PARSIS

PARSIS The Parsis are among India's smallest minorities. They comprise less than 0.01 percent of India's population but have nevertheless made significant contributions to Indian society, economy, and politics. For example, India's largest industrial empire, the Tata group, is headed by a Parsi, as is Godrej, India's largest privately owned conglomerate, and Bombay Dyeing, one of the largest textile groups in India. The number of Parsis is, however, declining. The Indian census counted the Parsi population to be 85,000 in 1881, 115,000 in 1941, 76,000 in 1991, and 69,600 in 2001.

Parsis came to India from Iran (Persia), hence the name "Parsi." Fleeing religious persecution, they first arrived in Gujarat in the seventh century. Many settled in the port of Surat, where, in the fifteenth century, Portuguese, British, and Dutch merchants had been given permission by the Mughals to establish trading factories. In Surat, Parsis soon became prosperous traders and chief native agents, as well as shipbuilders. A few Parsis left Surat, moving south to Bombay, where they acted as brokers between Indians and Portuguese. When Bombay was ceded by Portugal to England's crown in 1665, and, three years later, handed over to the East India Company, Parsis were already a presence in the region.

The East India Company sought to make Bombay its leading commercial center and it needed Indian traders, merchants, and craftsmen to settle there. Parsis were quick to seize the opportunity. Parsi entrepreneurs became prominent in small and large business enterprises in Bombay. They also laid the foundation for India's textile and cotton mill industry from the 1850s onward. Parsi industrialist Naoroji Wadia and his sons controlled the textile mills Bombay Dyeing and Century Mills. The Lowjee Wadia family dominated ship construction.

Accomplishments

Parsi entrepreneurs not only developed business empires but were also philanthropists who contributed to national development. The Tata Group was founded by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, who initially established textile mills and later concentrated on the iron and steel industry, electrical power generation, and technical education. Tata believed that India's political independence would be meaningless without economic self-sufficiency. His vision for creating national educational and industrial instititutions, such as the Institute of Science in Bangalore, a steel plant in Jamshedpur (Bihar), and a hydroelectric company, was brought to fruition by his successor, Jamsetji R. D. Tata, who guided the Tata Group for over half a century. He headed Tata Sons in 1938, Tata Chemicals in 1939, and the Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company in 1945. He also promoted civil aviation in the Indian subcontinent and founded Tata Airlines (which was later nationalized as Air India). Further, he funded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, which was the cradle of India's atomic energy program; started the Family Planning Foundation in 1970; established Asia's first cancer hospital (the Tata Memorial Hospital in Bombay); and in 1992 was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, as well as the United Nations Population Award.

In politics, Parsis contributed to the Indian independence movement, and have been prominent in areas such as law, military affairs, and public service. Dadabhai Naoroji was a leading early Parsi nationalist who fought for the Indianization of the Indian Civil Service. In 1892 he narrowly won election to the British House of Commons as a Liberal from London's Central Finsbury. He was elected president of the Indian National Congress three times: in 1886, 1893, and 1906. The Congress's demand for swaraj (independence) was first expressed publicly in Naoroji's 1906 presidential address. Another Parsi, Madame Bhikaji Cama (1861–1936), who was exiled from India and Britain and lived in France, was a tireless propagandist for Indian independence. Pherozeshah Mehta (1845–1915) was known as the "father of municipal government in Bombay." He drafted the Bombay Municipal Act of 1872, served as municipal commissioner in 1873, and was elected president of the Indian National Congress in 1890.

A full list of Parsis in public service would run many pages long. Parsi scientists were instrumental in developing India's nuclear program. Homi Bhabha established the nuclear program and also served as the president of the United Nations conference on peaceful uses of atomic energy in 1955 and as president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics from 1960 to 1963. Homi Sethna was chairman of India's atomic energy commission in the 1970s and 1980s. General Sam Maneckshaw was the Indian army's first field marshal, leading the Indian army to victory over Pakistan in the Bangladesh War in 1971. In the 2000s, two Parsis were on India's Supreme Court (Chief Justice Sam Bharucha and Justice Sam Variava), and one was India's attorney general (Soli Sorabjee). An earlier legal luminary, Nani Palkhivala, served briefly as India's ambassador to the United States. Feroze Gandhi, a Parsi, was the husband of prime minister Indira Gandhi and the father of Rajiv Gandhi.

Parsis have established and headed dozens of hospitals, educational institutions, and research centers, including the Tata Cancer Hospitals, Sir J. J. School of Arts, the Institute of Social Sciences, and the Institute of Fundamental Research. Parsis also established the first Indian newspaper and the first Indian-owned bank. In the arts, prominent Parsis include singer Freddie Mercury, of the British rock group Queen, and Zubin Mehta, conductor of the Israel Philharmonic since 1981, the New York Philharmonic (1978–1991), the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1962–1978), and the Montreal Symphony (1961–1967). Many Parsis have excelled in sports and in various professions at the national and international level.

Religious and Cultural Practices

Parsis are Zoroastrians. Zoroastrianism was founded on the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster, who lived around 1500 b.c. in Iran (then Persia). Parsis are the Zoroastrians of India, descendants of the Zoroastrians who fled Iran and came to India in the seventh century a.d. Another group of Zoroastrians continued to live in Iran. The World Zoroastrian population in 2004 was estimated at 124,000–190,000: 69,600 in India, 24,000–90,000 in Iran, 10,000 in the United States, 6,000 in Canada, 5,000 in the U.K., and some 2,000 each in Australia, the Gulf, and Pakistan.

In terms of customs, Parsis have been incorrectly called "fire worshipers." They do not worship fire, but fire has special significance to Zoroastrians. It is regarded as giving light, warmth, and energy, and therefore as vital to life. Zoroastrian temples have altars with fire within, and are thus called fire-temples. Eight large fire-temples in India include four in Mumbai and four in the state of Gujarat (two in Surat, one in Udwada, one in Navsari). There are no caste divisions among Parsis, and no religious restrictions concerning food.

One major controversy within the Parsi community is intermarriage, and this has implications for the dwindling Parsi population. The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act of 1936 and its amendments state that children born to a Parsi man and non-Parsi woman can be admitted into the religion. But children of a Parsi woman and a non-Parsi man would not be admitted. However, over the past decades, a section of the community has been accepting such children, provided that the mother had continued to be a practicing Zoroastrian after her marriage. A new edict discarded these progressive changes. In this situation, especially because perhaps one in three Parsis marries a non-Parsi, the number of Parsis in each successive generation will drastically decline. Partly to stem the decline in numbers, reformists argue that children of mixed marriages should be accepted as Zoroastrians.

Even if the intermarriage issue is resolved, declining numbers will still be a concern. A large proportion of Parsis do not marry, or marry late and have few children, aspiring to complete their education and establish themselves in a profession before considering marriage. The average age of marriage for Parsis is the early thirties for men and the mid- to late twenties for women. In India's 1991 census, over 70 percent of Parsi males and over 40 percent of females in the high-fertility age group of 25 to 29 were "never married"; in the age group of 45 to 49, about 20 percent of males and 10 percent of females fell in the "never married" group. In this situation, some reformists suggest allowing children of non-Zoroastrian parents (both male and female) to be initiated into the Zoroastrian religion, but this remedy has not been seriously considered.

Parsis have been and will continue to be prominent in Indian business and society. Yet their numbers are declining. India's 2001 census counted 69,600 Parsis, including 46,600 in Mumbai and 8,000 elsewhere in the state of Maharashtra. Their numbers in India could decline to perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 by the year 2020. This decline will stem from natural reasons—larger death rates than birth rates (India's 2001 census noted a Parsi death rate of 16–18 per 1,000 persons and a birth rate of 6–7 per 1,000 persons; other statistics for Mumbai's Parsis indicate some 367 births and 936 deaths in 1995, and 300 births and 858 deaths in 2002)—and from migration. Like other Indians, a large number of younger Parsis migrate to the West. Thus, while their numbers in India may fall, their numbers in the West could increase in the twenty-first century.

Dinshaw Mistry

See alsoNaoroji, Dadabhai ; Tata, Jamsetji N. ; Zoroastrianism

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