There are a little over 115,000 Parsis practicing today, most of whom live either in Bombay or in towns and villages to the north of it. As their names indicates--Pars being the ancient area of their origin--they are the descendants of Persian ancestors. They, as well as 10,000 of their cousins in Iran, make up most of the worldwide following that has remained loyal to their God--Ahura-Mazda--and His prophet, Zoroaster (Zarathustra). In India, though not really a caste, they are a well-defined community. They emigrated to India in the tenth century because of persecution following the Arab conquest of Iran.
Parsis were one of the first to open themselves to European influence under the British rule, and this was one reason they prospered. Yet ironically, they remain a closed community: neither do they marry outside of their faith nor do they seek to spread their customs and beliefs. They were farmers under a Hindu prince and his Muslim successors, but with the advent of the British, with whom they were the most cooperative, they moved swiftly into commerce, earning them the title, the Jews of India. From the middle of the nineteenth century on, whatever was established in India in the way of shipbuilding, railroads, iron mills, etc. was largely their work.
But they are noted not only for their wealth and industry: They were distinguished in their charities and their education, exemplified by the schools, orphanages and hospitals that they founded without distinction of race or religion. They adopted successfully as well British manners and costume, borrowed the European tradition of education for women and abolished the custom of infant marriages. Several Parsis were knighted by the British Crown, two served as members of Parliament, and one became a baronet.
Our knowledge of Zoroaster is largely a matter of scholarly conjecture. Like all ancient religious figures, his life is obscured by the mist of miracle and mystery the devout use to express their adoration for one who has given them the true faith. Everything depends upon how much or how little credit is given to the traditions handed down from the past and treasured by centuries of followers.
Because of conflicting textual remains we cannot be at all sure when Zoroaster was born, or where, the nature of the religious reform he attempted, his original teachings, and how he died. Parsis who continue to venerate him as the Prophet, like Western scholars, disagree amongst themselves on all these matters.
According to Professor A.V.W. Jackson of Columbia University, Zoroaster lived during the middle of the seventh century about the time the Jews were carried into Babylonia exile, nearly 300 years prior to Alexander the Great. This would put him in "the axial period"--a time of religious and intellectual renaissance throughout the ancient world, from Greece to China. Dr. E.W. West dates Zoroaster's life quite specifically as 660-583 B.C. on the basis of a careful study of the extant materials. Aristotle thought the Persian prophet lived about 6000 B.C.
Where Zoroaster came from is also a matter of debate. Some experts claim he came from western Iran while others are equally certain he was born in the far eastern part of that country. He must have spent time in the east as a wandering holy man, for it was Iran to the east of the great central desert that was the
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