Parsis

“ Another fact which accounts for the attachment of the Parsis to their religion is its remote antiquity and its former glory. Though age has little to do with truth, the length of time for which any system has lasted seems to offer a vague argument in favour of its strength. ”

“ The Parsis are the descendants of the ancient Persians, whose fame has survived in the annals of the world. Reduced henceforth to perhaps the most restricted minority amongst all the nations of the globe, they are found dispersed all over the Presidency of Bombay, and in some districts of modern Persia, in Yezd and in Kirman, where they have been vegetating for centuries. ”

“ It is frequently claimed for the Parsis, by their own writers, that they are a very tolerant people, and that while they have proved their fidelity to their own faith even to the death, they have never persecuted or ill-used members of other religions. It should, however, be remembered that almost all religious systems have been tolerant while they were themselves in a minority, and that the era of persecuting intolerance has been that of power, so that the Parsis have never really been in a position to exercise intolerance. ”

“ We shall have occasion, besides, in the course of this work, to look back upon these far-off regions, to note the frequent relations between the Parsis of Persia and their brethren of India, and the inestimable benefits secured by the wealthy Parsis of Bombay for the unfortunate Guebres of Yezd and Kirman.
Two hundred years after the Mahomedan [39] conquest the condition of Persia had entirely changed. The national spirit was dead, and the entire population had embraced Islamism. ”

“ The men who have been represented as believing [28] in the two principles of good and evil, and admitting at the same time Yazdan (God) and Ahreman (the Devil) , and who offered a desperate resistance to Timur at Tughlikhpur, were the Parsis. It is said besides that the colony at Gujerat was reinforced by a large number of Parsis, who fled before the conqueror. The mention made by a Mahomedan writer of the destruction of fire-temples by the Emperor Sikandar (1504) , shows that long before this date Parsi emigrants had dwelt in Upper India. ”

“ Dadabhai Naoroji proceeds to give a clear and graphic description of the ceremonies to be observed at the birth and the investiture of children, at the betrothal of children, at marriages and at funerals, and he finally dismisses some of the distinguishing features of the national character of the Parsis. The Parsis are monogamists. They do not eat anything cooked by a person of another religion; they object to beef, pork, or ham. Their priesthood is hereditary. None but the son of a priest can be a priest, but it is not obligatory for the son of a priest to take orders. ”

“ There they throve and there they live still, while the ranks of their co-religionists in Persia are daily thinning and dwindling away.9
As the Parsis are the ruins of a people, so are their sacred books the ruins of a religion. There has been no other great belief in the world that ever left such poor and meagre monuments of its past splendor. ”

“ School work in Yezd is very greatly appreciated by a somewhat limited class, but it means continual friction. The whole Mussulman clerical class as a body are keenly opposed to it. More curiously it aroused the greatest opposition from a small but not unimportant section of the Parsis. The Parsis are a puzzling people. For though they are strong, intelligent, thrifty, industrious, grateful, and comparatively honest, they seem to have a tendency to produce in their community a sufficient number of exceptionally disagreeable specimens of humanity to greatly check their natural progress. ”

“ Anquetil du Perron says (Zend-Avesta, t. II. p. 601) : “Of all the religions known, that of the Parsís is perhaps the only one in which fasting be neither meritorious nor even permitted. The Parsí, on the contrary, believes to honor Ormuzd by nourishing himself well: because the body, fresh and vigorous, renders the soul stronger against the bad genii; because the man, feeling less want, reads the word with more attention, and feels more courage for performing good works ”

“ The fact that the Parsis are the only Eastern people who entirely abstain from smoking is very significant; and we know that most of them would rather not blow out a candle, if they could help it. It is difficult to analyse such a feeling, but it seems, in some respects, similar to that which many Christians have about the cross. They do not worship the cross, but they have peculiar feelings of reverence for it, and it is intimately connected with some of their most sacred rites. ”

“ IT is time to realize that we, the non-Indian nations, who comprise the Muslims, Dravidians, Akhoots (Untouchables) , Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis, are, and ever have been, the victims of "The Myth of Indianism ". That is the Myth which teaches that India is the country of "India," i.e., the exclusive domain of Caste Hinduism and Caste Hindoos and which has been built up by the Caste Hindoos, buttressed by the British and, thanks to our own folly, believed by the world. ”

“ In the presence of this painful state of affairs the Parsis in India could not remain indifferent. Mr. Dosabhai Framji Karaka wrote, a quarter of a century back:22 “Can we then do nothing for our unfortunate brethren in Persia? Our community has considerable funds and possesses men known throughout the world for their [68] benevolence and their noble efforts towards the amelioration of the condition of their co-religionists.... ”

“ True to his Asiatic instincts, he has "an eye to business," even in this solemn obligation of life. He prays not because it is his duty to do so, but because a prayer opens the way for a request! So he thinks, and so he acts. Who has not seen the orthodox Parsi of a morning or evening at the sea-shore? With what arts, what blandishments, he tries to seduce the Will Divine! ”

“ Let them see that neither greatness nor happiness is to be achieved by a compromise with the conscience.
The Orthodox Parsi at Prayer.
But for true national greatness, sincerity in all we do, and some rational scheme of life for "here and there" are essential. Unfortunately for him, the Parsi is either insincere or irrational. In the most solemn business of life, at his prayers and devotions, the Parsi makes a droll figure. I mean the orthodox Parsi. To him prayer is as necessary as food, and the time for it recurs oftener than the time for his meals. ”

“ The minute he is out of bed the orthodox Parsi shakes himself free of all idle reveries, the remnants of the night's dreaming ;and unfolding the triple cord [2] round his waist, turns his face to where the sun has just risen, and giving the sacred badge three vigorous flaps, he cries out in choice Zend, "Defeat, defeat to Shaitán," [3] so that the author of evil may not venture, later on, to molest the pious man on his path of duty. Shortly after he takes his bath, and then commences the regular prayer business. ”

“ As for the young or, as he is called, the reformed Parsi, I doubt if he is a true Zoroastrian at all; he scorns everything that requires self-denial. It is often good to be independent, and I would not so much mind if the Parsi youth tried to live independently of any human religion, and at the same time to be an honest, useful man, desirous of leaving the world the better for his having lived in it. But it is not so with the average young Parsi. ”

“ Scarcely any Parsi living can claim to be of the pure Persian "blue blood."
Our "Forlorn Hopes."
It is in the middle ranks of life that we can perceive materials for "a mighty, puissant nation." If this glorious middle class goes on educating itself, it may one day realise the future which has been predicted for it by the ancient seers. Besides keeping abreast of the rapid advance of arts and sciences, the people have to learn patriotism and to abjure priestcraft. ”

“ The inhabitants of the cities are pale in appearance, and not robust; those of the towns are robust and well proportioned. We regret not to be able to insert certain types sent for us from Yezd, the printing of this work being too far advanced to enable us to make use of them.
15 Malcolm, History of Persia, vol. i. ch. xv. pp. 607 et seq.
16 Hanway, vol. ii. p. 153.
17 Malcolm, History of Persia, vol. i. ch. xv. p. 642.—The chief of one of the corps of Guebres at the siege of Ispahan was called by the Mussulman name of Nasser-ûllah. Hanway considers him as a Parsi or Guebre. ”

“ A school-man that expects to become a professor will scarcely deign to cast an eye on a pastor; but one who is himself looking up to a parsonage as to his working-house and breeding-house, knows how to value such a character. The new parsonage—as if it had, like a Casa Santa, come flying out of Erlang, or the Berlin Friedrichs-strasse, and alighted in Hukelum—was for the Quintus a Temple of the Sun, and the Senior a Priest of the Sun. To be Parson there himself was a thought overlaid with virgin honey ”

“ Incredible as it may sound, we are told by the best authority, by an enlightened yet strictly orthodox Parsi, that there is hardly a man or a woman who could give an account of the faith that is in them. 'The whole religious education of a Parsi child consists in preparing by rote a certain number of prayers in Zend, without understanding a word of them; the knowledge of the doctrines of their religion being left to be picked up from casual conversation.' A Parsi, in fact, hardly knows what his faith is. ”

“ The Parsees came originally from Persia, where they had been persecuted for their religious belief; they settled at Surat, and from there a good many of them came to Bombay and to other places along the coast, and it is thought that at least half of all the Parsees in India are in this city. They are sometimes called fire-worshippers, on account of their reverence for fire, and the worship they give to the sun, as the emblem of life. They regard fire as sacred, and will do nothing to degrade it ”

“ Then Parsifal drew near, and slowly spake:
"Only one weapon serves to kill that pain.
The one that struck can staunch thy wound again!"
And with the sacred Spear he touched the King.
And lo! a miracle of healing power!—
The wound was staunched and a deep thrill of love
Changed agony to rapture all divine.
And Parsifal spake on: "Thou art forgiven.
Body and soul are cleansed by God's free grace
Thy life for evermore shall happy be
Within the service of the Holy Grail. ”

“ The Parsi, too, does not wish for converts to his religion; he is proud of his faith, as of his blood; and though he believes in the final victory of truth and light, though he says to every man, “Be bright as the sun, pure as the moon,” he himself does very little to drive away spiritual darkness from the face of the earth, by letting the light that is within him shine before the world.
But now let us look at the other cluster of religions, at Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Christianity. ”

“ At sight of Old Weaver, Parson took his churchyard dust and boldly threw it in the face of the vision, and afore you could cross your heart the shadow had turned into a gert black dog—so dark as night. The poor beast whimpered and yowled something cruel, but Parson was short and stern with it, well knowing you can't have half measures with spirits, no more than you can with living men if you will to conquer 'em. ”

“ Parsees (i. e. inhabitants of Pars or Persia) , a name given to the disciples of Zoroaster or their descendants in Persia and India, and sometimes called Guebres; in India they number some 90,000, are to be found chiefly in the Bombay Presidency, form a wealthy community, and are engaged mostly in commerce; in religion they incline to deism, and pay homage to the sun as the symbol of the deity ”

“ His clothes were of the strictest cleric cut, a parson’s waistcoat, a great high collar that was ever threatening to cut his ears off, but refused to do the deed out of sheer pity.
I cannot but think, heathen as I am, that a parson, of all men, should always be a well favored, as well favored in body as well as mind, a manly man, of whom God or nature need not be ashamed and to whom the people would listen without disgust or pity. ”

“ If Parzival men shall call thee, then forbid me the Grail to see 135
Seven nights and eight days, and I wot well my wailing shall silenced be!
Nor further I dare to warn thee—Well for thee if thou help canst bring!
A stranger shall be thy comrade, and I think it an evil thing
That thus he doth stand before me, say wherefore no thought dost take
For his comfort, and bid him seat him?' Then Parzival, weeping, spake: 140
'Now say where the Grail It lieth? ”

“ And seldom methinks a letter such goodly return might claim!
Then soon must the messengers ride hence—Parzival stood the host before,
And in French did he tell the story from Trevrezent learnt of yore,
How the Grail, throughout all ages, may never by man be known,
Save by him whom God calleth to It, whose name God doth know alone. 850
And the tale shall be told in all lands; no conflict may win that prize,
And 'tis vain on that Quest to spend them, since 'tis hidden from mortal eyes!' ”

“ Is Parzival one of those at whose hands 'the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence'? It may well be that both these interpretations are, in a measure, true, that Wolfram found the germ of the religious idea already existing in his French source, but that to the genius of the German poet we owe that humanising of the ideal which has brought the Parzival into harmony with the best aspirations of men in all ages. ”