Parsis
The Parsis or Parsees are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, when Zoroastrians were persecuted by the early Muslims. Representing the elder of the Indian subcontinent's two Zoroastrian communities, the Parsi people are culturally, linguistically, and socially distinct from the Iranis, whose Zoroastrian ancestors migrated to British-ruled India from Qajar-era Iran. The word Parsi is derived from the Persian language, and literally translates to Persian.
According to the 16th-century Parsi epic Qissa-i Sanjan, fleeing persecution, the Zarthushti Persians, citizens of the Sassanian empire sought refuge in the Indian subcontinent. This migration from different parts of the Sassanian empire continued between the 8th century and the 10th century. The earliest of these migrants settled among the Hindus of present-day Gujarat after being granted refuge by Rajput King Jadhav Rana, the king of Sanjan.
Zoroastrianism had served as Iran's state religion since at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire. However, the conquest of the Sasanian Empire by the Rashidun Caliphate marked the beginning of the Islamisation of Iran, which prompted much of the Zoroastrian-majority population to either convert to Islam or flee, though a number of Iranian figures stayed in active revolt against the Rashidun army and the later Islamic caliphates for almost 500 years after the collapse of the Sasanian Empire. Nevertheless, Zoroastrianism continued to decline, and most Iranians had become Muslims by the 10th century, shifting the concentration of the religion's followers away from the Iranian plateau for the first time in recorded history.
The Gujarati-speaking Parsi community accounts for the oldest sustained presence of Zoroastrianism in India, and is legally differentiated from the Dari-speaking Irani community on the basis of their origin and the era of their migration to the country. Despite this legal distinction, the terms "Parsi" and "Zoroastrian" are commonly used interchangeably to denote both communities, which make up the world's largest Zoroastrian population. Notably, no substantial differences exist between Parsi and Irani religious principles, convictions, and customs.
Definition and identity
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica,Parsi, also spelled Parsee, member of a group of followers in India of the Persian prophet Zoroaster. The Parsis, whose name means "Persians", are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to India to avoid religious persecution by the Muslims. They live chiefly in Mumbai and in a few towns and villages mostly to the south of Mumbai, but also a few minorities nearby in Karachi and Chennai. There is a sizeable Parsee population in Pune as well in Bangalore. A few Parsee families also reside in Kolkata and Hyderabad. Although they are not, strictly speaking, a caste, since they are not Hindus, they form a well-defined community. The exact date of the Parsi migration is unknown. According to tradition, the Parsis initially settled at Hormuz on the Persian Gulf but finding themselves still persecuted they set sail for India, arriving in the 8th century. The migration may, in fact, have taken place as late as the 10th century, or in both. They settled first at Diu in Kathiawar but soon moved to South Gujarāt, where they remained for about 800 years as a small agricultural community.
The term Pārsi, which in the Persian language is a demonym meaning "inhabitant of Pārs" and hence "ethnic Persian", is not attested in Indian Zoroastrian texts until the 17th century. Until that time, such texts consistently use the Persian-origin terms Zartoshti "Zoroastrian" or Vehdin " the good religion". The 12th-century Sixteen Shlokas, a Sanskrit text in praise of the Parsis, is the earliest attested use of the term as an identifier for Indian Zoroastrians.
The first reference to the Parsis in a European language is from 1322, when a French monk, Jordanus, briefly refers to their presence in Thane and Bharuch. Subsequently, the term appears in the journals of many European travelers, first French and Portuguese, later English, all of whom used a Europeanized version of an apparently local language term. For example, Portuguese physician Garcia de Orta observed in 1563 that "there are merchants... in the kingdom of Cambaia... known as Esparcis. We Portuguese call them Jews, but they are not so. They are Gentios." In an early 20th-century legal ruling, Justices Davar and Beaman asserted that "Parsi" was also a term used in Iran to refer to Zoroastrians. notes that in much the same way as the word "Hindu" was used by Iranians to refer to anyone from the Indian subcontinent, "Parsi" was used by the Indians to refer to anyone from Greater Iran, irrespective of whether they were actually ethnic Persian people. In any case, the term "Parsi" itself is "not necessarily an indication of their Iranian or 'Persian' origin, but rather as indicator – manifest as several properties – of ethnic identity". Moreover, if heredity were the only factor in a determination of ethnicity, the Parsis would count as Parthians according to the Qissa-i Sanjan.
The term "Parseeism" or "Parsiism", is attributed to Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, who in the 1750s, when the word "Zoroastrianism" had yet to be coined, made the first detailed report of the Parsis and of Zoroastrianism, therein mistakenly assuming that the Parsis were the only remaining followers of the religion.
Some older texts also refer to Parsis as "Persees".
In addition to above, the term "Parsi" existed even before they moved to India:
- The earliest reference to the Persians is found in the Assyrian inscription of Shalmaneser III.
- Darius the Great establishes this fact when he records his Parsi ancestry for posterity, "parsa parsahya puthra ariya ariyachitra", meaning, "a Persian, the son of a Persian, an Aryan, of Aryan family".
- In Outlines of Persian History, Dasturji Hormazdyar Dastur Kayoji Mirza, Bombay 1987, pp. 3–4 writes, "According to the Pahlavi text of Karnamak i Artakhshir i Papakan, the Indian astrologer refers to Artakhshir as khvatay parsikan 'the king of the Persians'.
- Herodotus and Xenophon, the two great historians who lived in the third and fourth centuries BC, referred to Iranians as Persians.
Origin
The Qissa-i Sanjan is a tale of the journey of the Parsis to India from Iran. It says they fled for reasons of religious freedom and they were allowed to settle in India thanks to the goodwill of a local prince. However, the Parsi community had to abide by three rules: they had to speak the local language, follow local marriage customs, and not carry any weapons. After showing the many similarities between their faith and local beliefs, the early community was granted a plot of land on which to build a fire temple.
As an ethnic community
Over the centuries since the first Zoroastrians arrived in India, the Parsis have integrated themselves into Indian society while simultaneously maintaining or developing their own distinct customs and traditions. This in turn has given the Parsi community a rather peculiar standing: they are mostly Indians in terms of national affiliation, language and history, but not typically Indian in terms of consanguinity or ethnicity, cultural, behavioural and religious practices.Self-perceptions
The definition of who is, and is not, a Parsi is a matter of great contention within the Zoroastrian community in India. It is generally accepted that a Parsi is a person who:In this sense, Parsi is an ethno-religious designator, whose definition is of contention among its members, similar to the identity question among Jews.
Some members of the community additionally contend that a child must have a Parsi father to be eligible for introduction into the faith, but this assertion is considered by most to be a violation of the Zoroastrian tenets of gender equality and may be a remnant of an old legal definition of the term Parsi.
An oft-quoted legal definition of Parsi is based on a 1909 ruling that not only stipulated that a person could not become a Parsi by converting to the Zoroastrian faith but also noted:
This definition was overturned several times. The equality principles of the Indian Constitution void the patrilineal restrictions expressed in the third clause. The second clause was contested and overturned in 1948. On appeal in 1950, the 1948 ruling was upheld and the entire 1909 definition was deemed an obiter dictum – a collateral opinion and not legally binding.
Population
According to the 2011 census of India, there are 57,264 Parsis in India. According to the National Commission for Minorities, there are a "variety of causes that are responsible for this steady decline in the population of the community", the most significant of which were childlessness and migration.The Parsi population increased by 233 between 2013 and 2020.
One-fifth of the decrease in population is attributed to migration. There are sizeable Parsi communities in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the United States. A slower birthrate than deathrate accounts for the rest: as of 2001, Parsis over the age of 60 make up for 31% of the community. Only 4.7% of the Parsi community are under 6 years of age, which translates to 7 births per year per 1,000 individuals. Concerns have been raised in recent years over the rapidly declining population of the Parsi community in India.