Desi Dialogues

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Thousands of Zoroastrians in Canada celebrated the birthday of Spitama Zarathushtra, the prophet and founder of the world's oldest monotheistic religion - Zoroastrianism.

Founded around 1200 B.C., Zoroastrianism is credited by historians as having far-reaching influences on Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

It is said Zoroastrians should lead their daily lives through good thoughts, good deeds and good words.

As a child, I was taught that it was of the upmost importance to learn those three principles. I also thought by practising those principles, we would not have to read the holy book, called the Avesta, comprised of five gathas, or hymns, composed by the prophet himself, because we could not comprehend the script.

I thought, as a child, that these principles were simple to follow but later learned that I was just skimming the surface as far as the religion's philosophy is concerned.

As we started understanding some of the intricate prayers in our books, we found they held a spiritual meaning. The prayers were easy to comprehend at first but had deeper meaning. As a child I found out that even if we did not understand the language we could recite at least some of the holy scriptures.

I was also later amazed to find that my religion had influenced Judaism, which shares some Zoroastrian beliefs such as the ultimate victory of good over evil and the resurrection of souls.

I also found it interesting that Zoroastrianism flourished as the imperial religion of three Persian empires - Achaemians, Parthians and the Sassanians - and was the dominant religion from Turkey and eastward to China during those times.

So how did we land in India?

In the eighth century, Zoroastrians fled their homeland in Persia and settled in India as they were fearful of being persecuted by the Arabs. Called the Parsees in India, they assimilated into Indian society but made strong efforts to preserve their religious and cultural identity. Under British colonial rule, by the 19th century, the Parsees, or Zoroastrians, were one of India's most prosperous, philanthropic, educated and westernized communities.

And the icing on the cake, as far as I am concerned, is that the University of Toronto has started a course on the ancient faith and there has been a sudden interest in what was once called a dying religion.