Iranians in India - the Model Minority

[Surenas]

The issue is not so much about whether Parsis have been mixing with the Indian gene pool.

The issue is more about how pure is the current Iranian gene pool when compared to the original Persian Aryan gene pool.

Not so much different I guess.

 

[kingkobra]

A kid doing his kusti prayers (we are supposed to pray 5 times a day at the change of every geh, but the pressures of modern life means that most Parsis pray twice - once in the morning after our bath, and once at night before going to bed).

In the morning we face east. At night (after sunset) we face west. We never sleep with our head facing south.

We wear our prayer topi when we pray or when we enter our fire temples or are in front of the holy fire (atash). Ladies cover their head with a scarf or maathubanu. Pre-pubescent girls can wear the topi (but its more ornamental with a lot of zari for them - for us its either black or blue or red velvet).

this is somewhat like sandhya that we vedics do every morning after bath and every evening after getting clean...

btw Avesta and sanskrit have many similarities..


The language of the Avesta is most closely allied to the Sanskrit, though individually quite distinct from the latter. Together they may be classed as making up an Indo-Iranian group. Almost any Sanskrit word may be changed at once into its Avestan equivalent, or vice versa, merely by applying certain phonetic laws. As example may be taken the metrical stanza Yt. 10.6 in the Avesta:

tem amavantem yazatem
surem damohu seviytem
mithrem yazai zaothrabyo

'Mithra that strong mighty angel, most beneficent to all creatures, I will worship with libations'- becomes when rendered word for word in Sanskrit:

tam amavantam yajatam
yuram dhamasu yavistham
mitram yajai hotrabhyah

Avesta - Manuscripts, importance and language of the Avesta

 

[russellpeters]

to a sharp ear, one who has been trained in linguistics, one can easily spot the similarities in the actual words used by the chanters. in fact many verses are shared by the Vedas and Avesta "as is" ie only with linguistic differences.

Regarding the investiture of sacred thread, up to recently even girls were part of the upanayan sacrament, in Kashmir. Among Kashmiri pundits, due the lack of a caster hierarchy, all Kashmiri Hindu males wear the thread. Even now it is not strictly unacceptable for a girl to were a janeu, i know a relative of mine who does, it is merely out of fashion.

 

[Surenas]

Hmm... Surprised to see except for Surenas , no other Iranian has taken any interest in this thread even though this is about a people with Iranian origins and the old Iranian culture and religion . Any way doesn't matter , these people are 'our people' now and we are proud of them .

Most Iranians on this forum are only interest in the mighty Iranian power and their conquest for world domination.

 

[KS]

thread ceremony in hinduism is only for brahmins(males only). not for people of other castes.

Not entirely true.

In Tamil Nadu, even some other castes like Saiva Pillais wear the Poonool [sacred thread].

 

[kingkobra]

to a sharp ear, one who has been trained in linguistics, one can easily spot the similarities in the actual words used by the chanters. in fact many verses are shared by the Vedas and Avesta "as is" ie only with linguistic differences.

Regarding the investiture of sacred thread, up to recently even girls were part of the upanayan sacrament, in Kashmir. Among Kashmiri pundits, due the lack of a caster hierarchy, all Kashmiri Hindu males wear the thread. Even now it is not strictly unacceptable for a girl to were a janeu, i know a relative of mine who does, it is merely out of fashion.

thread ceremony should be performed for both girls and boys as per vedas...

 

[russellpeters]

Another interesting tidbit. The usual word in the subcontinent for the islamic prayer is Namaz, while the arabic word is "salat". The word namaz is an older persian word, originally for the Parsi prayer, a relative of the sanskrit word "namah"

the prayer before the meal is

ba nãm i ýazad i baxshâyañdeh i baxshâyashgar i meherbãn.

In the name of God, the bestower, the giver, the merciful!

 

[Surenas]

Persian culture celebrated in India:

‫

 

[curioususer]

thread ceremony is for all four varnas..but only brahmins do it nowadays...I know some communities like Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu in maharastra that do it too..

oh..sorry i didn't know that.

Not so much different I guess.

maybe we should do a gene test with people living in present day iran and parsis.

 

[russellpeters]

maybe we should first check how many iranians have not intermixed with conquering races.

 

[Shahin Vatani]

Does somebody know if Parsi's have been mixing with the local population, because some Parsi's look a bit like Iranians and some look more Indian?

Of course after over 1000 years they are going to look more like Indians and less like Iranians. Same with Jews, ones who went to Europe looked more European, ones that went to Iran looked more Iranian. Don't know if it is a result of population mixing or evolution though.

 

[Abii]

Hmm... Surprised to see except for Surenas , no other Iranian has taken any interest in this thread even though this is about a people with Iranian origins and the old Iranian culture and religion . Any way doesn't matter , these people are 'our people' now and we are proud of them .

I saw this thread when it was first created but these people are Indians, not Iranians. I'm not sure why they're still being called "parsis" or why some/all of them would consider themselves Parsis. Religion doesn't make a person Persian or Arab or... They've been out of Iran for more than a millenia and frankly they even look more Indian.

I'm glad that Zoroastrians found a safe haven in India, and thankful, but I don't feel any connection with them. Most Iranians I guess would feel the same way.

 

[Surenas]

Of course after over 1000 years they are going to look more like Indians and less like Iranians. Same with Jews, ones who went to Europe looked more European, ones that went to Iran looked more Iranian. Don't know if it is a result of population mixing or evolution though.

Mixing of course. 1000 years is to short for such evolutional process. The Jews in Europe heavily mixed with the native European population, while the Jews in Iran and other Middle-Eastern countries didn't mix on such scale.

 

[trinity]

Cyrus Broacha - The most important and one of the first Video Jockeys in India .One of the funniest guys ever in the Indian entertainment industry .

One of my favourites as well , Grew up watching this guy , funny as hell

I thought the guy was nice till I overheard him one night talking smack about NRI;s. Talk about inferiority complex.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

FREDDIE !!

Ness Wadia - grandson of MA Jinnah

Mr Jinnah DISOWNED HIS DAUGHTER AND NEVER TALKED TO HER AGAIN IN HIS LIFE...

My favourite Iranian is Googoosh...