Zoroastrians in India
The Parsis
The Parsis are a Zoroastrian community that originated in the region of present-day Iran. They fled to India in the 7th and 8th centuries (during the Arab Conquest of Iran) to escape persecution by Muslim caliphs and established a thriving community in the western state of Gujarat.
To this day, the Parsis are still a small minority in India and have unique customs/traditions that sometimes differ from Zoroastrian customs in other parts of the world. For example, while many Zoroastrians in Iran celebrate Nowruz (in March) as the New Year festival, the Parsi community has its own new year called Navroz which takes place in August. The Parsis are also Zoroastrians that generally do not accept converts.
The Qissa-i Sanjan
The Qissa-i Sanjan (also known as the The Story of Sanjan) is a historical text that relates the story of the early Parsi community in India and was written by Bahman Kaikobad (a Parsi priest) in 1599 CE. It is an account of the Zoroastrian community's journey from Khorasan, Iran to Gujarat, India, and the challenges they faced in finding a place to settle and practice their religion.
According to the Qissa-i Sanjan, the Parsi community fled persecution in Iran and sought refuge in India in the 8th century during the Umayyad Caliphate. The Zoroastrians eventually arrived in the region of Gujarat by boat where they were welcomed by the local Hindu ruler, Jadi Rana. The Parsis requested permission to settle in the region and practice their religion freely, and Jadi Rana granted their request, provided that they could abide by 4 rules:
1. The Parsis were to adopt Gujarati as their language
2. The women would wear saris
3. They would not carry weapons
4. Parsi weddings could only be conducted in the evening
The Parsis agreed to these rules and Jadi Rana allowed them to settle in the town of Sanjan, where they established a thriving community that exists to this day.
The Irani
The Irani people in India are another group of Zoroastrians that emigrated from Iran to British India in the 19th and 20th centuries. This emigration was during the rule of the Qajars and was to escape religious persecution.
The Irani people sometimes speak Zoroastrian Dari, a Persian dialect, and often settled in western India (Gujarat and Maharashtra).
