The Parsi and Vanishing Vultures

The Parsis have one of the most unusual funeral rituals of all religions.  Parsis are members of India's largest Zoroastrian community. They originally came from Iran where Zoroastrianism was founded over a thousand years ago. I wrote about them in March when the Indian photographer, Sooni Taraporevala, opened a Parsi photographic exposition.

 Their funeral rituals are unusual because they do not believe in burying or cremating their dead. They see that as polluting nature. Instead, according to this NPR story,"the Parsi corpse is exposed to the rays of the sun, and the corpse is consumed or devoured by birds of prey — vultures, kites and crows."  A problem developed last year when the population of vultures vanished. They tried solar concentrators to speed up decomoposition but the process was slow and made neighbors squeamish. Now the Indian government is setting up reserves for vultures and working hard to revive the population and restore the proper funeral rites to the Parsi.

You can listen to the NPR broadcast of the story here,  read an older BBC news story about Parsi funeral practices, and you can read this NY Times story about Mumbai's effort to revive the vulture population.

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.

How Zoroastrianism Shaped the West

Which religion influenced the beliefs of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism?

Monotheism started with its founder long before Abraham. The idea of heaven and hell originated with it, as did the idea of good and evil.

Not only did its ideas influence the Abrahamic religions, they also influenced culture.

Richard Strauss' "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"  can be seen in the score of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Freddy Mercury, lead signer of Queen, got inspiration from the religion's founder and the Mazda car maker takes its name from the founder.

Zoroastrianism started in Iran and grew with the three great Iranian empires which included that of Cyrus the Great, but began to weaken after the invasion of Alexander the Great and the later development of Islam. Many Zoroastrians fled and migrated to India where they became known as Parsis.

In a terrific essay for BBC Culture, called "The Obscure Religion that Shaped the West," Joobin Bekhrad examines the influence of Zarathustra's beliefs on western culture.

You can find out more about Zoroastrianism from BBC Religion.

And here is an interesting article about the vanishing population of India's Parsi community.

The Five Most Popular Posts in April

Here are the top posts for April. This timeline got the most page views.

• Timeline of World Religions
• Our Blogs Make the Washington Post
• World Religions Graphic
• Face to Faith/ World Malaria Day
• In Pictures: India's Parsi

Top Posts for 2013

• Timeline of World Religions
•  Kumbh Mela: A Week at the Largest Religious Gather... 
• The World Religions Tree: Cool Infographic 
• Museums Faulted on Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art 
• In Pictures: India's Parsi 

Can Zoroastrianism Survive

Teaching Zoroastrianism? Here's great short article that explains it's basic beliefs and rituals and why the author thinks the religion might not survive. 

Zoroastrianism, the world's oldest monotheistic religion, might be the least inclusive of all religions.  It numbers less than 150,000 and for every birth there are five deaths. For these reasons, Ariane Sherine suggests that "Zoroastrians need to widen their admission criteria fast, or go the way of the lesser Antillean macaw and the koala lemur."

Sherine, writing for The Guardian, writes  that as a child, she was was never allowed to take part in key rituals or even call herself a Parsi because she is the daugher of a female Zoroastrian in a religion that is patrilineal.   That makes her membership doubtful.

A Primer about Zoroastrianism as Freddy Mercury Movie Opens

Here's a great Twitter thread about the beliefs and practices of Zoroastrianism by Kainaz Amaria on the occasion of the new movie about Freddy Mercury, known as Queen.  His father was a Zoroastrian.

Thread by @kainazamaria: "A few thoughts on @BoRhapMovie As a Parsi Zoroastrian I want to make sure folks don’t think Freddie’s father just came up with the concept o […]"

Zoroastrianism: Resources

Studying Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest religions?

Here are several terrific resources. The first is an awesome three minute video overview. The second is a broadcast from NPR that concentrates on some of the common elements of Zoroastrianism and Christianity. And  the third is an NPR broadcast about Parsi funerals and their unusual method of disposal of their dead.

Zoroastrianism started in Iran and grew with the three great Iranian empires which included that of Cyrus the Great, but began to weaken after the invasion of Alexander the Great and the later development of Islam.

Many Zoroastrians fled and migrated to India where they became known as Parsis. The Prophet Zoroaster founded the religion and believed in a single god, Ahura Mazda.

Today, many adherents call themselves Mazda-yasnians, or Mazda worshipers. What do Zoroastrians believe? Good thoughts, good words, good deeds. Those are the tenets by which Zoroastrians live.