Parsi Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrians fleeing Iran landed at Sanjan on the Gujarat coast and became the Parsi community.

The dakhmas of Mumbai remain in use among Parsis, whose community argues over solar concentrators, aviaries, burial and cremation as the ecological base for vulture exposure has collapsed.

The Parsi community formed in Gujarat from Zoroastrians who left Iran.

Zoroastrians who left Iran after the conquest settled in Gujarat and became the Parsi community, keeping the temple fire cult of this period.

This source names Parsi directly: "of India population table for the Parsi community: 114,890 in 1941, 91,266 in 1971, 69,601 in 2001, 57,264 in 2011, each figure footnoted to its own Census of India year."

The first of the five Gathas, held to be the words of Zarathushtra himself, and recited in the daily office.

Recited constantly, before and after prayers, on waking and on washing.

The bundle of rods held by the priest during the high liturgy, now made of metal where it was once cut from a tree.

The Denkard, the ninth century compendium of Zoroastrian belief and practice, is scripture held by this community.

Preserved in a dialect already archaic when the rest of the Avesta was composed, and transmitted by priests who learn the sound before they learn the sense.

The plant is pounded and its juice consecrated in the Yasna, the central liturgy, which cannot be performed without it.

The woollen cord is tied and untied at the five divisions of the day with the prayer that accompanies it, and its seventy two threads are counted against the chapters of the Yasna.

The Parsi priesthood is hereditary in the male line of priestly families, and the shortage of candidates from those families is now the central practical problem of the community.

The Qissa-i Sanjan, the traditional account of the Zoroastrian migration from Iran to Gujarat, is this community's own foundational scripture of origin.

Sandalwood is the offering laid on the fire by worshippers at a fire temple, and its sale at the door is part of the temple's economy as well as its worship.

The white cotton shirt is put on at the navjote and worn under the clothes for life, its small pocket at the neck standing for the store of good deeds.

The Parsi community continues exposure at its own towers in Mumbai, where the collapse of the vulture population has made the practice a live argument inside the community, so the Yazd towers are a disused parallel rather than a shared site.

The fire carried from Iran and installed in Gujarat is the oldest continuously burning fire of the Parsi community and the highest grade of consecrated fire it maintains.

The most important of the formulas, recited at the tying of the sacred cord and at the junctures of the day.

The one supreme, wholly good creator God, the Wise Lord, is worshipped by this community as by all Zoroastrians.

The hostile, destructive spirit, the origin of evil and disorder, is affirmed in this community's cosmic dualism.

Truth, righteousness and the right ordering of the cosmos, opposed to the Lie, is the fundamental Zoroastrian principle held by this community.

The Avesta, the collected sacred texts of Zoroastrianism in the Avestan language, is scripture held by this community as by all Zoroastrians.

The Bundahishn, the Zoroastrian account of creation and cosmic history, is scripture held by this community.

The Denkard, the ninth century compendium of Zoroastrian belief and practice, is scripture held by this community.

The Lie, falsehood and disorder, the moral and cosmic opposite of Asha, is Zoroastrian doctrine held by this community.

The final renovation of the world, when evil is defeated and creation restored to perfection, is Zoroastrian eschatology held by this community.

The Gathas, the hymns attributed to Zarathushtra himself, are the oldest and most sacred layer of scripture held by this community.

The threefold ethical maxim at the heart of Zoroastrian practice is held by this community as the way of taking the side of Asha.

The Khordeh Avesta, the book of common prayer drawn from the Avesta, is scripture used in this community's daily devotion.

The divine glory resting on a legitimate ruler, departing from one who does wrong, is Zoroastrian and Persian doctrine held by this community.

Parsis keep the equinox as Jamshedi Navroz, distinct from the New Year of their own Shahenshahi calendar, which has drifted to August; the day is marked with prayers in the fire temple, the haft-sin table and family visiting.

The Qissa-i Sanjan, the traditional account of the Zoroastrian migration from Iran to Gujarat, is this community's own foundational scripture of origin.

Consecrated by Parsi fire temple priests and processed to by the Parsi community in traditional dress, a communally embraced devotional monument to the tradition's own founder prophet rather than a secular or purely commemorative civic statue.

The six Bounteous Immortals through whom Ahura Mazda creates and sustains the world are venerated in this community.

The bridge of judgement every soul crosses after death, broad for the righteous and narrow as a blade for the wicked, is held by this community.

The pre-existent guardian spirit of every being, especially the righteous dead, is honoured in this community.

The oldest continuously burning fire of the Indian Zoroastrians, brought from Iran with the migration.

The Vendidad, the priestly code addressing purity law, is scripture held by this community.

The Yasna, the central liturgical collection including the Gathas, is scripture used in this community's worship.