A vanishing race: Numbers go against India’s Parsis
The Parsis are disappearing. Their population in India fell by 18% in the 2001-2011 decade and dropped to just a little over 57,000, according to Census 2011 data released on Monday.
The tiniest of India’s religious minorities, Parsis numbered around 69,000 in 2001. This is the sharpest decline in the community’s population after 1981 when the census reported a 27% fall over the previous decade. In subsequent years, the community was able to slow down the decline but the 2001 headcount indicated that their numbers were falling again.
Maharashtra has a Parsi population of 44,854 — the highest in any state. In Delhi, there were just 221.
Many within the community in India caution that Parsis might become extinct if corrective measures are not taken. “Zoroastrianism will live or die depending on the choices that today’s Parsis and Iranian Zoroastrians make,” said Dinyar Patel, a Parsi research scholar at Harvard University in his 2011 study. “By continuing with our current behaviour of late marriage, non-marriage, and limited childbirth, we are killing both a community and a religion. And that, I believe, is the greatest tragedy that faces the Parsis of today. It is time for change,” Patel cautioned.
The Centre stepped in with a scheme in September 2013 – Jiyo Parsi – to arrest the decline in population after studies revealed that only 1 in 9 Parsi families had a child below 10 years.
The earliest Parsis came to the subcontinent more than 1,000 years ago from Persia where they flourished until the advent of Islam. Over centuries, they maintained their distinct customs but integrated themselves into Indian society. Dadabhai Naoroji, Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw are among the well-known Parsis in India.