Further to R. S. Medora’s letter "Parsis in Diu,” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, June 2004), the following might be of interest to your readers as well as furnish answers to his queries on the twin cornerstones of Parsiism, the agiary and the dakhma, specifically those in Diu.
A very detailed survey of the former appeared in the article "The Zoroastrian fire temple in the ex-Portuguese colony of Diu, India” by Prof Mehrdad Shokoohy of Greenwich University. Well provided with Diu’s historical and modern town plans, ground plans, elevations, and section drawings, as with sufficiently clear photographs and a general and specialized commentary, his highly interesting findings were published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series, Vol 13, Pt 1 of April 2003).
The husband and wife team of Prof Mehrdad and Natalie Shokoohy have researched and published extensively on the Islamic architecture and inscriptions in India and Iran. They conduct their researches through actual field studies in the regions they investigate. When challenged to look for Parsi Zoroastrian traces in Diu, they rose magnificently to the diversion.
The main points of interest regarding the agiary are:
A block away from the harbor to the north of the town is the Parsi wad. The Portuguese called it Barrio dos Persas on their 1865 town plan. In 1794 the Parsi population was 104; in 1994 it was zero, the Parsis having moved away around 1950, some to Rajkot, and then onwards, others to Surat and elsewhere in South Gujarat. Some gravitated to Lisbon, having latterly been Portugal’s "colonial subjects” in the Estado da India.
The former agiary (Ptg Pagoda dos Parses!) stands in its high-walled garden grounds, its fabric retained without much alteration as a result of the request of the departing members of the community, and the undertaking by the last Portuguese governor and Archbishop to respect their wishes that the edifice thenceforth be used (by nuns of the Handmaids of Christ order from Calangute, Goa) as a convent (St Anne’s) and "successful infants’ school accepting children of all castes and creeds.” A most Zoroastrian bequest!
Duly de-consecrated in 1950, the agiary’s fire was removed to Surat (and not Rajkot as mistakenly recalled by the then very young Rohinton Temurasp Divecha in Parsiana, February 1993).
The architectural style of the Parsi wad houses and the former agiary reflected the Diu Parsis’ growing affluence. These buildings could traditionally be termed Iberian colonial with their arched windows, doors and porticoes.
It is important to note that there were two domed fire-chambers. The Parsiana photograph shows the interior of the smaller north room whose religious purpose has been translated into Christian observance. The nuns politely but very firmly deny outsiders access to the main south former fire-chamber. The Shokoohys had to clamber onto the roof and peer into the windowed chamber covering the dome to see its outside form. Could this prohibition have been through the continuing respect shown by the Christian church to the original undertaking given by its Archbishop to the last Diu Parsi Zoroastrians?
The agiary fire was consecrated on August 16, 1830 and nobly served its Zoroastrian devotees for some 120 years. Now long disused, the Diu dakhma (see Parsiana, July 1991) was inaugurated on August 31, 1833. The wealthy benefactor of both was the devout Parsi Dinyar Meher Jahangir Nasarwan Wadia.
The rather loose notion of claiming these edifices "as our heritage properties”: assuming for a moment that these were suddenly returned to the Indian Zoroastrians, just for how long, realistically, could they maintain them in good repair and provide for their upkeep? Who, if anyone, would actually benefit from such restitution? One calls to mind the frequent appeal for funds to restore the fabric of several agiaries elsewhere in provincial India where pitifully few Parsis still remain. In Diu there are none left! The Christians continue to respect both the agiary’s fabric and its former religious status; the dakhma is in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India which has built a wall around the area to deter vandals and encroachers. Precisely what the "several meetings” of the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India with its "defunct anjmans subcommittee” have achieved with regard to the Diu cornerstones will remain less of a puzzle than the confusing editorial accompanying Medora’s letter.
If funds are at all earmarked for such quixotic ventures, would it surely not be wiser to utilize them for continued uplift into better living conditions, health and education programs — perhaps even relocation — for the very many deprived Parsis in out-of-the-way places who still subsist well below the poverty level?
FARROKH VAJIFDAR
London, UK
Dr Ratan Marshall, Special Officer, Parsi Panchayat, Surat clarifies
We have no authentic information to say as to where the fire of Diu agiary was shifted, whether to Surat or Rajkot or any other place. To be frank we hear for the first time that the holy fire of Diu agiary was shifted to Surat.