In Pictures: India's Parsi

Who are the Parsis? They are members of the largest Zoroastrian community in India. And the Zoroastrian religion is one of the world's oldest. It was started in Iran over 3,500 years ago. And many religious scholars believe that it influenced Christianity.

They are in the news because of a photographic exhibit of the community by the famous Indian photographer, Sooni Taraporevala, at Chemould Prescott Road in Mombay. The BBC has some of the photographs here.  Taraporevala is a Parsi herself and studied at Harvard and is most well-known as the screenwriter of the movie, Mississippi Masala.

You can read more about the fascinating Parsi community in the Economist here and listen to a story about them here at PRI's The World.  I did not know about the Parsi community but find them so interesting that I will try to integrate them into my religion class.