Delhi to host Parsi festival

To celebrate the history, beliefs, practices, and contribution of the Parsi community to the world, a cultural festival spread over two months will be held between March 19 and May 29, the Ministry of Minority Affairs said on Thursday.

The Everlasting Flame International Programme’ will take place at the premiere cultural institutes of the city and over the period of 80 days, a plethora of events will encompass all the elements of the contribution of Zoroastrians and Parsis to the world’s culture, philosophy and art.

The programme will present three exhibitions – ‘The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination’ at the National Museum, ‘Threads of Continuity: Zoroastrian Life and Culture’ at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and ‘Painted Encounters: Parsi Traders and the Community’ at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) along with many cultural and educational programmes.

The exhibitions will take the visitors on a journey from the earliest days of Zoroastrianism to its emergence as the foremost religion of imperial Iran and then to the west coast of India, where they came to be known as the Parsis.

It will also examine their growth as an immigrant community in India and the later expansions.
Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest world religions, originated amongst Iranian tribes in Central Asia during the second millennium and spread to Iran where it became the principal faith until the advent of Islam.

Today, the Parsis of India make up one of the largest Zoroastrian communities outside their original Persian homeland.

Published on The Statesman