India’s vanishing Parsis

[vsdoc]

Thanks for joining Shahin. Wish more of you come and participate here too. I have so many questions .....

 

[Shahin Vatani]

^ Go ahead and ask any questions you have bro

 

[vsdoc]

Firstly, what language do you all speak?

What is its script?

I am guessing it is Persian - but why does the script look like Arabic?

 

[Shahin Vatani]

Firstly, what language do you all speak?

What is its script?

I am guessing it is Persian - but why does the script look like Arabic?

The script is derived from Arabic. It is actually called Perso-Arabic script.
Persian alphabet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Because there are many letters in Persian language that are not in Arabic, so we had to change the alphabet to include these sounds. For example there is no P or G sound in Arabic, but there is in Persian.

Now Persian is the official language of Iran, but there are many languages spoken depending on the area. Similar to India where Hindi is official language, but there are many local languages also.

This is my local language:
Gilaki language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[vsdoc]

Thanks man. So Urdu and Seraiki in Pakistan is also Perso-Arabic.

About Zoroastrians in Iran, do they still have to pay a non-Muslim tax like your Christians and Jews (I saw a program on BBC that you actually have a sizable Jewish community - and it surprised me what with all the Iran-Israel rhetoric)?

I read somewhere that you now have a government cell for minority protection or something like that.

And that some seats were reserved in government but they can never reach any top position?

 

[curioususer]

Man the problem is the opposite.

We have firstly more females than males.

Secondly, and I say this pretty brutally, a lot of our males in Mumbai are the baila (pansy) sort, who will be mamas boys (Dadar Parsi colony sorts).

That and the fact that statistically our girls are often more qualified and earn better than our boys.

So oftentimes it is the woman's lament that there are just not enough eligible males.

They should allow studs like me to have 17 wives instead.

Whether the girl earns more or the boy, if they are living together as married couple, it'll be shared responsibility of the couple to maintain the house. BTW, no one answered my question, what mythological epics do you guys have?

 

[zynga]

No idea seriously on the Yazdi connect.


Toran:

Toran is generally made of mango leaves, marigold or other flowers strung together on strings and put on the entrance and doors jambs in the house. A Parsis house can be easily identified by the typical toran and chalk at the entrance. Though many this too to be a custom of the Hindoos, we have evidence that in ancient Iran Torans were uses, especially in fire temples. According to Firdausi and Tabari, the Sasanian King Khushru Parviz went to the Atash Kadeh of Adar Gushasp before assuming power after being ousted by Behram Chobin, and after being dethroned by his son Hormazd. He had the Atash Behram decorated with pictures of natural objects like star, sun and moon in the form of silver torans and silver plates. Moreover, according to Dr. Sir Jivanji Modi, even the ancient Jews and Romans had the practice of decorating the door of the house with flowers on auspicious occasions.

DOOR CRAFT « Articles by Rishi Majumder, and other words…

im tambrahm and we have toranam which is a string of mango leaves on the doorstep along with kolam (what you call chalk).
some say that the tam brahms originally came from guj and other parts of north india and bengal area (several streams i guess)

 

[Shahin Vatani]

Thanks man. So Urdu and Seraiki in Pakistan is also Perso-Arabic.

About Zoroastrians in Iran, do they still have to pay a non-Muslim tax like your Christians and Jews?

I read somewhere that you now have a government cell for minority protection or something like that.

And that some seats were reserved in government but they can never reach any top position?

Regarding the tax I am unsure, but I doubt it. Even if true, I am sure they are subsidised in some way which makes this tax irrelevant. However I do know that if a member of a non Muslim family converts to Islam, then they will gain all the inheritance in the family. This law is done to try and increase number of Muslims, so treacherous Zoroastrians or Christians can use this law to swindle their siblings out of inheritance.

In regards to seats in Majles (Parliament), yes you are right. There has to be at least one Christian, one Jewish and one Zoroastrian member. This law however is much older then the Islamic Republic and was introduced during the Persian constitution of the early 20th century.

Persian Constitutional Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I also know that some top jobs in government are reserved for Muslims, however this does not mean all senior jobs. Minorities can still reach high levels. Also this is just the public sector, in the private sector minorities can reach any positions they wish.

The current Zoroastrian minister in the Iranian government is named Esfandiar Ekhtiari Kassnavieh. He is the one with the moustache in the picture below:

 

[vsdoc]

Zoroastrian Mythology - End of the World


Within Zoroastrianism there are two paths to the end, the end of the individual and the end of the world. The two are related in terms of judgement, individual (soul only) and universal (body and soul after resurrection). The individual is judged based on their actions and will go to heaven or hell accordingly. However there is also a universal judgement that will decide the fate of the entire world.

Zoroastrians believe that the history of the world is twelve thousand years long, with four distinct periods. In the first period good and evil are separated, in the second the good world is invaded by the evil and the third is when the fight between the two forces intensify. In the final period evil is defeated and goodness prevails. The final period commenced with the birth of Zoroaster and has not yet finished. In the final three thousand years, Zoroastrians expect three saviors to come at thousand-year intervals. The first one will be called Aushedar, “the developer of righteousness”. Aushedar will be born from a virgin and will also be a child of Zoroaster himself whose seed has been preserved in a lake. When the fifteen year old virgin bathes in the lake, she will be impregnated and the first savior will be born.

When Aushedar turns thirty, the sun will stand still for ten days right above head. This is where the sun stood before Ahriman (Evil) attacked the perfect world. Through the coming of the savior, some good will prevail and for three years people will live more harmoniously, conditions will improve and the renovation of the universe will start. Some harmful creatures belonging to the forces of evil, such as wolves, will perish.

The second savior will be called Aushedar-mah and he will be born in the same manner as the first savior. The sun will stand still for twenty days this time, the period of renovation will last for six years and more harmful creatures will perish. The original perfect state of the world, as it was at the beginning, will draw closer. Men will stop eating meat and will only drink water. However this is not the end of Evil, he will reappear in form of Azhi Dahaka (Zahak in Shahnameh), a monster who was earlier defeated and imprisoned on top of Mount Demavand by the hero Thraetaona (Thahmoureth). The monster will escape, invade the world and smite the sacred elements of fire, water and vegetation. Another hero Keresapa (Jamshid) will rid the world of Azhi Dahaka and the power of evil will be further reduced. However, Azhi manages to escape.

During the third and final stage, the last savior Soshyant is conceived in the same manner as his predecessors and will eventually defeat all the forces of evil. The perfect state of the world arrives when death, disease and all forces of evil and disorder are forever defeated. Soshyant raises each of the dead from the spot where they died. All people will be lead to the place of judgment where they will see the good and bad deeds of their lives. Then the wicked will go to the hell and the good to heaven for a period of three days and three nights. This last judgement of the individual will be only concerned with the soul, while the universal judgement will be concerned with both body and soul and will involve the resurrection of the body. Humans as whole beings will put through several tests such as passing through molten metal.

The hot metal will flow over and purify the earth and return it to a perfect and unified state. The stream of molten metal will sweep over all men and make them pure and uniform as well. The gift of immortality will be conferred when Soshyant, acting as a priest, celebrates the final sacrifice with the last animal (the ox) to die in the service of man. From the fat of the ox and the mythical White Hom (Haoma a sacred mix used in ceremonies) from the cosmic ocean the elixir of immortality will be prepared. Ahriman and Azhi, will run into Hell to escape and the molten metal will destroy Hell and Azhi. Ahriman will become impotent and be annihilated. After the earth is leveled and humans restored to their ideal unity of body and soul, the whole creation will again be the perfect combination of spirit and matter that God intended it to be.

 

[sanddy]

Even Muhammad Ali Jinnah's wife Rattanbai Petit and his son-in law Neville Wadia where parsi which some of the people don't know .

 

[vsdoc]

im tambrahm and we have toranam which is a string of mango leaves on the doorstep along with kolam (what you call chalk).
some say that the tam brahms originally came from guj and other parts of north india and bengal area (several streams i guess)

In our Fire temples, the same torans are also made of silver plates/shields with the face of Zarathushtra and religious symbols embossed and/or etched on them in relief - cant find a photo on Google Images.

Even Muhammad Ali Jinnah's wife Rattanbai Petit and his son-in law Neville Wadia where parsi which some of the people don't know .

I think everyone on PDF knows bro

Whether the girl earns more or the boy, if they are living together as married couple, it'll be shared responsibility of the couple to maintain the house. BTW, no one answered my question, what mythological epics do you guys have?

Yes, in Parsis that goes without saying, but in real life show me one girl who would like to marry an under-qualified or lower earning boy or vice versa? Its a real issue. When I say under-qualified, lower earning , its relative of course. Hope you dont get the impression that Parsi boys are scratching their gonads all day long! LOL

Our mytholgy and heros are many man. Shahnameh is one such epic. Rustom, Sohrab, Gushtasp, these are all great heroes. The Avesta and the Gathas themselves have many stories. We have a famous mythological bird called the Simurg. Lots of fancy fascinating stuff. The birth and life of Zarathushtra itself is a fascinating story (we also have an Amar Chitra Katha comic on it incidentally!).

Check this out .....

http://fantalov.tripod.com/Zoroastrian2.htm

 

[zynga]

i did my engg in pune, and every class had to have a mad bawa , as we lovignly called , them in it.
most of them went to the US for MS/PhD and many of them are back in india with their own companies.
i remember a parsi man in his 50s driving an old bajaj scooter who had come to my fathers bank (my dad was then a managerfor a nationalised bank) for a loan. when asked for his collateral he had tata share worth crores. parsis are typically thrifty and not ostentatious.
parsis made their money during british rule by being important traders. they had a hand in the opium trade. they were ship builders of excellent reputtion that the british had to kill off their industry by force to avoid being forced out due to cheaper and equally god quality ships built by them and sent to americas and other european countries.
parsis were the first to move into malabar ill when the brtish occupied bombay.

 

[vsdoc]

Tata, ACC, and CIPLA shares - every Parsi family's bapauti!

Now add TCS, ONGC, and a few others - but Tisco and Tata Motors have to be there.

 

[zynga]

In our Fire temples, the same torans are also made of silver plates/shields with the face of Zarathushtra and religious symbols embossed and/or etched on them in relief - cant find a photo on Google Images.



I think everyone on PDF knows bro



Yes, in Parsis that goes without saying, but in real life show me one girl who would like to marry an under-qualified or lower earning boy or vice versa? Its a real issue. When I say under-qualified, lower earning , its relative of course. Hope you dont get the impression that Parsi boys are scratching their gonads all day long! LOL

Our mytholgy and heros are many man. Shahnameh is one such epic. Rustom, Sohrab, Gushtasp, these are all great heroes. The Avesta and the Gathas themselves have many stories. We have a famous mythological bird called the Simurg. Lots of fancy fascinating stuff. The birth and life of Zarathushtra itself is a fascinating story (we also have an Amar Chitra Katha comic on it incidentally!).

Check this out .....

Zoroastrian mythology 2 in pictures (the fighting against dragon).

my wife makes 50% more than me.. i am AVp and she is VP.

 

[vsdoc]

my wife makes 50% more than me.. i am AVp and she is VP.

Yes bro .... but remember first you are talking about a mad bawa ...... and that mad bawa happens to be a bawi.

Story finishes there.