The dwindling Parsi community is now faced with a new threat. A possible solution to the problem of diminishing numbers has split the community — the Indian members are taking on Parsis from abroad for embarking on a conversion drive to boost the population.
A large number of Indian Parsis have said a resounding ‘no' to taking ‘outsiders' into their fold, arguing that conversion goes against the tenets of the religion. And they are a strong voice, since over 69,000 of the estimated 1.25-lakh strong community lives in India.
Concerned about the news of conversions pouring in from various parts of the world, a number of Parsi leaders have decided to meet at Bardoli on Sunday to discuss the issue.
"For centuries, we have walked the path charted by our religion. Conversion is not advocated in Zoroastrianism. So, those advocating the move are not adding to our numbers as conversions go against the tenets of our religion," Zoroastrian scholar Khojste Mistree of Oxford University told TOI over the phone from London.
Mistree, who will attend the Bardoli meet organised by the Bardoli Zarthosti Anjuman, is also opposing the proposal to form a world body that will have both Zoroastrians and ‘converts' and encourages conversion.
The proposed body is likely include constituents like the Association of North American Zoroastrians, Zoroastrians' Federation of Europe, some groups based in Australia, Singapore and China and some Parsi anjumans from India.
The debate began when the issue of forming this organisation was raised at a meeting of the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrians' Anjumans of India (FPZAI) in December last year. "It resulted in a split in the federation," says Noshir Dordee of Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP).
In a letter to all anjumans in India on February 7, Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat president and FPZAI vice-president Areez Khambatta said 41 out of 69 member-anjumans of the federation are "against joining such a world body".
High priests of the Parsi community too have come out against the decision. In September last year, seven high priests in India wrote to the FPZAI that the proposed body that encouraged conversions, did not have their sanction. They opined that the move was unacceptable to them as the body would have ‘selfproclaimed converts' who could not be accepted into the fold.