"We are grateful to him for his insightful teaching on prayers and their meanings, his clear explanations of complex ideas, and his tireless inspiration and encouragement… He is a senior educator at the NAMC (North American Mobeds Council) Institute of Zoroastrian Studies... He has taught several courses and offered lectures. More importantly, he has trained and mentored several of our future generation mobeds, mobedyars and athravans across North America,” stated NAMC president Ervad Tehemton Mirza when presenting Brig Ervad Behram Panthaki the Council’s Distinguished Scholar of Zoroastrianism Award at the Kamran Dar-e Mehr in Washington DC on August 2, 2025. The award celebrates "a life dedicated to both faith and duty — a life marked by learning, leadership and love for our community,” added Mirza.
From l, top: Dr Zarir Khademian and Brig Ervad Behram Panthaki; Kersi Shroff;
mobedyars Zen Panday and Hormuzdiar Katki; above: Freyan Panthaki, Zenobia
and Ervad Tehemton Mirza, Behram, Zenobia, Ervad Jehan, Aiden and Sheroo Panthaki
Photos: Sima Yazdanipour
Nearly 200 members of the Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Washington Incorporated (ZAMWI) community, family and friends were present to recognize his "decades of dedicated service, scholarship and transformational leadership,” as noted a write-up on the event by ZAMWI president Dr Zarir Khademian and his wife Anne, erstwhile president. They gave Panthaki credit for training "the first mobedyar in North America, Jamshid Mistry; the youngest mobedyar in North America, Zen Panday; and now the first athravan (mobedyar who will be initiated as a priest), Hormuzdiar Katki… (He) has guided and nurtured a community with members from Iran, India and Pakistan, and members joining through marriage and through individual choice. His wisdom and empathy, his progressive interpretation and understanding of the Gathas and our faith, and his patience, humor and kindness have strengthened a very diverse and strong community to take the next steps in our spiritual and cultural journey as Zoroastrians.”
ZAMWI founder member and past president Kersi Shroff recalled how Panthaki "oversaw, indeed pioneered, the achievement of major milestones in the growth of the once nascent Zoroastrian community in the Washington DC Metropolitan Region — muktad Farvardegan ceremonies; the institution of mobedyars; summer camps for Zoroastrian youth; community and family religious celebrations and observances; interfaith outreach; and much more. He continues to inspire with his creative, contemporary touches to the performance of ancient and traditional ceremonies that encourage the congregation to actively participate in them.”
Besides performing "hundreds of navjotes, weddings, funeral services, jashans, house blessings and more for families across Maryland, Virginia and the district of Columbia,” Behram, along with his wife, established the Brig Behram and Zenobia Panthaki Mobed Development Fund for the ZAMWI community.
Further, he initiated Avesta classes in Washington, starting at a middle school cafeteria until the inauguration of the Kamran Dar-e Mehr in 2014. "His guidance, advice and insights have shaped a generation,” confirmed the write-up. Some of the former students of the Avesta class recounted their memorable moments with him as did other members of the ZAMWI community.
Both Behram and Mirza being alumni of Bombay’s M. F. Cama Athornan Institute, Mirza commented, "Seminaries and military schools, while serving different purposes, share similarities in their structured, disciplined environments and emphasis on character development and leadership training… So our teachers thought that they were teaching and molding a mobed, but in the process, they inadvertently also trained a soldier.” Also in attendance were a few of Behram’s friends from the time he was in military service with the Gurkha Regiment. Erstwhile aide-de-camp to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Behram and Zenobia had authored a book on the 100th birth anniversary of Sam Bahadur (see "Heroic, humorous, humane,” Parsiana, May 21, 2014).
"In last few decades, we have worked collectively to make our Association an inclusive, transparent and vibrant organization. May it always remain so,” remarked Behram, thanking "the entire ZAMWI community for their unstinted support, cooperation, encouragement, warmth, respect, love and affection shown to me and my family in the last three decades.” He was appreciative of "the board members, past and present, and volunteers on various committees, teachers at the Avesta class, the young boys and girls who attend the class and the parents who make the time to bring them twice a month. Without each of you, none of this would be possible.”
Zenobia thanked the Mobed Council for bestowing the honor on her husband, and the ZAMWI community for its support and appreciation over the years of Behram and his philosophy. An erstwhile World Bank officer, she used the analogy of a numerical fraction wherein the numerator in the upper section denotes the number of parts and the denominator below, the total, to convey, "The most important thing to focus on is our common denominator — Zoroastrianism — that will bind us together. The numerators may only divide an already small community. Secondly, accept change and adjust/adapt to remain relevant.”
The function that commenced with a benediction by the priests was organized by Anne Khademian and another ZAMWI past president Navroz Gandhi with the assistance of dedicated volunteers.