PARSEES
V05
PARSEES
they are afterwards removed to a subterranean cavern. The Parsees having so long mingled with the Hindus have naturally adopted many of their customs and prac- tices, which for centuries they have continued to ob- serve; and though the piinchd/jef, or legal council of the Parsees, about twenty-live years ago endeavored to dis- courage, and even to root out all such ceremonies and practices as had crept into their religion since they first settled in Uindostan, their attempts were wholly nn- successful. So recently, however, as 1852 steps have been taken for the accomplishment of the same desira- ble object which are more likely to bring about the restoration of the Zoroastrian religion to its pristine pu- rity. In that year an association was Ibrmed at Bom- bay, called the "Kahnumai Mazdiasna," or Religious Reform Association, composed of many wealthy and in- fluential Parsees, along with a number of intelligent and well-educated young men. Tiie labors of this so- ciety have been productive of considerable improvement in the social contlition of the Parsees. The state of the priesthood calls for some change in that body. Many of them are so ignorant that they do not understand their liturgical works, though they regularly recite the required portions from memory. The office of the priest- hood is hereditarj', the son of a priest being also a priest, imless he chooses to follow some other profession ; but a layman cannot be a priest. That the priests may be incited to study the sacred books, an institution has been established called the " MuUa Firoz Mudrissa," in which they are taught the Zend, Pehlvi, and Persian languages. On the whole, the Parsee community in India appears to be rapidly imbibing European customs and opinions, and rising steadily in influence and im- portance. Liberal as is the adoption by the Parsees of social improvements suggested by Englishmen, it is too recent in origin to be yet anything like complete. The family is still essentially shut off from the outer world; and we must refer to those who have been behind the scenes if we would know the people thoroughly under theLr social or domestic aspect. Here, too, marks of the influence of the Hindus meet us at almost every turn. Noticeably is this the case as concerns astrology. Whether it be a birth or a marriage, or anything else of critical moment, the stars are to be interrogated for their reading of its future. The notion of a baby with- out a horoscope is quite foreign to all Parsee associa- tions. In fact, the very naming of a child is looked upon as an impossibility without the intervention of a star-gazer. While alchemy has come to be discredited in India nearly as much as it is in Europe, astrology and palmistry are to this day gravely reckoned among Par- sees in the category of rational sciences. At the early age of seven a child must be betrothed, and the wedding follows not long after. Its rites are in a large measure symbolical; but their original signitieation has been for- gotten. Many of them are evident grafts from Hin- duism ; but one of them, at least, is foreign. When the bridegroom first reaches the abode of his father- in-law, some lady of the house waves over his liead several times a metallic vessel containing rice and wa- ter, flings its contents at his feet, and also an egg, and finally admits him through the door, with liis riglit foot forward. To a Hindu nothing — unless it be an onion — is more utterly impure than an egg. A priest is always employed to solemnize marriage. A Parsee, if true to the traditions of his race, can be only a monogamist. Nuptial festivities, even to the poorest Parsee, are verj' expensive, and often, besides exhausting his earnings of many past years, entail a heavy load of debt. But the long-established submission to this unremunerative folly is now gradually yielding to common-sense; and the Parsees, year by year, are coming more and more to conduct their espousals on a scale of outlay soberly cor- respondent to the real requirements of the occasion. Towards bringing about this improvement, the counsel and the example of Englishmen have doubtless been of important influence.
V'll.-Y Y
The traditions of the Parsees teach that the sacred fire which Zoroaster brought from heaven has been kept continually burning in the consecrated temples, and is fed with choice wood anfl spices. The Parsees claim to have brought that fire from the temple in Persia, and for ages to have kept it alive and burning. They are called Fire-w^orshippers, but thej- call themselves "Those of excellent belief." Their temples contain no idols, but are entirely plain, and contain nothing that they regard as sacred but the fire which is burning on the al- tar, and which they assert has not only been kept burn- ing through all the ages, but will be kept burning to the end of the world. All intelligent Parsees, however, spurn the imputation that they worship the sun or fire. Ahura-Mazda being the origin of light, his symbol is the sun, with the moon and the planets, and in default of them the fire, and the believer is enjoined to face a luminous object during his prayers. Hence also the temples and altars must forever be fed with the holy fire brought down, according to tradition, from heav- en, the sullying of whose flame is punishable with death. The priests themselves approach it only with a half-mask (Penom) over the face, lest their breath should defile it, and never touch it with their hands, but with holy instruments. The fires are of five kinds ; but however great the awe felt by Parsees with respect to fire and light (they are the only Eastern nation who abstain from smoking), yet they never consider these, as we said before, as anything but emblems of Divinity. They assert that they worship the one true spiritual God alone, but revere the sun and fire as the highest manifestation of God. The ignorant Parsees, however, do not so discern in their worship, and pay adoration to the sun and fire as divinities; and the intelligent ex- cuse them because, say they, if so ignorant as to be un- able to comprehend the true God, they may as well be suffered to adore His brightest manifestations. The in- telligent ones claim that when they look up to the sun, they look be3-ond to the great Author of all good, and worship only Him. '• We see them,'' says Graves (in a letter from India to the Northern Christian Advocate, 1875), ''in the street, on the docks, or anywhere that they may happen to be at the time of the going down of the sun, apparently in adoration. We have seen them in their carriages stop on the terrace and put themselves in a position of worship. Thej' gather on the shores of the sea as the sun goes down, and raise their hands and bow with the most profound reverence. From their beautiful homes on Malabar Hill the ladies gather with their children to reverence and adore the setting sun as it sinks into the spark- ling sea."