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The navjote of Chaitanya Kersi Jaikaria, grandson of former president of the Delhi Parsi Anjuman and current member of the National Commission for Minorities Dadi Mistry and his wife Nergish (see "A navjote in Delhi,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, October 7, 2016), has raised the hackles of many in the community who are opposed to the children of Parsi women married to non-Parsis being accepted into the fold.
One Nariman A. Mody, who has studied Avesta and Pahlavi, wrote to the trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) on October 24, 2016 that the ceremony, performed by Ervad Khushroo Madon from Bombay and Ervad Noshir Dastoor, is "totally unlawful.” He has urged Yazdi Desai, chairman of the BPP, president of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) and founder trustee of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis "to take necessary steps so that wrong precedent does not creep in” and bring up the matter at the next FPZAI meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In its issue of November 2, 2016, Daily News and Analysis (DNA) reported that the issue has cropped up "even as the rights of children from Parsi mother and non-Parsi father and Uniform Civil Code are being debated in the community.” When DNA asked Mody why he had raised the matter he replied: "This is our custom and it is being practiced since so many years. Some day they will bring someone else too, which is wrong.” When reminded that Prophet Zarathushtra too converted, Mody responded: "There was no religion (at) that time. This will haunt them even in courts of law. They cannot allow anyone in (the) fire temple. People who donated money for fire temples did not want that.”
Mistry and his family chose not to comment. Desai told DNA: "As per our tradition, navjote ceremony of a child who belongs to a Parsi mother and non-Parsi father cannot happen. If a priest does it, what can we do? It is a personal choice of the person. We cannot interfere besides publicly condemning it. We will be raising the issue in the next meeting. But beyond a point nothing much can happen because it is a personal thing.”
Trustee of Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism Vispy Wadia told the newspaper: "Such navjotes happen everywhere, including Surat and Ahmedabad. Women are getting their children into the community and in the fire temples. It is the mother who gives culture and not the father… It is not new and who are these people to decide (it is) illegal? Some four or five people cannot decide what is null and void. The matter as such is settled in the court when the court said that they cannot ban more priests who conduct navjotes.”
Madon, one of the priests who performed Chaitanya’s navjote, told DNA: "There are many people who get initiated into Zoroastrianism. No one can become a Parsi by navjote ceremony. Parsi is born of a Parsi father. And this is not the first I have done. Every year I do eight to 10 such navjotes and no one says anything.”
Parsiana reader Aban Bana wrote "it gladdened my heart to read about the navjote ceremonies of Ashish Thakore ("Such a long journey,” Parsiana, September 7, 2016) and Chaitanya Jaikaria. These are very good examples of bringing young people who have Parsi mothers and non-Parsi fathers into the community and the Zoroastrian religion… I hope that they will be given the support and encouragement that they deserve. This is also important for the community’s numbers and its general well-being, not to speak about gender equality, which our good religion stands for” (see pg 8).
(According to the Bombay High Court judgment of Justices Dinshaw Davar and Frank Beaman, Zoroastrianism not only permits but enjoins conversion. However, they noted that they had not come across any instance of conversion to the religion.)