Parsis may be silenced by success
By Sudha Ramachandran
BANGALORE - The clock is ticking for one of India's most prosperous
communities, the Parsis. Always small, the Parsi population is diminishing at
an alarming rate, prompting fears that the community may not survive the
century.
According to the 2001 census, India has less than 70,000 Parsis, a 40% drop
from 1941, when their population peaked at nearly 114,900. Since 1941, the
Parsi population has decreased by about 10% per decade, compared to 21% growth
for India's population as a whole.
More worrying figures have emerged since the 2001 census. A survey indicates
that only 99 Parsis were born in the year to
August 2007, compared with 223 in 2001, 206 in 2002, and 174 in 2006. If the
present trend continues there may be no more than 23,000 Parsis by the year
2020.
With the birth rate falling rapidly, this is a community that is turning very
grey. While India's under-six age group constitutes 15% of the country’s
population, only 4.7% of Parsis fall into this category. Over 30% of Parsis are
over 60 years old, compared to just 7% for India as a whole.
But the Parsi community is not just aging, it is dying. Its death rate is three
times the birth rate.
Parsis are followers of the Zoroastrian religion, the world's oldest prophetic
faith. They fled to India from Iran around the 8th century AD to escape
religious persecution there. Most of them settled in what is today the western
Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Around two-thirds of India's Parsi
population lives in Mumbai, India's financial and commercial capital. Worldwide
there are some 100,000 Parsis.
Their numbers might be small - they constitute just 0.0069% of India's
population - but their contribution is immense. Parsis have left their mark on
almost every field, from business and politics to arts, entertainment,
philanthropy and sports. They set up India's first political party, stock
exchange, iron and steel plant, university, public hospital, newspaper,
printing press and film studio.
Parsis have played a significant role in the economic development of India.
Some of the biggest names in Indian business are Parsi. Jamsetjee Tata, founder
of the industrial house of Tata, built India's first iron and steel works and
founded the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore. His descendant, Jehangir
Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, founded India's national airline, Air India. Ratan Tata,
head of Tata Group, which recently acquired Corus Steel and the two iconic
brands Jaguar and Land Rover, is a scion of this illustrious family. The Tata
Group is one of India’s largest and most respected business conglomerates, with
revenues in 2006-07 of $28.8 billion.
The Godrej Group, India's leading manufacturer of soap, home appliances and
office equipment, is Parsi-run. The Wadias, who made their mark in shipbuilding
250 years ago, own textile mills and an airline company.
Several Parsis participated in India's struggle for freedom from British
colonial rule. Prominent among them were Dadabhai Naoroji, Bhikaji Cama and
Pherozeshah Mehta. Naoroji authored a book Poverty and Un-British Rule in
India which drew attention to the drain of India's wealth into Britain. He was
among the founders of the Indian National Congress, the party that led India's
freedom movement.
In the field of science, there was Homi Jehangir Bhabha, founder of India's
nuclear program and Homi Sethna, the guiding force behind the first Indian
nuclear test in 1974. Other eminent Parsis include Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw,
who was army chief during the 1971 India-Pakistan War that culminated in the
creation of Bangladesh, legal luminaries Nani Palkhiwala, Fali Nariman and Soli
Sorabjee, conductor Zubin Mehta and rock band Queen's frontman Freddy Mercury.
With a literacy rate of 98%, Parsis are among India's most literate community.
Its sex ratio at 1050:1000 - unlike that of India - is in favor of girls. And
members of its community are far more affluent than the average Indian.
The community's very success appears to be threatening its survival. Parsis are
keen to get a higher education, establish themselves in a profession, and buy
an apartment and a car before getting married. This often means late marriage
or remaining unmarried; 30% of Parsis are single. Those who marry tend to have
fewer children.
There is a correlation between prosperity, literacy and size of family. The
higher the prosperity, the fewer the children is a global trend. This is true
of the Parsis as well, who are generally well off.
For a community that is small to begin with, even a few hundred youth choosing
to not have children or restricting family size makes a big impact on the size
of the community. Emigration is another factor that has led to the dwindling
population in India. Many Parsis have migrated to the West.
But it is the community's traditions that appear to be the most important
factor threatening its survival.
Parsi tradition frowns on marriage outside the community. If a Parsi man
marries an "outsider" the wife is not regarded a Parsi, although their child is
counted as Parsi. Incidentally, the privilege to children of Parsi fathers was
not granted by the community but by a Bombay High Court ruling. A Parsi woman
who marries a non-Parsi is not regarded as Parsi any longer.
In 2003, some conservative clerics passed a resolution invalidating marriages
between Parsis - men and women - with non-Parsis and ruled that children born
of such marriages would not be allowed into the Zoroastrian faith. The
resolution created an uproar in the community.
With around 35% of Parsis marrying outside the community, it is no wonder why
the number of Parsis is falling. The community is not only not allowing new
entrants but worse, it is throwing out its own.
In a bid to address the shrinking numbers, the community has opened fertility
clinics and is sponsoring fertility treatment of its members. The Parsi
Panchayat, which takes care of the economic wellbeing of the community, is
providing financial incentives for Parsi couples who have a third child. Some
have suggested that Parsi couples be provided larger accommodation to encourage
them to have more children.
But the solution appears to lie in something more drastic - redefining who is a
Parsi. Liberals insist that Parsi women who marry "outsiders" be treated as
Parsis, their husband and children be allowed into the fold if they wish and
that converts to the religion be recognized as Parsis. The best way to ensure
the community's survival, they say, is to welcome people into it, particularly
those who marry into the community - or at least not exclude the children of
mixed marriages. Advocates of intermarriage point out that generations of
inbreeding has not done much good for the community. It has resulted in genetic
disorders and increased infertility.
Conservatives argue that the problem the community confronts is not one of
numbers but of protecting the purity of the community; hence their opposition
to intermarriages.
What the conservatives need to wake up to is the fact that their approach is
likely to result in the community's extinction. There will be no community left
to speak of, let alone one whose purity they want to preserve if they persist
with their approach.
Sudha Ramachandran is an independent journalist/researcher based in
Bangalore.
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