus & to Bring about Good Times

Join Zoom Meeting

Zoroastrian Association of California is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: The Behram Yazad Jashan of Victory

Time: Tuesday, June 1, 2021, 07:30 PM IST, 8:00 PM PKT, 3:00 PM BST, 7:00 AM Pacific time, 9:00 AM Central time, 10:00 AM Eastern time.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7522040799

Meeting ID: 752 204 0799

Passcode: #1jashan

This online webinar is organised by The Iran Heritage Foundation

Description

Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest religions and the exhibition Epic Iran, co-organised by the V&A and IHF, will feature a small number of objects exploring the history of its practice in ancient Iran. It became the state religion under the Sasanians, who ruled from 224 CE until the Arab conquest in 651. Many Zoroastrians subsequently fled Iran to avoid persecution and settled in the Indian subcontinent, where they became known as the Parsis.

Khojeste Mistree will give his take on some aspects of the history of the religion and its practice today, in discussion with Dr Sarah Stewart and Malcolm Deboo.

Date : Wednesday 9th June, 2021

5:00 PM London

12:00 noon NYC

9:30 PM Mumbai

9:00 AM Los Angeles

Biographies

Khojeste Mistree studied Oriental Studies at Oxford University under Prof. R.C. Zaehner and subsequently Prof. Mary Boyce. He co-founded Zoroastrian Studies, The Athravan Educational Trust, Mumbai and the World Alliance for Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ). He was elected Trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, the apex body of the Zoroastrian community (2008-2015).

Over the past four decades he has delivered many talks as well as workshops and seminars in India and abroad. He is the author of Zoroastrianism – An Ethnic Perspective and co-author of The Zarathushti Religion – A Basic Text.
  

Sarah Stewart is Senior Lecturer in Zoroastrian Studies at SOAS and co-chair of the SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies (SSPIZS). Formerly Deputy Director of the London Middle East Institute, she is co-convenor of the annual Idea of Iran series of symposia. She has written for numerous articles and books, and her most recent publication is the two-volume title: Voices from Zoroastrian Iran: Oral texts and testimony (2018, 2020). In 2013 she was the lead curator of the exhibition: The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, which toured to the National Museum in Delhi in 2016. Her research interests include oral traditions in Zoroastrianism and the living tradition in Iran and India.
  

Malcolm Deboo is the President of The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, a London-based charity established in 1861 to serve the Zoroastrian community in the UK and Europe. ZTFE remains the oldest established religious voluntary organisation in the UK of South Asian origin, currently based at the Zoroastrian Centre in the London Borough of Harrow. ZTFE represents the interests of the Zoroastrian community with the UK Government, interfaith, religious and educational institutions. In 2013 ZTFE secured the core funding for of the exhibition: The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS. Malcolm is also a Trustee of the Inter Faith Network, and the Co-Moderator of its Faith Communities Forum.

Tickets & info

This is a free online talk.  Please consider making a donation to IHF in lieu of a ticket fee either through our donations page or by contacting us directly.

Register here

The June monthly Ba Humata Lecture will be honoring Ervad Dr. Soli P. Dastur

Our Honorable Friend Dr. Ervad Soli P. Dastur passed away a few days ago. He served as the Guiding Light For Bahumata Prayer, Leadership and Entrepreneurship Program.

Ervad Dr. Soli P. Dastur was scheduled to be the Special Guest Speaker on June 6, 2021.

In his place Vada Dasturji Khurshed Dastur, High Priest Of Iranshah, Udvada will honor our Ervad Soli P. Dastur during this Program.

Please join to Honor a man who dedicated his life towards serving our community as well as Humanity.

May his life and selfless deeds continue to inspire us, and may his Fravashi protect us; so that like him, we may continue to work for the betterment of our community and humanity. Our community will truly miss a remarkable champion but his memories and legacy will last for many generations to come because he is one of the greatest teachers of our era.

Title: THE SPIRIT OF ZARATHUSHTRA, MARKING ZARATHUSHTRA’S LEGACY, Serving Unconditionally (Ushtavaiti Gatha And Yasna 8.7, and 12.2, 12.3)

Sunday, June 6, 2021

8:00 AM Pacific, 11:00 AM  Eastern, 3:00 PM GMT, 7:00 PM  Dubai, 7:30 PM Tehran, 8:30 PM Indian

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83408826220

Meeting ID: 834 0882 6220

Passcode: BAHUMATA

Speakers

Vada Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor

Ervad Zubin Dastoor (Singapore)

Ervad Ushaan Turel  (Hong Kong)

Dr. And Professor Negin Forouzesh, PhD (Iran And USA)

Tehmus Mistry (New Zealand)

Moderated by: Dr. Karishma Koka, PhD Founder, Host And Moderator of Ba Humata

More info at: Https://Ba-Humata.co.uk

They have, for centuries, left their dead to be devoured by scavenging birds and decay naturally atop circular raised structures known as dakhma or Tower of Silence.

But the pandemic has put a stop to this funeral rite for many Parsis, who now have to cremate Covid-19 victims.

Article by Debarshi Dasgupta | The Straits Times

The Parsis, a tiny Indian minority of less than 60,000, follow Zoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldest monotheistic religions, which prescribes veneration for natural elements such as fire and the earth. Cremation or burial defile these elements as dead bodies are considered impure.

However, the Zoroastrian sky burial practice has been proscribed by authorities in the case of Covid-19 victims to prevent any possible spread of infection.

This has brought anguish to many in the community who consider cremations as well as burials as heresy.

It is also believed prayers offered at traditional Zoroastrian funerals guarantee safe passage for a soul across the mythical Chinvat Bridge, or the “bridge of judgment”, that connects the world of the living and the afterlife of the dead.

The thought that his father may not have had such a safe passage tormented a Parsi man living in the state of Gujarat who was identified as Dr Mahiyar Patel in media reports. His father had to be cremated in April after dying of Covid-19. Aggrieved, Dr Patel allegedly created a “bogus High Court order” directing the Surat Parsi Panchayat Board (SPPB) to allow Zoroastrian funeral rites for Covid-19 victims.

He was arrested after the board, which manages affairs of the local Parsi community, complained to the police.

Nonetheless, the board filed a petition last month in the High Court of Gujarat seeking permission for the community to conduct funerals of Covid-19 victims according to Zoroastrian rites.

Not allowing Parsis to do so has “subjected them to immense emotional trauma”, the SPPB’s petition argues.

Mr Jamshed Dotivala, president of the SPPB, said at least 28 Parsis in the city of Surat have died because of Covid-19.

“Christians and Muslims have been given the privilege of burial. The Parsi community should also therefore be given permission to conduct dokhmenashini (Zoroastrian sky burial),” he told The Straits Times.

The total number of Covid-19 deaths among Parsis across India is reported to be around 180.

The court has sought a response from the authorities.

If dokhmenashini is permitted, the trust will decide on any extra precaution needed to conduct its traditional funeral rites, Mr Dotivala said.

The World Health Organisation has stated there is no evidence of any person becoming infected from exposure to bodies of people who died from Covid-19.

Parsis are descendants of Zoroastrians who came to India from present-day Iran. They first arrived seeking refuge from Arab Muslim persecution in Persia around the 8th century. They are a dwindling minority but nonetheless influential, with noted industrialists such as Ratan Tata and Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India that manufactures the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

Cremating their dead has, however, gained support among some Parsis in recent years. This has been driven, in part, by concerns around a precipitous fall in the population of vultures since the 1990s, which would feed on bodies.

Captive vulture breeding programmes were attempted in Mumbai, which is where a majority of the Parsis are based, but these plans never took off.

The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) has since installed solar reflectors at the towers to concentrate the sun’s rays on bodies to hasten decomposition but this is ineffective during the monsoon season.

Mr Jehangir Patel, editor and publisher of Parsiana, a semi-monthly magazine published in Mumbai, told The Straits Times that before the pandemic, around 15 per cent of Parsi families preferred to cremate their dead.

“It hasn’t gone up very much beyond that. Basically people still prefer the old system,” he said.

Parsis living in cities without any dakhma, such as in Delhi, have adopted burials.

While Mr Patel said the demand for sky burial of Parsi Covid-19 victims could be seen as legitimate, he added that it is difficult to say whether it is practical or in public interest.

“Some say a corpse does not transmit infection but then you have pallbearers carrying the body, you have got priests standing nearby and you have got relatives sitting in the closed room when prayers are recited,” he said.

“So there is an element of risk which is high and I am not sure if a court of law will take that risk.”

Deciding on an appropriate funeral for Covid-19 victims has further deepened the chasm between conservatives and reformists within the Parsi community, which is noted for its fierce adherence to its faith even to the point of eccentricity.

Certain families in Mumbai who had to cremate Covid-19 victims attempted to have funeral prayers recited near the dakhma as a compromise.

Mr Noshir H. Dadrawala, one of the seven BPP trustees, put forth such a proposal in June last year. It was backed by a Parsi high priest and was made after Mr Dadrawala was approached by a family that had lost a member to Covid-19 and had cremated the body.

However, this was shot down by other trustees of the BPP and priests, who felt it could lead to further dilution of traditional Parsi funeral rites in a post-pandemic world

“There is no reason or logic to this opposition. It is mindless dogma and blind adherence to faith,” Mr Dadrawala told ST.

He argued that such prayers were read in ancient times for those killed during war or overseas travel and whose bodies were not recovered.

“End of the day, these are Zoroastrian prayers recited by Zoroastrian priests and are more for the solace of the living than the dead.”

In the 1920s, long before the dawn of fake news, one Chinese man was told that Rabindranath Tagore had composed the Gujarati national anthem of the Parsi community that went: “We are old Zoroastrians”. The culprit was Adi Hakim, one of the “Super Six” khaki-clad Parsi cyclists who had endured brass band music as they set off from Lamington Road’s Gilder Tank ground on October 15, 1923 to fulfil a lofty dream: putting India on the global sports map by pedalling through the war-torn streets, snow-capped peaks, bone-melting deserts and dacoit-infested mountains across the world.

Article by Sharmila Ganesan Ram | Times of India

While three of these muscular Indian globetrotters from the Bombay Weightlifting Club–Keki Pochkhanawala, Nariman Kapadia and Gustad Hathiram–abandoned their saddles midway, the other three–Chira Bazaar’s athletic Rustom Bhumgara, six-foot-tall foodie Jal Bapasola and Dadar Parsi Colony’s gregarious Hakim–would return to Gilder Tank ground from their five-years-and-71000-km-long adventure, sunburnt and jubilant. Here, hordes of motorists, cyclists and gaily-clad Parsi women in omnibuses would watch Bhumgara recall his time working as a waiter in America and chuckle as Hakim would remember a man in China who sang the Chinese national anthem and then insisted that Hakim reciprocate by singing “the national anthem of the Parsis”. Under duress, Hakim had invoked a Gujarati hymn and, when asked who had composed it, uttered the name of the Bengali legend who wrote India’s national anthem.

Only the well-to-do in Bombay could afford cycles in those fraught, pre-Independence decades between 1920 and 1942 when 12 Parsi cyclists from the city had set off on five separate journeys that made them the first Indian eyewitnesses to the ravages of war in Europe, a strife-torn East Asia and the Great Depression in America. Of these cyclists–who pedalled alone and in groups across the deserts of Sahara, rainforests of Amazon and mountains of the Alps–eight were successful. Some had knelt before Pope Pius XI, some had rubbed shoulders with the likes of Benito Mussolini and Franklin Roosevelt. For lack of protective eyewear, one of these globe-trotters lost his sight and died a blind man. But the wealth of memories, photographs and meticulous notes they left behind are anthropological eye-openers if you ask Anoop Babani, a Goa-based cyclist who had tracked down the families of these early adventurers for photo exhibitions in 2019 that resulted in a book titled ‘The Bicycle Diaries’.

According to Babani–30-year-old sports journalist Framroz J Davar’s 1923 cycling expedition—pedalling 9000 kms alone from Bombay to Vienna and then covering 52 countries along with Austrian cyclist Gustav Sztavjanik over seven years–was the most perilous of the lot. While Davar, who started his journey three months after Super Six, had drawn inspiration from his fellow Parsi, Scout-uniform-clad predecessors, what had apparently imbued them with unprecedented daredevilry was a public lecture in the city by a foreigner who had been walking around the world.

Their audacious dream–sculpted in between bodybuilding sessions at Grant Road’s Bombay Weightlifting Club–had to be protected from their families for fear of opposition. So with savings of Rs 2000 each, a few clothes, medicine boxes, cycle gear, a second hand compass and crude copies of the world map, the Super Six had left quietly atop sturdy British Royal Benson cycles fitted with Dunlop tyres. It seems Britain’s Raleigh Cycle Company in Bombay had refused to sponsor cycles for their tour but when they rode into London, Raleigh was pleading with them to use their brand. Why the change of heart? “Frankly, we didn’t believe you boys would make it,” said officials at Raleigh.

While the shy and imposing Bapasola served as the team’s human GPS with his map-reading proficiency, the rugged, quick-witted auto mechanic Bhumgara–who repaired his mates’ cycles through the expedition–drew easy attention from women abroad. By the time Bhumgara’s parents found out where their son was, the Super Six had drunk water from mud pools in Bikaner populated by half-submerged buffaloes, hauled their bikes up marauder-infested mountains of Baluchistan and reached Persia, the land of their ancestors. Here, the robust trio would earn princely sums by performing antics such as splintering a stone on their chest with big hammers and dragging a car full of passengers with a rope held between their teeth. In Tehran, they would even be offered military jobs by then War Minister and would-be Prime Minister Reza Shah Pahlavi.

Their wordless flirtation with veiled Persian beauties in Iran was followed by another silent transaction: in Baghdad, where they would bribe Bedouins with cigarettes hidden in their cycle grips. Later, after crossing the starvation-inducing Syrian-Mesopotamian desert, they found themselves being mistaken for German spies in a remote Italian village and spent a night in jail before being let off the next morning with apologies. “Tumbled down homesteads, torn-up earth, heaps of empty shells, steel helmets, destroyed cannons and their carriages, deserted fields and solitary remains of some human skeletons half peering through its earthly covering..,” they wrote about the remnants of war they saw in prostitution-ridden Europe.

Their happiest days and smoothest roads would arrive in England, from where they took a steamer to New York–a city that made Hathiram announce to the others that he didn’t plan to return home. “Think that I drowned in the Atlantic, my friends, for the Gustad you knew is now no more,” said the letter his mates found under the hotel door. Without Hathiram, Kapadia–who had returned home from Tehran “for personal reasons”–and Pochkhanawala–who reverted from London to look after his ailing father–the group was now half its size. And at many points, they were tempted to take a boat home.

If America’s insulting immigration authorities repulsed them, so did the behaviour of French officials towards Indians in then Indo-China (present-day Vietnam) where the trio was put behind bars on charges of ‘bringing into hatred and the contempt of (French) government of Indo-China.’ In politically volatile China, they encountered floods, heat waves, bandits and soldiers who pointed guns to their forehead. All these hardships were temporarily offset by Miss Peggy, a French blonde they met in Rangoon whose cheerful company they pined for on the journey back into an alien-seeming Bombay. The city had sprouted trains, motorized buses and rising waves of migrants who lived in rented accommodations. Merely days before the trio’s rousing homecoming, in fact, a group of boarders had issued ‘Hints to Bombay Boarding House Landladies’, requesting some conveniences which included: “Any new dishes (food items) should first be tried on the dog. Boarders do not hold themselves responsible for the burial expenses of the dog.”

Join 2021 Father’s Day Transformational Special MANIFESTATION IN MEDITATION with Global Leading Holistic Health Guru And Corporate Life Coach Dr. Mickey Mehta from India & Professional Speaker And Author Of  Bread for the Head   Meher Amalsad from California. The program shall be moderated by Yazdi Tantra Founder – ZOROASTRIANS.NET & WZCC Global Vice President.

Saturday, June 19, 2021  07:00 PM PST,  10:00 PM EST

Sunday, June 20, 2021  07:30 AM IST,  2:00 AM GMT

This Special M&M Show Is Dedicated To All The Fathers Of Humanity. Join For This Transformational Session Focused On The Connection Of Manifestation With The Law Of Attraction And Meditation;  And How It Links With The Sublimation Of Creation.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82882666433
Meeting ID: 828 8266 6433

Passcode:  SWEETM&M

Time: June 19, 2020  07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Time: June 19, 2020  10:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Time: June 20, 2020  07:30 AM  Indian Standard Time (IST)

Time: June 20, 2020, 02:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

Time: June 20, 2020, 06:30 AM   IRAN

Time: June 20, 2020, 06:00 AM   UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Time: June 20, 2020, 07:00 AM   PAKISTAN

Time: June 20, 2020, 10:00 AM   Hong Kong and Singapore

Time: June 20, 2020, 12:00 PM   Sydney, Australia

Time: June 20, 2020, 02:00 PM   New Zealand Time

Speakers Bio

DR. MICKEY MEHTA

Dr. Mickey Mehta completed 50 years of yoga with 39 years of Pioneering experience  in the Health And Wellness industry.

Dr. Mickey Mehta is a leading global holistic health guru and a corporate life coach to Bollywood superstars, top politicians, India Inc. and several Miss Worlds and Miss Universes. The recipient of ‘The Health and Wellness Icon of India’ award by Economic Times and is among the ‘100 Most Impactful Wellness Leaders of the World’ as announced at the Global Wellness Conclave 2018.

He is considered the first personal trainer of India, the first fitness columnist and the first fitness TV and radio presenter in India. He has trained police, army, navy and air force personnel.

An honorary double doctorate in Holistic Health and Life Sciences, from the Open International University for Complementary Medicines. He is author of best sellers ‘The Shoonyam Quotient’ and ‘Lose weight gain shape’. Also, a speaker at Harvard University, IIMs, IIT and held holistic health workshops globally.

The author, poet, philosopher, the brand, the institution, the legendary – DR. MICKEY MEHTA who gets you Energized, Naturalized, Optimized, Maximized, Wellness Revolutionized and gets you IMMUNIZED and MICKEYMIZED!!!

Follow: https://twitter.com/mickeymehta
Like: https://www.facebook.com/drmickeymehta
Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickeymehta/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickey_mehta/

MEHER AMALSAD

Meher Amalsad is an Engineer, Educator, Inventor, Professional Speaker and published Author of Bread for the Head

This gift book is filled with thoughts, ideas and affirmations that inspires the heart, motivates the mind and transforms the soul, with prime focus on Parenting, Unconditional Love, Spiritual Consciousness, Success, and Excellence. This work which is rooted in ‘ROLE MODELING rather than RULE MODELING’ has been used by corporations, schools, children, parents, teachers, hospitals, wellness centers as well as healing and rehabilitation centers. His work has been showcased to over hundred million people across the globe through his appearance on numerous Radio, Cable, Satellite and Television Talk Shows nationwide.

His philosophies are simple yet applicable in each and every aspect off life. (www.Bread4TheHead.com)

His purpose is to help others excel academically, discover and maximize their true passions, and become their authentic best selves.  His work is focused on EMPOWERING PEOPLE to create a footprint of success, in them. Meher has served as the Founding Chair of the North American And World Zoroastrian Youth Congresses since 1985. He has worked as a Program Manager for Hughes Aircraft Company, which is one of the top Aerospace Defense Companies in the world. His life’s work has been focused on creating UNITY  WITHIN DIVERSITY IN HUMANITY.

Inflatable pools, barbecues, open backyards…this is how architect Rooshad Shroff recalls the better part of his childhood spent with his parents in the Dadar Parsi colony. With the endless lockdowns, he realises how deeply he misses this oasis of bliss in the heart of Mumbai. “I certainly took the greenery for granted. You simply can’t beat it. There are almost fifteen beautiful gardens organically woven into the layout of the colony,” says Shroff.

Article by Arman Khan | architecturaldigest.in

The colony was established in the wake of the bubonic plague in the early 1920s which had also ravaged countless lives in Mumbai. The British were then compelled to expand the city limits to demarcate open, hygienic living spaces in the Dadar-Matunga area. And Mancherji Edulji Joshi’s tireless efforts to have more than a hundred plots dedicated to middle-class Parsis paid off. “This is the only master plan colony in Mumbai designed around sustainable community ideals and we owe a huge debt to Mancherji,” says Jimmy Mistry, CMD Della group. Mistry moved to the colony in the early 90s and he recalls how the civic tenets that the cities of India aspire towards now, were always respected in the colony. “Even in the 90s this was a hawker-free zone, the roads had to be compulsorily clean, and segregation of wet and dry waste was the norm,” he recalls. For Shroff, playing volleyball with his brother in one of the gardens of the colony is a memory he still holds close to his heart. He notes how the design of the colony is humbling because most of the houses, particularly the original ones, are hardly more than two or three storeys. “It is a nurturing space,” says the AD100 architect. “Whenever you are there, you will always feel like you are stuck in a time capsule and for all the right reasons. We never had traffic jams, incessant honking, or any of the other nuisances you would associate with a sprawling metropolis like Mumbai.”

The moment you enter the colony, its wide roads greet you. The canopy of the trees leave no more than a square foot of land exposed to sunlight and, life just seems to have slowed down for the better. I meet Kayomi Engineer in the Rustom Tirandaz park, barely a stone’s throw away from the colony’s famous Five Gardens area. She’d recently worked to identify restoration projects for the non-profit Kala Ghoda Association and is now working on her two-decade-long dream project of documenting the life and magic of the colony for her upcoming book. “The need for conservation of these places has gone through a different mindset post-Covid-19. It is no longer about conserving some old and pretty buildings. The colony is the largest living Zoroastrian enclave of Persians anywhere on the planet—this is one of the main things I am going to use to appeal to UNESCO—because this is what makes us unique,” explains Engineer. She also manages the only Instagram page dedicated to highlighting the beauty of the colony through vivid pictures @mancherjijoshiparsicolonydadar. Although the space has always been preserved because of the consistent efforts of people like Engineer, she believes that particularly since the past three years the colony hasn’t looked prettier—all thanks to the conscious efforts of the community with cooperation from the city administration.

“History has certainly moulded us and brought us to where we are, but history can only do so much,” she says. “There is now a greater need for preservation of such living spaces.” Engineer credits the architectural robustness of the buildings as they were originally planned and constructed for this longevity too. “The inherent sturdiness definitely helps; although, for a while, people had forgotten our architectural beauty. It’s like walking into a place that had slowly begun to resemble a ruin and then there is this beautiful makeover.”

Even from a civic point of view, Dadar Parsi Colony is special. Mistry tells us that almost all the plots of lands are covenanted—ownership could be with anyone but only Parsis can stay in the properties. “Alberta Park in Bandra is also a covenanted land for Catholics. My own building is built on a covenanted plot. This is the only way you can retain micro-communities together, otherwise, there is mindless fragmentation.” Mistry had worked for the welfare and restoration of the local fire temple or Agyari and its priest with his NGO. This was a defining moment for him on a personal and professional level. “I realised then that there is no point in messing up with the originality of things. You cannot tweak original designs. Particularly in our colony where there are so many sacred symbols which mean deeply to us–one simply cannot be overly enthusiastic about it all,” he says.

The majestic Della Tower, built almost a decade ago and owned by Mistry, exemplifies the marriage of modern Parsi sensibilities while still adhering to the larger design language of the colony. When you enter the lobby, you are greeted with the replica of an ancient Zoroastrian inscription that admonished slavery—it depicts the King standing on a slave owner and letting the slaves walk towards freedom. “You can build as modern a tower as you want, but you’ve got to be sensitive of the cultural milieu you are building it in,” Mistry insists.

It is heartening for Engineer that someone as respected as architect Phiroze Panthaki still resides here, while the Rustomjee-TREC project to build the locality’s first residential green tower, Garden 6, is again emblematic of the larger cultural value of the colony. So titled because it will also feature the sixth garden of the locality—vertically. “You realise this will always be home,” says Engineer. “You can’t trade this for anything. It’s like what Rooshad told you—the colony will always have a place in the hearts and minds of anyone who has been here for even more than an hour. Why would I not want to live and grow up in a place like this?”

Engineer, with photographer Kuber Shah, is also attempting to document the seasonal changes of the Colony. The place comes alive beautifully in different seasons. It is a carpet of the vividly yellow flowers of the bahwa trees during winters, and the monsoons simply underline all the textures that would have been otherwise lost. “For lack of a better phrase—it is our own little utopian Alice in Wonderland,” she says, smiling. Just then, the Agyari bell rings and Engineer pauses for a moment. It is almost 6 PM. This bell marks the change of the day. So, when the bell rings, the idea is to just pause for a moment and be mindful.

There are numerous lessons that our colonies and even gated communities can draw from this place. Because it was built in response to the plague, the roads are wider and the houses are equally spaced. “If Mancherji could build Mumbai’s first and only master plan colony back in the 1920s, what’s stopping us? The colony exemplifies every single principle of sustainable living— you won’t find a single overflowing tank anywhere and you dare cut a tree,” says Mistry. For Shroff, the distribution density ratio of land to people is simply astounding. “You can’t find it anywhere. This allows better light to percolate in our houses. Even the average ceiling height of our houses, including my own parent’s house, is anywhere between 16-18 ft,” he says. Even the postmen who are allocated the area are grateful. “They are jubilant when they get posted here. That says something about the kind of people we are and the magic that is the Dadar Parsi Colony,” she says. Every two blocks, we are greeted by old Parsi couples waving at Engineer and us with all the warmth in the world. She wishes one of them a belated happy birthday and the gentleman is all smiles. Perhaps this is what one takes away from this oasis—the smiles and the promise of a fulfilled life.

The Global Soft Launch of DLC: Della Leaders Club is scheduled for Saturday June 12, 2021 at 7:30 PM India, 10:00 AM New York, 3:00 PM London

This very first of its kind Business Platform is the brainchild of our very dear friend and eminent Parsi entrepreneur Jimmy Mistry.

Join via ZOOM

Meeting ID: 966 448 7000 Passcode: DLC

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9664487000?pwd=R3JrSUVnWnZ6Z1Rwa3FEVDI0LzVUZz09

A recent FEZANA Talk featured the life and times of the brilliant Parsi actor Persis Khambatta. The talk brought Vaishali Gupta, Sooni Taraporevala and Farah Bala to discuss Persis Khambatta.

The backdrop of the talk is a movie that Vaishali is producing called PERSIS.

Learn more about the movie and donate to it here: https://www.wmm.com/sponsored-project/persis/

Below is an article that Persis wrote way back in 1994, which is so relevant today.

Persis Khambatta has starred in 15 motion pictures, including “Star Trek” and “Megaforce,” and has appeared in several TV movies and on numerous TV episodes. She lives in Hollywood

On June 25, I was awakened by a telephone call from a friend telling me to read Page 14 of the Calendar section. Someone I did not know–a Michael Stein–had mentioned my name in a sweet letter he had written wondering why actresses with “foreign” accents have consistently been ignored in Hollywood–Greta Garbo and Sophia Loren being exceptions (“Accent on U.S. Stars,” Calendar).

By PERSIS KHAMBATTA | July 11, 1994 | Los Angeles Times

I had to smile when I read the letter. He understands. And then my life in Hollywood flashed before my eyes.

I was brought to Hollywood by Gene Roddenberry and Michael Eisner, chosen from 600 hopefuls to star in the original “Star Trek” motion picture. The success of the film, coupled with the allure that I had shaved my head for the role, put a spotlight on me.

I was asked to be a presenter at the Academy Awards. I was invited to the A-list parties; whisked to the best tables at the “power” restaurants. I had a growing career as a model and an actress in London–I had starred opposite Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier in “The Wilby Conspiracy”–but everyone told me to stay in Hollywood. This was the place, they said, and I could have a big career.

*

What they failed to mention was that no one would quite know what to do with me. I knew I was not about to displace Florence Henderson as the mother of the “Brady Bunch,” but America is a polyglot of accents, faces and backgrounds.

When I went to apply for a driver’s license I had the choice of taking the test in 49 different languages. I chose English. In Bombay, where I am from, English is the language that cuts through all barriers.

Casting directors asked me if I spoke Spanish, and I was considered for many Latino parts. I was asked if I could speak French. I learned German in 24 hours for my starring role in “Nighthawks.” But when a role for an Indian became available in the miniseries “Far Pavilions,” it went to a U.S.-born and bred, blue-eyed and accent-less actress because she was “more American.”

I still haven’t figured out that logic.

Sixty years ago, Merle Oberon had to hide the fact that her mother was Indian lest it ruin her career. Forty years ago, CBS almost didn’t buy a TV pilot because they said no one would believe the red-haired “all-American” female star was married to a Cuban. That series was, of course, “I Love Lucy,” and lucky for the world, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz prevailed.

Soon after I arrived in Hollywood, I married an American man. I got to know the culture and the people. That marriage did not work out, but a subsequent one brought me to Des Moines, where I lived in the heartland for several years before returning to Hollywood.

*

I love America. I eagerly became a citizen. I have no bitterness toward those casting directors who dismissed me because of my accent, nor toward the producers and directors who wanted to cast me but thought the audience wouldn’t accept my accent. I think they’re selling their audience short.

People want good stories, good entertainment and, yes, pretty faces. They don’t seem to mind that Rick was in love with a woman with an accent in “Casablanca.” I’ll bet once the story and the characters hooked them, they didn’t even hear her accent.

It’s tough to make it as an actor, tougher still to make it as an actress–the Screen Actors Guild is eager to provide the statistics to verify the latter. Statistics also tell us that as much as 50% of the gross revenues of all motion pictures now comes from foreign sales. They don’t seem to mind American accents.

Hollywood’s trepidation with accents has become not just an archaic attitude, but an albatross limiting the textural realism today’s directors, writers and producers crave. When I saw Isabella Rossellini–a second-generation Hollywood actress with an accent–portraying Jeff Bridges’ wife in “Fearless,” I thought perhaps we’ve made a little movement in the right direction.

There are many of us–trained, seasoned actresses–available to continue the broadening of our American tapestry.

The 8WZYC Marketing Subcommittee’s main role will be to host fundraisers, social events and spread the word of our congress through social media and other channels to encourage a large number of participants from around the globe. Our social media pages will soon be launching to spread information for the upcoming Congress so stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled! However, our role will extend far beyond simply posting. We plan on organising plenty of social events and fundraisers: these will be held virtually for now, to encourage the global Zoroastrian community and get them excited for London 2023! Meet the members of our team…

ARIANA DOOMASIA

My name is Ariana, and I am the leader of the marketing subcommittee. Currently, I am in my final year studying English at Cambridge, focusing on my exams and graduating this summer. Ever since I heard the next Congress would be held in London, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to get more involved with my community and make a lasting impact. For me, the marketing side seemed ideal for engaging with other Zoroastrians across the world, allowing for lots of creativity as well as fun. The main priority for our subcommittee, is to spread information and build excitement in the run up to our 2023 Congress. It has been a pleasure to bond with the wonderful members of my team so far and to hear everyone’s ideas for launching our marketing campaign. Watch this space!

DELSHAD FOROUHAR

My name is Delshad and I graduated from The University of Sheffield in Architecture, and I am now working as a Part I Architectural Assistant back home in Suffolk. Growing up I was surrounded with the Zoroastrian culture, my grandfather being Mobed Ardeshir Forouhar, a very important role model to me and the London Zoroastrian community. In 2020 when the pandemic hit, it felt it was the right time to really learn more about who I am, where I’m from and to help others. Joining the marketing team has allowed me to meet amazing new people, and to join with others creating ways to share our culture with the rest of the world. We hope to bring young Zoroastrians together in fun collaborative ways, and can’t wait to share our events and more information about the Congress! See you soon in 2023!

ARSHAN DADREWALLA

I’m Arshan and I am currently in my final year of studying Medicine at King’s College London. Having been part of the Northwest Zoroastrian Community in the UK and later on with the Young Zoroastrians in London, I have developed a strong sense of community within our religion whilst meeting fellow young Zoroastrians. Having never attended a congress before, I was excited to meet and join my subcommittee team to help develop and plan elements of the congress which I hope shall be a huge success in bringing Zoroastrians together, all whilst having a great time!

XERXES PANTHAKEE
My name is Xerxes, and I am one of the co-vice Chair’s helping to organise the 8WYZC and attaché to the marketing committee. By trade I graduated as a Chemical Engineer, however now I am working as a Technical Business Analyst for a mid-sized bank in London. I have been a part of the Zoroastrian community here in London for as long as I can remember, but in recent years I decided to take a more active role in helping to grow and bonding with our youth community here in London. That being said, I have never been to a congress before, but am really excited to help organise what I, along with my fellow committee members, envision to be an unforgettable experience.

ARMAN BHAGWAGER

I’m Arman from Nagpur, India and have recently completed my masters from National University of Ireland, Galway where I am currently based. I now work as a sales rep in a tech start-up. From attending prayer classes and doing dance practice in the Nagpur Parsi dharamshala as a child to going to various youth events, the Zoroastrian culture has played a huge part in my life, giving me a sense of community and direction. Being a part of the 8WZYC organising committee has given me a great opportunity to make some amazing Parsi friends in this part of the world. We hope to bring young Zoroastrians from around the world to come together to celebrate their religion, learn and collaborate.

DALIR YAZDANI

I am Dalir from Poland but with Persian roots and also having lived in South Africa, Greece and more. I came to the UK a few years ago in order to pursue a university degree and graduated less than a year ago. As my family worked for the embassy, we always moved a lot so I never really had the opportunity to be part of a specific Zoroastrian community, although I still had the chance to dwell on theological and historical texts as I come from a priestly family. Through participating in this congress, I hope I can change that, I hope to be able to experience the more social aspect of what it means to be a Zoroastrian and get connected with like-minded young Zoroastrians who also have one thing on their mind… how to serve the Zoroastrian community better by bringing everybody closer! It’s an honour to be part of the team and I only hope that’s just the beginning!

SHAZNEEN MUNSHI

My name is Shazneen Munshi and I work as a Policy and Communications Adviser to the CEO and Chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service. As the youngest member on the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) Managing Committee, I have been running our monthly Extra Young Zoroastrian (XYZ) Fun Club religious education classes for children for the past seven years. My main passion in life is making a positive difference to our treasured Zoroastrian community by engaging and bringing together our youth. I am very excited to work together with our lovely team to promote what will be an amazing event, where we will create strong lasting global friendships, nurture worldwide communal initiatives and build on the future of our religion!

JESSICA MISTRY
My name is Jess and I graduated in Law and after a few years’ experience I decided to transition into the world of Human Resources. I have always considered myself extremely fortunate to have been surrounded by our Zoroastrian roots and culture whilst growing up and visiting India during summer holidays and day trips to Udvada are some of my most fond memories whilst growing up. I was keen to volunteers after hearing that the Congress will be taking place so close to home. Whilst today, this has given us the opportunity of bringing together Zoroastrians from all over the world, it has also given me the opportunity to grow and connect with my fellow Zoroastrians, whom I am so thankful to have met. Although I have never been to a Congress before, I look forward to the next two years of preparing, welcoming and meeting you all at our 8^th World Zoroastrian Congress!

The work from home norm during Covid-hit 2020 delivered some good news for the Parsi community which saw a record 61 births, assisted through the Centre’s Jiyo Parsi scheme aimed at arresting a decline in the community’s numbers which added up to all of 57,000 in the 2011 census.

Launched in 2013-14, the scheme, supported by the minority affairs ministry, has seen an additional 22 births this year with the total number of newborns now standing at 321 as of June. The gains seem small but are precious for the community that has contributed handsomely to Indian national life before and after independence.

Article by Ambika Pandit | TNN

A fast dwindling population count that stood at 1.14 lakh in 1941 prompted the Centre to launch the Jiyo Parsi scheme in 2013-14. A year-wise break-up shows that while in the first year, 16 babies were born, the number rose to 38 the next year, went down to 28 in 2016 and then rose to 58 in 2017. It dipped to 38 in 2018 but grew to 59 in 2019 and 61 in 2020.

The data regarding 321 children pertains largely to couples who benefited from medical reimbursements offered under Jiyo Parsi for medical interventions like fertility treatments, assisted reproductive technologies and counselling to seek medical help given the low birth rates in the community.

“Going by the data, 2020 saw a new high and this, in a way, can be attributed to many couples starting fertility treatment during the pandemic as work from home gave them flexibility in working hours and made visits to hospitals and clinics less stressful. One saw couples taking this opportunity — of the entire family being together at all times — as a good opportunity to decide to start a family,” said Shernaz Cama, director of Unesco Parzor and national director of Jiyo Parsi scheme.

She said the other reason for the increase in birth rates was due to changes in the Jiyo Parsi scheme in 2017. The HOC (health of the community) component took care of elderly dependants in a family and also brought in a child care scheme that helped couples with financial assistance. “In the medical category, we also included and ensured financial assistance would be extended for those who conceived through ART right up to delivery and discharge from hospital,” Cama added.

However, the pandemic brought its own share of challenges. For instance, Cama said, a woman who conceived through ART tested positive for Covid-19 during her sixth month of pregnancy and was hospitalised for a few weeks. After treatment, she was advised rest and has now delivered a healthy baby. Shahnaaz Dalal, 29, from Mumbai, spoke to TOI about her journey. She conceived in the middle of last year and was supported under the Jiyo Parsi scheme which helped her tide through the tough phase and give birth to a daughter in March. Dalal said the work from home phase clearly helped her go through her pregnancy and post-birth care with much more ease.

Cama said while the pandemic did put the brakes on offline advocacy activities, the Jiyo Parsi team went online organising seminars and holding telephonic counselling. How far advocacy has worked will show up only in the 2021 census. This will be an important milestone that will reflect any success in arresting or even slowing the decline in population. Studies conducted in the past to assess the reasons for the decline pitched a worrisome picture of there being an average of one child below the age of 10 in nine families.