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The 75th volume of the Journal of The K. R. Cama Oriental Institute containing the Dinshaw J. Irani memorial lectures series delivered in 2009 focuses on some controversial issues pertaining to Zoroastrianism.
An article by Prof Daniel Sheffield, assistant professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University, titled "The Quest for the Historical Zarathushtra: Parsis and Philologists on the Prophet in 19th Century Bombay” cites several scholars who questioned the historical veracity of many of the legends associated with the Prophet. In 1933 Reverend John Wilson "delivered his famous lecture on the Vendidad Sade  (in which he said), ‘There is no history which can associate the reported miracles of Zoroaster with the (Avesta); and there is not the slightest evidence that these miracles ever took place (…) Who saw these miracles? Who gave testimony respecting them? Who examined the witness? Who recorded the evidence? Who can prove that it is uncorrupted?’ Wilson went on to allege that the Zoroastrian scripture is ‘very defective as a rule of faith,’ that it ‘robs God of all His glory,’ and that it ‘gives a highly irrational account of the origin and operations of natural good and evil.’”
Wilson’s critics cited extracts of the Bible and European renaissance philosophers like Voltaire "to show that the same arguments (could be) used against Christianity.” But Wilson stuck to his beliefs and continued to refer to "the alleged divine mission of Zoroaster as ‘insignificant, unsatisfactory and absurd,’ since all of the texts which contain stories of his life were written considerably after he was supposed to have lived.”

 

 

 

Joachim Menant’s book Zoroaster: Essays on the Religious Philosophy of the Parsis (1844) raises questions such as "did Zarathushtra exist in the first place? To which era should we ascribe his existence?... If the existence of Zarathushtra were to be demonstrated, if we knew exactly what date we should ascribe it to, we would still have to prove that he was the author of the books (Gathas, Avesta) which bear his name. Each of these questions could occupy the life of the most fervent mobed. But I err; the mobeds never raise any doubts about these subjects; the faith of a true believer knows not how to compromise.”
Friedrich Spiegel (1820-1905), a Bavarian oriental philologist concluded: "Zarathushtra is no longer, either in the East or in the West, a historical person; rather he has fallen into legend. But this legend is, at least in its main forms, already quite ancient… Though we have extracted no clues about the historical Zarathushtra, we at least know how the followers of his teaching view him, and this is not unimportant.”
Sheffield notes that by the mid-19th century the Bombay Native Education Society set up an English school in Bombay in 1825 and by 1834 the Elphinstone Institution. "Between 1827 and 1842, 28 of the school’s 152 students had been Parsis, and by 1854, 40% of the school’s enrolled students were Parsis. One of the earliest Parsi students to enroll in the new English school was Naoroji Fardunji, who was born in Bharuch in 1817.” He was appointed an assistant professor at Elphinstone College and his students included Sorabjee Shahpoorjee Bengallee, Dadabhai Naoroji and Kharshedji Rustamji Cama.
Reverend John Murray Mitchell around the late 1940s wrote in his Letters to Indian Youth, "Who was Zoroaster? Was there one Zoroaster... or two... or three... or four... or five... or six? Was there any Zoroaster at all? (…) Some think that the supposed prophet of the Persians never existed at all, but is a purely fabulous personage.”
Fardunji quoted from classical sources and scholars "to establish with sound historical reasoning the date of Zarathushtra” but the editor of the Bombay Times in 1851 wrote: "What should it turn out that there never was any such person as Zoroaster at all? — or that he was at all events not at all the person he was taken for?... If Zoroaster and his doctrines be of truth, we cannot destroy them — if they be not of truth, the sooner they are brought to nought, so much the better — sooner or later, to this all myths will come — truth only is eternal.”

 

 

 

 

As late as 1855, the former acting governor of Bombay and amateur orientalist John Romer inquired "whether Avestan was in fact an authentic language or a fabrication?”
Despite such queries being raised Parsi scholars "asserted their own agency in employing one particular discourse about their religion against others, resulting in immediate benefit for the community within the framework of the colonial state, yet at the cost of irrevocable and ambiguous changes to traditional structures of learning and belief within the community.”
The Journal also contains four lectures by the Polish scholar Prof (Dr) Anna Krasnowolska, at the Jagiellonian University, Cracow. In her talk on "A Controversial Custom in Biruni’s Chronology (A Discussion of Burning Animals in Sade Fires),” the scholar refers to Sade, a winter festival held on Bahman roz, Bahman mah which consists "of kindling big fires and feasting around them… A puzzling custom, reported by Abu Reyhan Biruni (973-1050) and a number of Islamic authors for the winter feast of Sade, was to release living animals and birds in the Sade fires and to let them run and fly away blazing.”
According to Biruni’s Chronology: "It has become one of the customs of the kings to light fires on this night and to make them blaze, to drive wild beasts into them and to send the birds flying through the flames, and to drink and amuse themselves round the fires. May God take vengeance on all who enjoy causing pain to another being, gifted with sensation and doing no harm!”
Other scholars also corroborated the practice. Beyhaqi (995-1077) in his History stated, "They released the pigeons soaked with kerosene. And wild animals (dadan) covered with snow and set on fire began to run, and such it was that I have never seen before, and the night passed cheerfully.”
Christensen "notices a similarity between Iranian Sade customs and those reported for West European fire festivals.” Modern Persian authors believe the practice is compatible with neither Zoroastrian nor pre Islamic Iran. "Its only explanation can be thus, in their opinion, a sort of deviation from an old, respectable tradition, which could have occurred at the courts of Islamic rulers, already alienated from the noble religious and moral values of their ancestors.”
Ebrahim Pur Davud (1885-1968) in his introduction notes: "According to Zoroastrian religion, causing suffering to useful, Ahuraic creatures is a great sin. Moreover, as we know, the Zoroastrians of today do not observe such practices during this festival, and were it a part of their ancient traditions, certainly they would have preserved it. In addition, (…) the custom was observed in royal and princely courts only, and in no other places.”
"Pur Davud’s argument against the Zoroastrian origin of the practice of burning animals in Sade fires can thus be summarized as follows: It is an offense to fire, which is venerated in Zoroastrianism; in Zoroastrianism causing pain to useful Ahuraic animals is considered a sin; the Zoroastrians of today, known for their strong attachment to their traditions, do not observe this custom; the practice has been reported for royal courts only, i.e. it was unknown to common people who are the best guardians of genuine, ancient tradition.”