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Ancient Persian religion on the decline in Pakistan

Ancient Persian religion did not survive in land of its birth then why lament for dwindling numbers in Pakistan.

My neighbour is married to a girl from Hyderabad, India, very lovely couple. She told me that she was extremely hesitant to move to Pakistan considering how Pakistan is portrayed in Indian media, but her mind changed after she came to visit the boy's family and saw how different Pakistan is in reality compared to what the Indian media portrays to brainwash the masses. Thus, i am not at all surprised that you are shocked.

If yr neighbour Indian aunty likes pakistan so much then she should ask her whole family settled in India to move Pakistan where they can live happily and practice their faith freely.

[:::~Spartacus~:::];3655201 said:
and who is responsible?????

is anyone in Pak controlling birth rate of parsis?

Who is blaming Pakistan.
 
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Ancient Persian religion did not survive in land of its birth then why lament for dwindling numbers in Pakistan.

By very conservative estimates, there are around 1.5 million practicing Zoroastrians in Iran today.

Not much, agreed, but a far cry from not surviving.
 
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The lesser the number of minorities in a country, the worst it gets.
 
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The Parsis, who fled Iran in the face of the country's Muslim conversion centuries ago, settled across India and Pakistan. But in recent years, the prominent Karachi religious minority is declining, to the portion where the community may totally disappear.

It isn’t easy these days being a Parsi.

The Parsis are a community of Zoroastrians that settled in South Asia. They are followers of the religion of ancient Persia.

In Pakistan they are concentrated mostly in the port city of Karachi. They have made quite a remarkable impact on the metropolis, but the small Parsi community in Karachi is in decline.

And yet, it’s just a drop in the ocean of a city that has a total population of over 14 million.

Zane Byramji and Tashan Mistree’s are a 20-something Parsi couple now living in Karachi. Five years ago, they met at an international Zoroastrian youth event in Australia.

“I didn’t want to go at first,” Byramji said. “I was pretty hesitant because I thought it was more focused on religion than anything else. I wanted to make a holiday out of it."

Instead, or perhaps in addition, he met the woman he calls Tash.

“We don’t have arranged marriages, but we have a lot of pressure coming from parents and friends,” Byramji said.

Mistree said families push to get kids hitched.

“We always say the grandmas and the aunties all have a club. And they are all kind of in cohort together and try to hook people up,” she said.

Byramji was born and raised in Karachi. He went to Canada for college and now works at his family’s brokerage firm. Mistree was born in Washington, D.C., and was living across the border in Mumbai, India before their marriage.

“I didn’t realize it would really work out because a week after the congress we met in Melbourne,” Byramji said. “And from there we started talking and we flew back to India and Pakistan, and then spoke on the plane for ten hours and decided to be in a relationship.”

They got married in Mumbai last year. Mistree moved to Karachi to live with Byramji.

Her move comes at a time when the population of Parsis in Pakistan is dwindling. There are now fewer than 1,700, down from more than 7,000 several decades ago, mostly in Karachi.

The Parsi community is defined largely by their adherence to the Zoroastrian religion — the religion of ancient Persia.

Sometimes they are referred to as “fire-worshippers” because of the central role that fire plays in their rituals. Their temples each have a consecrated fire that burns continuously — some of the fires have been kept alive for centuries.

In a community center in Karachi, priests gather around a small fire, reciting a prayer in an ancient dialect of Persian. The priests wear masks covering their mouths and noses so that the fire is not desecrated by their breath or saliva.

According to tradition, a group of Zoroastrians arrived in South Asia more than a thousand years ago, fleeing the Muslim conquest of Persia. The community prospered, especially as merchants.

The Parsi community in Karachi has always been a small minority, but it’s left an unmistakable legacy. One of the most celebrated mayors of Karachi was a Parsi, serving for twelve years. Local buildings and schools named after prominent Parsi businessmen *** the old city.

But this legacy is at risk.

Parsis have a lower birthrate than the national average. And there’s more and more intermarriage. So Mistree and Byramji’s families were relieved that they were each Parsis.

Another major reason for the dwindling population in Karachi is migration to Western countries. Byramji says the majority of his relatives now live in the West – mostly in the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom.

“Everyone has left the country,” he said. “I wouldn’t even say that 10 percent are here now, and I would say 50 percent left in my lifetime.”

In recent years, the motivation to leave Pakistan has been compounded by the extremely volatile political and security conditions, a sentiment reflected among both the young and old in the community.

Alla Rustomji, a 55-year-old home-maker, says she would be happy to stay in Pakistan for the rest of her life, except for her children.

“They are in their early 20s,” she said. “I am not very happy at all. I would like the first opportunity to get them out of the country. I’m sorry to say, though I love Pakistan, and I would like them to be here, but I do not see a very good future for them.”

More than half the Parsi population in Karachi now is over 50. The local clergy is aging, without anyone to replace them.

“At our fire temple, we have three priests. Two of them are more than 80 years old,” said Shahveer Byramji, Zane Byramji’s uncle and a managing trustee of one of the two fire temples in the city.

He says the only trained Zoroastrian priests are in India, and they say they won’t move to Pakistan “for all the money in the world.”

Given the rate at which the population is declining, Shahveer Byramji says it’s entirely possible that there soon won’t be a Parsi presence in Karachi.

“Let’s face it, we are a declining population. There’s not much we can do about it, except for openly converting, which we’re all against," Shahveer Byramji said. "So, it’s a fact of life that we’re a dying breed and let’s just try to do the best we can with what we have.”

Even for Tashan Mistree and Zane Byramji, the prospect of leaving Karachi hasn't been ruled out.

Over the generations their families have moved from Iran, through India and Pakistan, to North America and Australia.

Making another move, they say, is something their stock is used to.

“We did it a thousand years ago, so its not so hard now,” Mistree said.

Ancient Persian religion on the decline in Pakistan | PRI.ORG

stopped reading after that first part.
It's funny how people think they can write BS and not expected to get caught since everyone has the internet.
The Parsi did not "Flea" Islamic invasion, according to their own history they left Iran as traders and settled along trade routs in Pakistan/India.

I understand that Islamaphobia is a large part of many people's lives but c'mon, don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.
 
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stopped reading after that first part.
It's funny how people think they can write BS and not expected to get caught since everyone has the internet.
The Parsi did not "Flea" Islamic invasion, according to their own history they left Iran as traders and settled along trade routs in Pakistan/India.
I understand that Islamaphobia is a large part of many people's lives but c'mon, don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.

Now dude, you come up with most unbelievably absurd story; LOL.
C'mon, don't stand in the rain and try to tell us that somebody is pissing on you.

BTW, Rusty; you're gettin' rusty. Work on your spellings. :)
 
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You are talking crap.

Nothing new.

Just putting it on record here.

Well that must mean that the Qissa-i Sanjan is also talking crap since that is what it says.

I know you hate Muslims and all but c'mon man at least find things to hate us with that are based on reality.
Maybe a Muslim took your lunch money once, or you got short changed by a Muslim teller. No need to make up fairy tales that just make you look silly.


And I wonder how all the Zarostarians would feel about Indians bad mouthing their ancient texts
 
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That don't even make any sense,
At least use a real Idiom rather then trying to act clever by making up on that makes no sense.

Now Rusty, one has to have some semblance of sense to make sense of that, apart from a better command of the English tongue.

Or else you can simply buy yourself an umbrella. :azn:
 
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The article says nothing of an Indian Parsi moving to Pakistan. It says that the Pakistani community has often tried, but no Indian Parsi is willing in spite of any amount of money offered.

I know of an Indian Parsi priest here in Karachi.. young guy, funny :)
 
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I know of an Indian Parsi priest here in Karachi.. young guy, funny :)

Most of them are; even the older ones. Even the ones who are not priests can be nice and funny. Even our vsdoc must be.
When he is not being crotchety of course!
But the Parsis aka Bawajees have a sense of humor and never hesitate to even laugh at themselves. They have been great friends and colleagues. Not to mention Teachers!!

See you like young guys.

Poor old men and their canes. :P

Doc, then you have my commisserations.
 
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See you like young guys.

Poor old men and their canes. :P

Yes, I don't like rigid, cranky, lecherous old men.

What's wrong with liking young guys?

Also - what's with this whole "blood line" bit? You mean you want to preserve Parsi DNA? Isn't religion more about the soul than the physical?
 
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Yes, I don't like rigid, cranky, lecherous old men.

What's wrong with liking young guys?

Also - what's with this whole "blood line" bit? You mean you want to preserve Parsi DNA? Isn't religion more about the soul than the physical?

Elmo ji, that part I agree with. However "Religion" is an evolved product now. Admixed with many things.

Little wonder that Olive Oyl (my wife) says that:

"Religious Dogma and Political Doctrine are the creations of a few crafty men to rule the lives of other men".

Sigh...........................
 
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Yes, I don't like rigid, cranky, lecherous old men.

LOL ok baba. Get on with it .... he must be squirming up there.

What's wrong with liking young guys?

None whatsoever. And our priests are extremely available at all times.

Also - what's with this whole "blood line" bit? You mean you want to preserve Parsi DNA? Isn't religion more about the soul than the physical?

Yes. BLOOD and FAITH is what we have fought to preserve for 1400 years.

The old SOIL is under a new alien FAITH, and a lot of new alien BLOOD as well.

Please read up about Zoroastrianism. Especially the part on faith and blood and conversion.
 
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By very conservative estimates, there are around 1.5 million practicing Zoroastrians in Iran today.

Not much, agreed, but a far cry from not surviving.

There are different claims for the origin of Zoroaster, from southern Afghanistan as far away as southern Russia, which would make Zoroastrian alien to Iran.
 
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Yes. BLOOD and FAITH is what we have fought to preserve for 1400 years.

The old SOIL is under a new alien FAITH, and a lot of new alien BLOOD as well.

Please read up about Zoroastrianism. Especially the part on faith and blood and conversion.

Hate to break it to you, but conservative Zoroastrians do not see Parsis as true Zoroastrians. Parsi faith includes elements which are wholly indigenous to India.

Conservative Zoroastrians in Iran do not look to Parsis as preserving anything.
 
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