Come August 17 and the Parsi community in the city will gather at the 170-year-old Fire Temple in Secunderabad to celebrate New Year. The majestic structure standing tall on MG Road was built in 1847 and is spread over 11,000 square yards. Recognised as a heritage structure by the erstwhile Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda), the Fire Temple has a unique architecture resembling the
Read moreFrom the exterior, the Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Agiary looks anything but 173 years old or remotely as ostentatious as the life of the person this agiary or fire temple is named after. Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, a Parsi, was in more ways than one a parallel to another settler in Pune and Mumbai, the maverick Baghdadi Jewish businessman David Sassoon. Both of them were honoured by the
Read moreIn an unprecedented move to help Amdavadis better understand the culture and religion that is Zoroastrianism, the Parsi Panchayat in the city opened the doors of the Vakil Adariyan Agiyari to observe and quench the curiosity of those who will never set foot inside the religious halls of the Parsis. Non-Parsis are not allowed inside an Agiyari. However, since renovations
Read more‘Lhotse’, Air lndia’s Boeing 707 began taxiing on the tarmac and as the big aeroplane lost touch with the ground and became airborne, chants of Yatha Ahu Vairyo rent the aircraft. For, this was a very special journey, on a very special mission. Flying on board the chartered plane was a very, very special and important entity – Atash-e-Adaran.
Read moreAn aura of antiquity envelopes the coastal town of Udvada in Gujarat, which houses the holiest fire of the Parsis Faith accompli: A Parsi woman comes out of the fire temple Udvada is a pretty small heritage town with lanes and bylanes lined with traditional Parsi row houses, made of teakwood and bricks. The laidback coastal town in Gujarat houses
Read moreFriends, (please share this with your local community and friends) My great-grandfather, Khanbahadur Seth Pestonji Sorabji Bhujwalla, who served as the Personal Aide to the then Maharaja Khengarji Rao of Kutch, India, had a Daremeher and Aramgah (burial ground) built in 1905, and inaugurated on May 19, in the city of Bhuj (in northwest India) in memory of his father
Read moreThe fire temple was built in the 18th century when Parsi traders settled in Kozhikode about 200 years ago. KOZHIKODE: On April 18 which is observed as World Heritage Day, among the several monuments with a story to tell in Kozhikode is its only Parsi temple in Kerala. The local people are not well aware of this fire temple, the Parsi
Read moreLast week’s column on the ordainment of two deacons in Mumbai’s Catholic Church attracted a lot of interest among Parsi-Zoroastrians. Unlike members of the clergy, who need to be celibate, deacons can be married men. Ranking next to bishops and priests in the hierarchy, these trained theologians perform many religious services and can be standbys, especially in areas where there are not
Read moreRustam, was a poor youth, who had lost his father, when he was very young, and was staying with his ailing mother, in Pandey Chawl, at Karelwadi, Thakurwad, Mumbai. Due to poverty he was not properly educated. He was dark skinned, thin and very tall, and had a very shrill voice. Finding employment was a problem for him, due to
Read moreYou’d be pleased to know that Zarathustis in Central California now have another new Dar-e-meher at Sacramento, our state’s capital city. This is in addition to the one in San Jose. Here are some pics from Sunday’s ( 3.26.2017) inauguration event. Cheers, Rusi Sorabji
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