Parsism

The parsism is the Religion Pârsî, followers of the Zoroastrisme, or Mazdéisme, which left the Perse (Iran) following the Arab conquest and with the diffusion of the Islam (), in search of a ground of religious liberty. These descendants of Persians keep, until their name of “parsis” - that they hold of the old territory of Parsa, current the province of the Fars -, the memory of their origin.

The parsis continued to develop the traditions of the religion of Zoroastre, or Zarathoustra (which they called Zardhust ), in the countries where they found refuge. The expression “admirer of fire”, very often used to indicate them, is unsuitable, even if it is true that they venerated fire like a crowned and pure entity. At the 7th century, the armies Musulman be conquered Persia and reflect fine with the reign of the Sassanide S (224/226- 651), under which the Zoroastrisme was Religion of State. At this time, the parsis left little by little their ground of origin, carrying with them crowned fire, and emigrated towards the north-Western India, where one finds testimonys of their first colony starting from 717. The Qissa-i Sanjan (“legend of Sanjan”,) reports this exodus.

The parsis, today present in ten country, are approximately: 180000. The most important group is that which lives in the Indian areas of the Gujarat and of Bombay. In their area of origin, in Iran, one counts approximately: 30000 zoroastriens, gathered in the Village S of the Flat around Yazd. The Parsis constitute today an active community and politically ouverte : they took part in the fight for the Indian Indépendance, and is characterized by their Esprit warned and undertaking, so much for the fields Politique S - in fact the parsis mainly ensured the Industrialization of India - which in those of the education and of the Assistance. Their Communauté remains nevertheless closed: one is Pârsî only by filiation and matrimonial bond, with religious validity, strictly endogamic.

Principal characteristics of the parsism

The parsis, being based on traditional dualistic cosmogony Zoroastrien, do not estimate that owe them is to increase the positive part of creation, works of the Wise Lord, the god Ormazd (Ahura Mazda), and to dam up the harmful work of its perfect Antithèse, the bad god and chief of the demons Ahriman (Angra Mainyu); it is of this duty that rise the specifically religious tasks which are the Culture Champs and the Procréation children.

Ethics

The ethical of the parsis initially consists in choosing between the good and the evil; the moral behavior is guided by values such as the straightness of thought ( humata ), of Langage ( huxta ) and of action ( hravashta ). That which lives according to these requirements is a Juste ( asharam ), that which is unaware of them is malicious ( anasharam ). The transgression of these values is a sin which can be expié only by the confession ( paitita, patet ) with a priest. Penitence that this last imposes can consist in killing out of the bad creatures of Ahriman (ants, mosquitos, scorpions), or taking care of the development of cultures, taking part in the construction of bridges or channels, or making agricultural tools. Certain sins can be repurchased, neither in this world nor in the other ( anaperetha ), punished ici-bas by death and the hell in Beyond (which must have a term and result finally in the paradise when Ahura Mazda overcomes the evil), in particular the contamination of the Ground, the Eau and the Air by the burial or the cremation of late (which one keeps ashes).

The rites parsis

The parsism comprises rites which punctuate the essential moments of the life: birth, puberty, marriage and death. Among these rites are of a very particular importance the rite of initiation ( naujote ) and the ceremonies funerary. Towards the nine years age, the children are received within the community of the naujote , rite of decisive passage, official entry of faithful in the army of Ormazd and the fight conre Ahriman. During this ceremony, the children receive a tunic and a crowned Ceinture. The white cotton tunic ( sudresh ) must be carried to same the skin: it symbolizes the purity of the religion. The cord of wool of lamb ( kûsti ), tied with the belt, is untied at least five times per day, at the time of the traditional prayers.

The parsis know neither burial nor cremation. The funerary ceremonies seek to limit the propagation of the evil. Also, the corpse, of which one has horror, is very quickly put at the variation; the iron coffin is transported towards the turns of silence ( dakhmâ ) by people vêtues of white, and the corpse, stripped, is there exposed, so that the Vautour S devour them. The bones are then precipitated at the bottom of a central well. The turns of silence are the cylindrical constructions, closed on all sides, except the open top towards the sky, a height of approximately 4 meters, with the roof sloping towards the interior. Only Nasâsâlar, members of a corporation of the undertaking, can penetrate there. One can still see some of these turns in Bombay. On the other hand, in Iran, the open burial was prohibited for reasons of hygiene, which was not without posing serious problems of conscience at the community.

Before the offering of haoma is not presented to the temple of fire, the heart of late already joined the bridge of Chinvat (“bridge of the separator”). At the entry of the bridge, Mitra pronounces for each heart a judgment, during which Rashnu weighs with a balance the good ones and the ill deeds; after judgebeing judged, the late ones can cross the bridge. For the heart right, this one broad and is led to the paradise. For the corrupted heart, it is narrow like the blade of a saber and leads to cold darkness of the hell. That whose merits are equivalent the faults is directed towards the hamestakan , zone intermediate in which it will have patience until the Last Judgment.

A hereditary sacerdotal caste is appointed with the celebration of the worship and the other ritual ones, like that of the Confession. The priests ( athravan ), well determined families, receive a suitable education. The large priest, who celebrates the divine office with seven other ministers of religion, is called the zoatar (“invoquator”). The zarathushtrotema is the chief of the hierarchy zoroastrienne; it resided first of all at Ragha (current the Reyy, close to Teheran) and was subjected only to only the king de Perse. The fire crowned, symbol of Ormazd, god of the Light, sheltered in a bronze vase, posed on a square stone, burn constantly in the temple of fire: five times per day, the priest enter a reserved part of the temple, the adarân or room of fire, and celebrate the specific rite, by reciting certain passages of the Avesta . So that its breath does not come to soil the flame, the bottom of its face is masked of a white fabric ( paitidana ). The other part of the temple is opened with laic and their personal pilgrimages.

Liturgy

The Avesta (deformation of an old word meaning “praise”), principal religious work of the parsis, is a testimony of crowned poetry, written with the IX^e and 10th centuries, although it cannot be dated with precision. The Avesta that we know corresponds only to the quarter approximately of the Avesta , of which the twenties and one books are summarized in the Denkart . The avesta , ordered according to the liturgical requirements, includes/understands the following books:

the Yashna (“sacrifice”), text subdivided in soixante-douze chapters, having milked with the sacrifice of fire, having surrounded of seventeen gâthâs (“songs”), the oldest part of the Avesta , composed, in a particular dialect, by Zarathoustra ;
the Vispered (“all judges”), appendix of the Yasna , collection of Litany S;
the Videvat (“law against the demons”), containing a description of the ceremony of the great purification and regulations on the purity, preserved such as it is;
the Khorda Avesta , or Small Avesta , delivers prayers for the laic ones, including/understanding the Yashts (“ritually recited”), collection of blackjack fragments of anthems in the honor of various divinities (Anahita, Mitra or Fravashi), ordered according to the days and the months.

The literature in pehlevi (language derived from the Old man-Persian of the Achéménides) includes/understands comments or explanations, which go back to one period going of the III^e at the 7th century. Of these texts form part, inter alia, the Bundehesh (“originating creation”) and the Denkart or Dinkart (“act of the religion”) including/understanding the legendary biography of Zarathoustra.

See too

Zoroastrisme
Zoroastre

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