MUMBAI: In the late 15th century, around 700 years after they first arrived in India, a Parsi from Gujarat, Nariman Hoshang, travelled back to Iran. His mission _ to meet Zoroastrian priests in Iran and learn from them about their religion’s customs, traditions and practices (Revayats). Over the next 300 years, many more exchanges between priests in India and Iran occurred.
Now, over five centuries later, a priest from Iran, Mobed Mehraban Pouladi, president of the Council of Iranian Mobeds (pirests) is on his first official visit to India to meet Parsis here and strengthen relationships. As president, he heads the highest religious authority for Iranian Zoroastrians.
Pouladi is on a ten-day visit to Mumbai and south Gujarat accompanied by his translator, professor Saloumeh Gholami from Cambridge University.
Historically, there has always been a connection between Iranian and Indian Zoroastrians. But for many years, there was a gap between the two communities. Although there have been many exchanges in the past, this is the first time since Nariman Hoshang’s journey that I decided to travel on an official visit to India and see how the Parsis here perform their rituals and ceremonies,’’ Pouladi told TOI through his interpreter.
`A crucial aim of this visit is to foster unity and collaboration between our communities, laying the groundwork for future joint initiatives. One of my key objectives is to propose the organisation of joint meetings between Indian and Iranian priests on an international platform,’’ said Pouladi.
Last week, the Iranian priest met his counterparts in Mumbai including the city-based Parsi high priest and Zoroastrian scholar Dastur Firoze Kotwal. He also visited the Bombay Parsi Punchayat office in south Mumbai and attended a ritual ceremony in a fire temple.
There are some rituals which are now performed only in India like the higher liturgical ceremonies like Vendidad and Nirangdin. They are now extinct in Iran. No one performs them anymore. The last one was performed 50 years ago,’’ he said.
According to him, there are about 22,000 Zoroastrians in Iran. “We are a close-knit community which meet regularly and celebrate festivals. Children are given religious education and they marry within the community. The divorce rate among Iranian Zoroastrians is exceptionally rare,’’ said Pouladi.
Asked if there was discrimination against Zoroastrians in Islamic Iran, the mobed said the community is highly respected. “The dark ages of persecution were over more than a century ago. Today, if they know you are a Zoroastrian, they are more kind and polite,’’ he said, adding that several of them fought in the war with Iraq. “They know Zoroastrians are not into conversions,’’ he said.
The mobed will be travelling to the south Gujarat village of Udvada to visit the ancient fire temple and to Navsari, once considered a Zoroastrian stronghold in India.
“I envision a future where our Zoroastrian faith is strengthened through shared understanding and cooperative efforts,’’ he said.
