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Revision as of 03:46, 24 May 2006

Ethnic group
Parsis
Regions with significant populations
c. 70% in India, 5% in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, 25% elsewhere.
Languages
Gujarati, English, Persian
Religion
Zoroastrianism
Related ethnic groups
Iranis, Persian people
This article is about (members of) the Parsi Zoroastrian community in and from India. For the language, see Persian language.

A Parsi is a member of the close-knit Zoroastrian community in or from the Indian subcontinent, and is a descendant of people who, in the 8th century, emigrated to the west coast of India from Persia to escape religious persecution after the Islamic conquest.

Followers of the Zoroastrian faith - irrespective of whether they are from India or elsewhere - are not necessarily Parsis. The modern legal definition of "Parsi" (see below) explicitly includes only persons who are descended from the original Persian immigrants. Although such a definition may initally appear elitist, it has legal and traditional reasons and ramifications (see below). The term Parsi itself means Persian.

Indian census data (2001) records 69,601 Parsis in India, with a concentration in and around the city of Bombay. There are approximately 5,000 Parsis elsewhere on the subcontinent. In Pakistan about 2000-3000 parsis live in the city of Karachi. The number of Parsis worldwide is estimated to be fewer than 100,000.


Ethnic origins of the Parsis of India

Zoroastrianism
Primary topics Atar (fire)
Divine entities
Scripture and worship
Accounts and legends
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History and culture
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Although the Parsis of India originally emigrated from Persia, they no longer have social or familial ties to Persians, and do not share language or recent history with them. Over the centuries since the first Zoroastrians arrived in India, the Parsis have integrated themselves into Indian society while simultaneously maintaining their own distinct customs and traditions (and thus ethnic identity). This in turn has given the Parsi community a rather peculiar standing - they are Indians in terms of national affiliation (as the number of notable Parsis in the Indian Independence Movement attests), but non-Indians in terms of ethnicity, traditions and customs.

One study supports the Parsi contention that they have maintained their Persian roots by avoiding intermarriage with local populations. In that 2002 study , Y-chromosome (patrilineal) DNA of the Parsis of Pakistan suggests that the Parsis are genetically closer to Iranians than to their neighbours. However, a 2004 study , in which Parsi mitochondrial DNA (matrilineal) was compared with that of the Iranians and Gujaratis, indicates Parsis are genetically closer to Gujaratis than to Iranians, and suggests "a male-mediated migration of the ancestors of the present-day Parsi population, where they admixed with local females, leading ultimately to the loss of mtDNA of Iranian origin." A possible further viewpoint is that this is simply the result of a self-selecting process due to the cultural fact that children of mixed marriages, where the mother is a Parsi, tend to be excluded from the Parsi community; whereas there is a tendency for children of mixed marriages with Parsi fathers to be identified as Parsis.

Definition of Parsi

The definition of who (and who is not) a Parsi is a matter of great contention within the Zoroastrian community in India.

Generally accepted to be a Parsi is a person who a) is directly descended from the original Persian refugees; and b) has been formally admitted into the religion.

Some members of the community additionally contend that a child must have a Parsi father to be eligible for introduction into the faith, but this assertion is considered by most to be a violation of the Zoroastrian tenets of gender equality, and may be a remnant of an old legal (see below) definition of Parsi. Nonetheless, many mobeds (priests) will not perform the Navjote ceremony - i.e. the rites of admission into the religion - for children from mixed-marriages.

Those Zoroastrians whose ancestors emigrated from Persia (Iran) to India within the last two centuries are generally called Iranis, and very often have Irani as a surname.

An often quoted legal definition of Parsi is based on a 1909 ruling (since then nullified) that not only stipulated that a person could not become a Parsi by converting to the Zoroastrian faith (which was the case in question), but also noted that "the Parsi community consists of: a) Parsis who are descended from the original Persian emigrants and who are born of both Zoroastrian parents and who profess the Zoroastrian religion; b) Iranis from Persia professing the Zoroastrian religion; c) the children of Parsi fathers by alien mothers who have been duly and properly admitted into the religion."

This definition has since been overturned several times. The equality principles of the Indian Constitution void the patrilineal restrictions expressed in the third clause. The second clause was contested and overturned in 1948 . On appeal in 1950 , the 1948 ruling was upheld and the entire 1909 definition was deemed an obiter dictum, that is, a collateral opinion and not legally binding (re-affirmed in 1966).

i) Sir Dinsha Manekji Petit vs. Sir Jamsetji Jijibhai, (1909) 33 ILR 509 and 11 BLR 85, Justices Dinshaw Davar and Frank Beamon
ii) Sarwar Merwan Yezdiar vs. Merwan Rashid Yezdiar, (1948) Parsi Matrimonial Court, Justice Coyaji
iii) Merwan Rashid Yezdiar vs. Sarwar Merwan Yezdiar, (1950) 52 BLR 876, Justices Chagla and Gajendragadkar
iv) Jamshed Irani vs. Banu Irani, (1966) 68 BLR 794, Justice Mody

History of Parsis in India

"Persians of Bombay" a wood engraving, Circa 1878
  • Arrival of Maga priests in India, possibly during Kushana dynasty
  • Arrival of Parsis in India from Khorasan
  • Settlement of Sanjan
  • Establishment of Panthaks in 1290 AD.
  • Sacred fire Iranshah moved to Navsari, 1419 AD.
  • Emergence as international traders
  • Intervention on behalf of local Zoroastrians in Iran, 1857-1882
  • Discovery of Zoroastrian texts by western scholars in late 19th century
  • Migrations to the Western world

Early Years: Around the 8th century AD, after the fall of the Sassanian empire, large numbers of Persians fled by ship to the western coast of the Indian subcontinent (now Gujarat) to maintain their Zoroastrian religious tradition. According to an old Parsi legend, the Raja of Sanjan had given them a cup full to the rim of milk, symbolically stating that the kingdom was already full of people and could not take any refugees. The asylum seekers sweetened the milk with sugar and gave it back to the king, symbolically stating that they would be of immeasurable service to the kingdom and become exemplary subjects of the Raja. The Raja allowed them to stay, on condition that they remained endogamous and adopted the local culture, in addition to preserving their religion, as well as forbidding them from proselytizing. This was probably in conformance with caste laws of the time. To this day, the Parsis remain generally endogamous and do not accept converts. The next record of Parsis in India show that when the kingdom was under the attack of the Muslims, many Parsi soldiers died to defend the kingdom. The survivors fled to a cave, taking the sacred fire with them.

Arrival of the British; A New Age of Opportunity: During the early years of British colonization in the Indian subcontinent, when the port city of Bombay was still in infancy, many Parsis, who had until that time had been living as a series of farming communities throughout Gujarat, moved to the young settlement to take the new jobs it offered. The Parsis adapted quickly, and for many decades served as middlemen between the native communities and the British.

The Parsi calendar(s)

This section contains information specific to the Parsi calendar. For information on the calendar used by the Zoroastrians for religious purposes, including details on its history and its variations, see Zoroastrian calendar.

Until about 1129, all Zoroastrians followed the same 365-day calendar, which had remained largely unmodified since the calendar reforms of Ardashir I (226-241 CE). Since that calendar did not compensate for the fractional days that go to make up a full solar year, with time it was no longer accordant with the seasons. In 1006, the roaming calendar and the solar calendar overlapped perfectly, and it was resolved – in both India and Iran - that henceforth every 120th year would have a thirteenth month, and so keep the calendar in step with the seasons.

In 1129 or therabouts, the Parsis inserted an embolismic month to level out the accumulating fractional days. However, the Parsis would be the only Zoroastrians to do so (and would only do it once), with the result that - after 1129 - the calendar in use by the Parsis and the calendar in use by Zoroastrians elsewhere diverged by a matter of thirty days. The calendars still had the same name, Shahenshahi (imperial), presumably because none were aware that the calendars were no longer the same.

In 1745, the Parsis in and around Surat switched to the Kadmi or Kadimi calendar on the recommendation of their priests who were convinced that the calendar in use in the ancient 'homeland' must be correct. Moreover, they denigrated the Shahenshahi calendar as being "royalist".

In 1906, attempts to bring the two factions together resulted in the invention of a third calendar: The Fasili, or Fasli calendar had leap days intercalated every four years, and it had a New Year’s day that fell on the day of the vernal equinox. Although it was the only calendar always in harmony with the seasons, most members of the Parsi community rejected it on the grounds that it was not based on scripture.

Today, the majority of the Parsis are adherants of the Parsi version of the Shahenshahi calendar. The Kadmi calendar has its adherants among the Parsi communities of Surat and Baruch. The Fasli calendar does not have a significant following among Parsis, but it is used by the majority of Zoroastrians elsewhere, where it is also known as the Bastani calendar.

The effect of the calendar disputes:

Since some of the Avesta prayers contain references to the names of the month, and some other prayers are used only at specific times of the year, the issue of which calendar is "correct" has theological ramifications as well.

To further complicate matters, in the late 1700s (or early 1800s) a highly influential head-priest and staunch proponent of the Kadmi calendar - Phiroze Kaus Dastur of the Dadyseth Atash-Behram in Bombay - became convinced that the pronunciation of prayers as recited by visitors from Iran was correct, while the pronunciation as used by the Parsis was not. He accordingly went on to alter some (but not all) of the prayers, which in due course came to be accepted by all adherents of the Kadmi calendar as the more ancient (and thus presumably correct). However, scholars of Avestan language and linguistics attribute the difference in pronunciation to a vowel-shift that occurred only in Iran, and that the Iranian pronunciation as adopted by the Kadmis is actually more recent than the pronunciation used by the non-Kadmi Parsis.

The calendar disputes were not always purely academic either. In the 1780s, emotions over the controversy ran so high that violence would occasionally errupt. In 1783, a Shahenshahi resident of Baruch named Homaji Jamshedji was sentenced to death for kicking a young Kadmi woman, and so causing her to miscarry.

Of the eight Atash-Behrams (literally Fire-Royal Sanctum, equivalent to High-Cathedrals) in India, three follow the Kadmi pronunciation and calendar, the other five are Shahenshahi. The Fassalis do not have their own Atash-Behram.

Prominent Parsis

in science and industry

in the arts and sports

in law, government and the Indian Nationalist Movement

Other Parsis

People with Parsi ancestry

This is a list of people with a Parsi parent, but are not Zoroastrians themselves.


Prominent Parsi families in India

Prominent Parsi families in other parts of the world

Other Parsis

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See also

Notes and references

  1. "Parsi". 2006. {{cite encyclopedia}}: External link in |article= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |ency= ignored (help)
  2. Nanavutty, Piloo (1970). The Parsis. New Delhi: National Book Trust.
  3. Qamar; et al. (2002). "Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation in Pakistan" (PDF). American Journal of Human Genetics. 70: 1107–1124. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)
  4. Quintana-Murci; et al. (2004). "Southwest Asian mtDNA Phylogeography" (PDF). American Journal of Human Genetics. 74: 827–845. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)

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