They Preserved their Religion in Hindu India.There are
More Zoroastrians(Parsis) in India than anywhere else in the world.
According to
Parsi lore they spent nineteen years on the island of Diu, after
which they set sail again and landed in Sanjan
also on the west coast of India, either in the year 936AD or in 716AD
Permission to
settle was granted by Jadhav Rana, The Hindu ruler. These newly arrived
strangers were called Parsis - to denote the region from where they had come - Pars,
(Persia), once the birthplace of mighty empires, now the distant dream of a band
of refugees.
Hindu India was
kind to the refugees from Pars. They suffered no persecution, no fear.They were allowed
to prosper and grow. They built the first fire temple in AD 721, installed with due ceremony the
holy fire which they called the Iranshah, the King of Iran; lived largely
peaceful, obscure existences in various villages and towns of Gujarat as
farmers, weavers and carpenters.
For about three
hundred years after landing at Sanjan, Parsis are said to have lived
in peace and without molestation. By that time their numbers had
greatly increased. Many moved from Sanjan to other parts of India with their
families: to Cambay, Navsari, Anklesvar, Variav, Vankaner and Surat in
the north, and to Thane and Chaul in the south. Pockets of Parsis were
also found in Upper India, mentioned by early travellers: in Sind, Dehra-Dun
and Punjab.
Whenever they
left Sanjan to settle elsewhere, they carried a part of the Iranshah
with them-the first fire they had consecrated on Indian soil. But not all
climes were as hospitable as Sanjan. In Sind, Ibrahim the Ghaznavid
perceived the Parsis as a colony of fire-worshippers and attacked them. In
Thana, which was ruled by the Portuguese, they were seen as idolaters and
put upon by missionaries to convert to Christianity.
However, Islam
did follow them even to India. In 1465 Sanjan was sacked and destroyed by
the Muslim Sultanate. Parsis fought valiantly, side by side with their
Hindu benefactors. Many lost their lives, but the priests managed to
rescue the sacred fire and carried it safely to a cave on a hill, where,
protected by jungle and sea, they guarded it for the next twelve years.
Though they
didn't completely lose touch with the Persian language, Gujarati
(their version of it), started to become their mother tongue. They adopted
many Hindu customs. Parsi women dressed like their Indian counterparts.
They even wore nose rings.
Parsis are a
people who uprooted themselves and moved to a different
world to save
their religion. Parsis migrated to India one thousand years ago. The Parsi experience
is
about dilemmas that most minority communities
face; questions about religion and
race, survival and extinction,
assimilation and identity, tradition and the modern
world. There are only 100,000
Parsis in the world today, mostly in India, particularly
in Bombay. Demographically, they are a dying community-our deaths outweigh our
births. Parsis like to quote a remark that Mahatma Gandhi once reportedly made,
"In
numbers Parsis are beneath contempt, but in
contribution, beyond compare." Out of
an Indian
population of more than one
billion, Parsis number a mere 76,000.
Tatas
theBiggest business conglomerate of India is chaired by parsis.Godrej & Wadia Group two other business houses
of India are also owned by parsis.
Hanging Gardens
and temple of silence of Bombay are famous.Temple of Silence is a Parsi Fire
temple.