Dadi Surti states "There is not even mention of sudreh and kusti in the Sasanian period ("Changing customs,” Parsiana, August 7, 2018).” But then there is no mention even of Zarathushtra himself in any of the writings or rock inscriptions of Sasanian or earlier times.
He observes, "People may have agreed to establish our separate identity through these garments,” though he concedes it is not in consonance with Zarathushtra’s teachings. What would be the need for a "separate identity” when most Iranians were Zoroastrians? I admit that such identity can be helpful at times like when the police can easily identify a Parsi’s corpse or when I was critically ill in a cardiac intensive care unit in the University of Chicago Hospital and a Parsi intern doctor recognized me from my sudreh as a fellow Parsi.
The most important reason for wearing the sudreh and kusti is that they embody in essence the main teachings of Zarathushtra. Even Prof Mary Boyce maintains this as do many other scholars. As writing was not known to Iranians in Zarathushtra’s times, and even for two millennia later, it was a wonderful way to educate people through symbols. Surti should not worry about the sudreh touching the private parts, as the sudreh was worn on the outside of the lower body garments. Proper care would avert other mishaps he is complaining of.
The sudreh carries a pocket to symbolically remind us to do good deeds whenever and however we can. The sudreh is white, suggesting our conduct should always be without blemish. The kusti’s three tassels on each end represent the fundamental Gathic teaching about the ever-present and never-ending struggle between the good and the evil (Yasna 30.3, 45.2, etc.)
Zarathushtra emphasized gender equality: "What I preach is equally true for men as well as women” and thus there has never ever been a second thought about not investing the females with sudreh-kusti. When I explained all this after performing a navjote in Florida, the host told me the next day that the navjotee’s American friends were so impressed they wanted to have their own navjotes performed. Such explanations are essential for understanding the quintessential significance of sudreh-kusti.
Zoroastrians were constantly and ruthlessly persecuted for wearing sudreh-kusti and other articles of clothing, among other things. I have for long been researching their history and it gives me many sleepless nights and heartaches. We Parsis were really and truly lucky to live and prosper among the friendly and peaceful Indians.
I cannot understand on what evidence Surti sees navjote as a probable "invention of priests during the reign of Shapur I” who is known to have favored Mani. Surti is confident "that Zoroaster did not wear a sudreh-kusti himself in his life time; nor performed a navjote ceremony.” On what basis does he state so? Probably, the navjote as we know today did not exist then as it takes time to establish a convention or a custom, but some idea, however rudimentary, had to exist about navjote in Zarathushtra’s mind.
As an adjunct to my research on the Arab conquest of Iran, I am studying the beginnings of Islam and the scholars opine that it took a long time for its practices and conventions to be formalized as is often the case in other faiths too. Nevertheless Surti asserts: Zarathushtra "he would probably have considered the sudreh-kusti as idolism.”
According to Boyce and others there were no fire-temples in Zarathushtra’s times and even in much later times, but wearing sudreh-kusti was like having a fire-temple on one’s person, especially as the Gathic notion of fire represents God’s own fire (Yasna 43.9, 43.4, 47.6, etc) or nursing our own inner fire. Thus said Zarathushtra long before the Bible declared: "Know ye know that ye are the temple of God and the spirit of God resideth in ye.”
What the Indo-Aryans worshipped as Daevas was vehemently condemned by Zarathushtra in the Gathas (Yasna 30, 45, etc). It is inconceivable that the idea of sudreh-kusti was copied from "the Vedic custom of the Hindus.” There is little similarity between janoi (the thread the Brahmins wear) and kusti, and sudreh is totally absent among the Hindus. Moreover, only certain upper classes can have janoi but each and every Zarathushti does and must have a sudreh and kusti. Zarathushtra "does not speculate that Zoroastrians are better than others” but he persistently admonishes them to be better than others in thoughts, words and deeds, and sudreh-kusti acts as a beacon to that end. Ervad (Dr) KERSEY ANTIA
Illinois, USA