Parsi community: India

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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Parsis of Delhi

The Times of India, Sep 05 2015

Dharvi Vaid

Film screening unites Delhi's Parsis

The story of the community in Delhi has been somewhat different. Its Parsi community is small -it has only around 700 members. But it took steps nearly 45 years ago to arrest the drastic slide in its numbers. Its city association, the Delhi Parsi Anjuman, allowed inter-community marriages way back in the 1970s. It was probably the first anjuman to do so. “We allowed non-Parsi spouses to be members of the anjuman,“ says Adil Nargolwala, honorary secretary of the anjuman who is married to a non-Parsi.

Today , around 40% of Delhi's Parsis marry outside their community . Children from all such marriages are allowed into the Zoroastrian faith, of fered scholarships and other benefits and are free to participate in the community's cultural activities. Other anjumans only allow this if the father is a Parsi. “The most important thing today is for communities to live together in peace,“ says Dadi E Mistry , patron at the city anjuman.

Nargolwala points out that in cities like Mumbai, Pune and parts of Gujarat, the rules governing marriage and rituals are far more stringently applied. But Delhi has fewer Parsis and they are scattered around the city . This makes it possible to be more liberal with rules governing family life. “It is hard to find a Parsi spouse in Delhi today . Our social circles include people from all communities. You are quite likely to marry a non-Parsi in this situation,“ says Nargolwala.

The anjuman is also making an effort to sensitize younger Parsis to their religion and culture. There are occasional classes on Zoroastrian history and camps for children. “In our time our grandmothers used to teach us about our history and culture.Now we host groups of younger Parsis once every six weeks,“ says Mistry .

Novy Kapadia, a sports journalist and a Delhi University teacher, has seen the drop in numbers over time. “In the 1960s when I was in school, there were around 1,500 Parsis. The Zoroastrian community in Delhi has been very progressive and continues to be so. The massive decline in numbers is also because a lot of the younger generation has migrated to Canada, Australia and the US in search for better opportunities.“ he says.