| It was a quiet prayer meeting at a modest apartment in Colaba, Mumbai, but for the gathered people it was a moment of awakening. On August 25, the auspicious day of Khordad Saal, Prophet Zarathustra's birthday, a group of Parsis determined to change the history of their faith consecrated the house as a prayer hall, which will now be open to Zoroastrians married outside the religion, their non-Zoroastrian spouses and children. They call themselves the Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism (ARZ). "We believe that Zoroastrianism should survive even if Parsis don't," says businessman Kerssie Wadia, who along with brother Vispy has been instrumental in forming the arz. "We don't intend to convert as a missionary activity. We believe that the spouses and children of those Zoroastrian men and women who are married to non-Zoroastrians have an equal right to worship and follow the faith," says Vispy. Surprisingly, all the six founding members of the ARZ are married within the community. "We are merely concerned about the declining Zoroastrian population in India," adds Kerssie. And the numbers are truly alarming-the census recorded 69,601 at last count. According to research conducted by the ARZ, the average number of children in a Parsi family is 1.2. With close to 1,000 deaths a year in Mumbai itself and not over 300 births, the demographics are skewed. "Around 40 per cent of youngsters are marrying outside the community. By debarring one Zoroastrian, you are throwing out generations of that family," says Vispy. Though the Wadia brothers have been helping such families for five years, they officially registered their organisation in September 2004. The ARZ plans to conduct Navjote (initiation ceremony) and wedding ceremonies in the Colaba flat till their plan to build an agiary, a fire temple, takes shape. Funeral prayers will also be offered for Parsis who wish to get their dead relatives buried or cremated. With 350-odd members and 15 dasturs on its panel, the ARZ is taking its cause seriously. And its "radical" move has found favour with the Association of Intermarried Zoroastrians, which has been fighting for the rights of Parsi women married outside the faith to enter the fire temple and dakhma (tower of silence). Says president of the association Meher Amersey: "Now the ARZ has come from within the community and they are ready to accept our children into the faith." While many may herald it as a brave step there is no denying that here is a community at war with itself. The World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis, the conservative faction, proclaims, "Keep converts out of the fold." Over 2,000 Parsis chanted this proclamation at the Mahalaxmi Turf Club in May this year. But the Wadia brothers are unfazed. Their motto is loud and clear: My religion must survive in my country.
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