The Fire Worshippers of the East

The Parsees of Bombay came originally from Persia, but not in large numbers until the time of the Mohammedan invasion in the seventh century A. D. They are called the "Fire Worshippers" of the East because of their reverence for fire, which they brought with them from Persia, and have never allowed to die out in their temples; also for their worship of the sun as the author of life. The Parsees are one of the most interesting peoples in India. They are the direct descendants of the Magi, who, more intelligent about "the Young Child" who was born in Judea than the people among whom He was born, travelled to Jerusalem to pay him homage, and took with them "gold, frankincense, and myrrh." The Parsees have always kept aloof from surrounding peoples, and have preserved intact their race and their religion. They are remarkable for general intelligence and commercial ability. They are the wealthiest and most influential class of society in Bombay, and the most loyal subjects of the Queen in India. The streets are full of them; so numerous are they that Bombay has been called "the City of Parsees." About seventy thousand, one-tenth of the population, live in the city and its suburbs, while in all India there are only about ninety thousand of them.

The religion of the Parsees is one of the most ancient in the world, and was once the state religion of a powerful empire, for Persia was the second of the four great universal Empires of the ancient world--Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome.

In many respects the religion of the Parsees comes nearer to Christianity than any other of the Oriental religions. For seventy years the Israelites were captives in Persia. Two generations were born in captivity; it was Cyrus, the Persian King, who at last granted them release, and bade the Jews return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. After the return from captivity the influence of the Persian faith was manifest, but it was not until Zoroaster, the accounted founder of the Persian religion, had joined hands with Moses, the founder of the Hebrew religion, that the Israelites really ceased to be idolaters.

It was for their idolatry that they were taken captive by a people who had no idols and no worship but that addressed to the Unseen. Sun and Fire were his symbols, but the great Ormuzd himself was hidden behind a glorious veil of light. After the return of the Jews to Jerusalem every trace and tendency to idol worship disappeared. The religion of the Parsees revolves around the person of Zoroaster. He is called the Pure, the Zarathustra, pure in thought, in word, in deed. "Pure thoughts going out in true words and resulting in right actions is the whole duty of man." The Zend-Avesta, the Bible of the Parsees, is a book of worship rather than a Bible; it is more like the Book of Common Prayer.

From the earliest times the Parsees have been called "fire worshippers," though they deny the charge. They say, "We do not worship the sun nor fire, but regard them as symbols of the power of the Creator, since without light life would cease to exist." Yet they have a superstitious feeling with regard to fire. No good Parsee will venture to smoke, and he regards it as an act of rudeness to offer him a cigar or to light one in his presence, and no Parsee will blow out a candle if he can possibly avoid it. The sacred fire is never allowed to go out in their temples, for so long as light is there Ormuzd is present, and the faithful can in his presence recite their prayers even in an unknown language, for very few of the Parsees, if any, understand the Zend language in which the Avesta, or Book of Prayer, is written. They are taught the words in which their forefathers prayed to Ormuzd, and this is the secret of their unchanging faith. To cease to pray to the God of Light would be to cast their ancestors to his enemy, Ahriman, the God of Darkness. Light and Darkness are the two great powers contending for supremacy in this world. If light ceases, darkness prevails or conquers, and all evil deeds, his minions, will be let loose in the world. Light, then, means life and purity and safety.

In the Parsee temple there is no ritual, no pulpit; every devotee goes to the fire-temple whenever it is convenient, recites his prayers for as long or short a time as he pleases, and gives, as he is inclined, something to the priest, to pray for him and to keep the fire burning. The whole religious education of a Parsee child consists in teaching him to say by rote the prayers in the Zend-Avesta. Each Parsee must learn the tenets of his religion as best he can. These are very few. A Parsee believes in one God, to whom he addresses his prayers. His morality consists in pure thoughts, pure words, pure deeds. There is a charm in so short a creed, and its very simplicity accounts for the tenacity with which these exiles in western India cling to their religion.

But there is another side, and the simplicity of the religion of Zoroaster during the Dark Ages became overlaid with superstitions, dogmas and forms of man's invention, so that the pure, rational and national religion of Persia became corrupt, and superstitious rites are still practiced, even by intelligent Parsees in Bombay.

The Parsees are divided into two parties, the Conservative and the Liberal, assuming the names of the two great political parties in England. Both are attached to the faith of their forefathers, but differ as to manners and customs in social life. In one house there is the dining-room and the dining-table furnished with all the English apparatus for this agreeable purpose; next door, perhaps, is a wealthy Parsee satisfied with the primitive method of squatting on a piece of mat, with a large brass or copper plate before him, containing all the dishes of his dinner spread in little heaps upon it, a small copper cup at his side, and his fingers for knives and forks. He does this not because he cannot afford to have a table, but because any change in his mode of life would be a disrespect to his ancestors.

The liberal Parsees contend for the prohibition of early betrothal and marriage; the suppression of extravagance at weddings and funerals; the education of women and their admission into general society. In a word, Liberalism to the Parsee means religious and social reform. One peculiar custom of the Parsee is their mode of disposing of their dead. They do not bury their dead, but expose the bodies to be eaten by birds. They explain it thus: "Hindus burn the dead, but we consider fire sacred and cannot use it for such ignoble office." "The earth is the mother of mankind, the producer of the fruits and vegetables on which we live; the burial of the dead in it would be a defilement." "When a body is exposed to the birds it is quickly devoured, the earth is not defiled, and fire is not made to serve an ignoble purpose."

"The Towers of Silence" are therefore erected, about 12 feet high and 30 feet in diameter, in the Parsee Cemetery on Malabar Point, close to the shore. The interior space, sloping towards the central well, has grooves in which the bodies are deposited. Within an hour after the exposure nothing remains but the bones; these are swept into the well, and from there, by a subterranean passage, pass into the sea. Funerals take place only at sunrise and sunset.

The Parsees of Bombay are among the most intelligent and wealthiest of the Asiatic peoples. They are not fanatical in religion; they preserve their dress and customs, and evidently respect themselves and their ancestors.