The Numbers Game, the Parsi Way

Chips in Mini Grant, ‘‘The biggest problem is late marriages. Most of our boys like to settle down before getting married, which means having not only a job but a house as well. Very often, late marriages produce no issues. Several Parsi families of our generation in Pune are childless and the trend has not changed. The Pune Parsi Panchayat is worried about the depleting population in Pune too, although the city has around 10,000 Parsis, the second largest concentration in India after Mumbai.’’

Says Kersi Dotiwala, ‘‘The Panchayat keeps organising social dos — parties, picnics, excursions — so that young Parsis meet and interact with each other. We also have a matrimonial bureau.’’

Mini Grant interrupts, ‘‘But our girls are more dynamic than the boys, so they find matches from outside the community. And once they marry outside, they are virtually ostracised, in the sense that they cease to be Parsis. This has contributed to the decreasing numbers.’’

Adds Brig Grant, ‘‘Forget about accepting converts from outside the fold. But we tread on really precarious ground by refusing to accept children of mixed marriages. The latest demographic survey shows that by 2025, the total Zoroastrian population in India will be a mere 20,000. I remember that that between January and August 1990, out of 58 Parsi weddings, 22 were within the community, 36 were inter-communal. Thus, children of these mixed marriages, couples, and possibly one parent, were lost to the community forever. We can at least allow these children and even the non-Parsi parent to come into the fold if they wish to.’’

Nergish, whose two daughters are married and live away from them, opposes the suggestion. ‘‘It will not be accepted,’’ he says firmly. ‘‘How can the community of Parsis be diluted so much?” Brig Grant, though, is unrelenting. ‘‘Sorry, I have a different opinion. Ultimately, we have to take in people from outside. There is no other way for survival.’’

Says Kersi, ‘‘When the first Parsis came to India, we pledged we would not convert non-Parsis, that our women would wear the Gujarati-style saree and that we would not eat beef (though this last no longer holds true). Now Brig Grant is talking about conversion… this goes against the very ethics of our existence.’’

Frere Wadia sides with Kersi. ‘‘We are highly respected because we do not go about converting people. That is why we have not been targeted. I don’t think we should begin to impose our religion now on anybody just for our survival. Our numbers are not that bad.’’

‘‘No, they are, we can’t deny that. But the point is whether Noshir’s view will be accepted by the community,’’ says Mini. Nergish adds, ‘‘Everything takes care of itself, why worry?’’ But Brig Grant will have none of that. ‘‘We have to make the effort. It’s high time we adopted the North American Zoroastrian Assembly’s philosophy of accepting outsiders into the religion. There’s no choice.’’

Mini’s way of dealing with the issue is different. ‘‘I think every Parsi couple should have at least two children. Now they are either childless or have only one child,’’ she points out.

But one issue they are all unanimous about is the decreasing relevance of the Zoroastrian religion. State the Grants, ‘‘This is manifest in the fact that more and more Parsis are heading to spiritual centres of other religions like the Shirdi temple of Sai Baba or the Mount Mary Church in Mumbai. Our priests know the scriptures by rote and since the younger generation is unable to comprehend them, they turn to other religions.’’

Kersi, however, objects to that, ‘‘Now Mumbai has madrasas which trains students to become priests. So, it is not as if they don’t propagate the religion.’’