Parsi community is one of the most successful in the world
ONE death and the size of a whole community has decreased by several percentage points. This happened a few weeks ago with the passing away of social and political activist Dr Khorshed Ginwala at the age of 90.
Dr Ginwala belonged to the Parsi community, which numbers only a few dozen in South Africa.
About three decades ago, the Parsi community in South Africa numbered about 100 and has been on the decrease over the years.
This is not a phenomenon peculiar only to South Africa – a demographic crisis is also afflicting India’s Parsi community where just 60 000 members of the group remain in a nation of 1.2 billion people.
Experts expect the population to drop to 20 000 by 2050.
There are fears the Parsis’ Zoroastrian faith, more than 3 500-years-old, may not survive.
To protect Zoroastrian religious practice, some Parsis are offering to pay priests high salaries to encourage boys to join the priesthood.
There is also a contentious debate about changing marriage laws, which stipulate that Parsi lineage passes through fathers but not mothers.
A child of a Parsi father and a non-Parsi mother may be accepted as a Parsi.
The reverse is not true since a Parsi mother and a non-Parsi father means the child will not be considered a Parsi.
The desire to keep the bloodline pure is the reason why many Parsis do not try to expand their community either by conversion or inter-community marriages.
Also, the Parsi community has one of the highest literacy rates in India and they are career-loving people; as a result, both young women and men prefer to give top priority to their professional careers. Consequently, many remain single.
One in every 10 women and one in every five men remain unmarried by age 50.
Despite the small size of the Parsi community, they have made a significant mark in diverse fields and are one of the most successful minorities and migrant groups in the world.
For centuries, prominent Parsis have shared their success through philanthropy – their religion encourages wealth creation as well as charity – so the names of top Parsi traders and industrialists are plastered on the hospitals, schools, libraries and streets of many cities in India as well as other countries, including South Africa.
Scientist Homi Bhabha was a pioneer in atomic research. The Tata family controls the sprawling $100 billion (R14bn) salt-to-steel Tata Sons empire.
The Godrej family owns Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Properties and Godrej Industries. Many Parsis fought for human rights – Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, who was the first Indian chief of the Bombay Municipal Corporation, helped Mahatma Gandhi raise funds for his fight against racism in South Africa and for Indian independence.
But just who are the Parsis?
The Parsis, whose name means “Persians”, rebelled against Arab invaders for 200 years in Iran (then Persia), which was their home country.
To preserve their cultural and regional identity, they escaped and sought refuge in India in the seventh century.
Given the small size of the Parsi community, many people are not aware of their peculiar habits and customs.
Parsis follow the religion of Zoroaster, a prophet of the seventh century. Zoroastrians turn towards a flame or a source of light while praying.
Until recently, Parsis in India did not cremate or bury their dead. The corpses would be left for vultures to feed on at a place called Tower of Silence in Mumbai. Now with the decline in the number of vultures, many Parsis bury or cremate their dead.
Parsi boys and girls between the ages of seven and nine undergo a religious initiation ceremony.
It is the first time that the child wears the “armour” of the religion: the sudrah, a white cotton shirt with a symbolic pocket for the wearer’s good words, good thoughts, good deeds; and the kusti, a sacred string entwined thrice around the waist.
The sudrah must be worn every day for the rest of a Parsi’s life.
The Parsis have contributed in no small measure to the political Struggle in South Africa and were also leading businessmen.
There were less than 50 Parsi families in South Africa when the Indian community launched the passive resistance (satyagraha) of 1906-14 in the-then Transvaal and later mainly in the-then Natal.
But they contributed some of the most determined and eminent satyagrahis. Gandhi chose one of them, Shapurji Sorabji, to act as his successor in South Africa.
Another Parsi, Rustomjee Jiwanji Ghorkhodu, who was popularly known as Parsi Rustomjee, was one of the founders of the Natal Indian Congress in August 1894 and was elected vice-president.
Parsi Rustomjee sheltered Gandhi and his family in January 1897 when Gandhi was attacked by a European mob on his return from India.
The whites threatened to burn down Rustomjee’s house and property, but he was not deterred.
Parsi Rustomjee who was a large property owner and had large business interests all over South Africa, was arrested several times for taking part in the passive resistance struggle.
He served many months of imprisonment, all with hard labour, at prisons in Volksrust, Heidelberg, Diepkloof, Johannesburg, Pietermaritzburg and Durban.
Imagine his mental torture when during his imprisonment in the Pietermaritzburg jail, he was deprived of his Zoroastrian sacred shirt and thread.
Parsi Rustomjee’s various philanthropic deeds include establishing the St Aidan’s Mission Hospital in Durban; the MK Gandhi Library and Parsi Rustomjee Hall; Parsi Rustomjee Orphanage; MK Gandhi Tamil School; an orphanage connected with the mosque at Umgeni; and part of the cost of a Methodist day school.
There is a primary school in Merebank bearing his name.
Parsi Rustomjee’s sons, Jalbhoy and Sorabji, continued to support Phoenix after their father passed away in 1924.
One of Jalbhoy Rustomjee’s sons, Rustom Rustomjee, became a successful insurance consultant and was married to Dr Ginwala who apart from being a medical doctor and hospital superintendent, was a community, social and political anti-apartheid activist.
Her sister, Dr Frene Ginwala, a barrister at law, historian and a political scientist, was the first Speaker of the House after democracy, a position she held from 1994 until 2004.
Incidentally, Jalbhoy and Sorabji Rustomjee owned large tracts of gum plantation in Chatsworth’s Bayview area in the 1930s.
In the late 1940s, the land was sold to a group of farmers – including my father – and was successfully put to banana cultivation.
Devan is a media consultant and social commentator. Share your comments with him on: yogind@meropa.co.za
The Parsi community has one of the highest literacy rates in India and they are career-loving people