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On a crisp Christmas morning at the inauguration of Asha Vahishta, The Zoroasrian Centre, more than 100 Parsis and non-Parsis sat in respectful silence with their heads covered as Ervad Noshirwan Dastur led a team of six mobeds from Bombay and Poona in celebratory prayer and lit the holy fire in the kebla. Sepideh Irani, who attended the jashan with her non-Parsi husband and nine-month-old daughter, felt that "broadening our outlook” was a step in the right direction and added that she felt part of the community again. For Carine Rodin from Norway, whose stepmother is a Parsi, attending the jashan with her three children was a "fantastic experience. I’m glad the community is opening up.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The jashan fire was carried by Dastur and enthroned on the Centre’s afargan while the priests recited the Atash Nyaish and other prayers. Dastur performed  the first boi (ode to the fire) ceremony.
Set up at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore by the Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism (ARZ) led by brothers Vispy and Kerssie Wadia, the two-storey building houses a prayer room open to community members as well as the non-Parsi spouses and children of intermarried couples. With parking space available, the venue can be used for navjotes, wedding ceremonies and funeral prayers. According to Vispy, non-Parsis will be allowed "to attend the prayer ceremonies without any discrimination.” The day-to-day running of the Centre will be handled by a coordinator under the supervision of Dastur.  
The first floor comprises the kebla room, a prayer hall and a library. A lift goes up to the terrace which can be used for small functions. Closed circuit television cameras are installed, the images of which the seven ARZ trustees can access on mobile phones anywhere in the world, informs Kerssie. A further one-and-a-half storeys can be added, he notes. The Centre which is around four kilometers from Poona station is open to devotees from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., as is the practice in most agiaries.
The inauguration of the new Centre raised the hackles of some traditionalists. Though "we expected a controversy ... the acceptance level was much higher,” Vispy told Parsiana on December 28 when he and Kerssie visited the office. Both the brothers stay in Parsi colonies, Kerssie in B. S. Panthaki Baug in Andheri and Vispy in Jogeshwari’s Malcolm Baug. But they faced no hostility from their neighbors. "People say separate (houses of worship) are good”  to minimize friction between the traditionalists and reformists. Their families fully endorsed the brothers’ involvement with the cause and the Centre.
The freehold plot with a half-built dilapidated structure was purchased in 2010 but construction of the two-storey structure built on stilts started only in 2014 as the ARZ faced an uphill task collecting funds. Traditionalist trusts and individuals shied away from the project as the portals of the prayer hall and dadgah with a 24-hour fire would be open to all. As donations slowly trickled in, the institution took concrete shape. "We have a behdin pasbaan (paramobed) coordinator” who resides on the premises in a one bedroom apartment on the second floor. The floor also houses four guest rooms at nominal charges, primarily for those attending ceremonies. The boi ceremony is performed three times a day, say the brothers. In an adarian, the second grade of agiaries, the ceremony is supposed to be performed five times a day but due to the shortage of priests, especially in smaller towns, the boi is offered thrice a day. 
According to ARZ, "This Centre strives to put an end to the prejudice and discrimination faced by intermarried couples and their families desiring to continue with their Zoroastrian way of life. True to the universal message of Asho Zarathushtra, this Centre does not divide/separate the intermarried Parsi from his/her spouse and children when they all unitedly desire to seek the divine blessings of Ahura Mazda. They all are welcome to the Centre.”
Fully aware that this initiative is bound to stir up controversy and opposition from sections of the community, Vispy and Kerssie explain: "The Parsi Zoroastrian population in India is diminishing fast and will diminish faster in the years to come because 35% of our population is above 60 years of age. We will pay a heavy price for throwing out people who marry outside the community.”
At the core of ARZ’s philosophy is the belief that Zoroastrianism is a universal religion in which there is no scope for discrimination. Vispy cites a simple example. "A child born to a Parsi father and a non-Parsi mother can accompany both parents to their respective places of worship. However, when the family decides to visit the fire temple, the current rules divide the family. The Parsi father and the son/daughter enter the agiary and the non-Parsi mother is made to wait outside like a pariah. But when the same family decides to visit the non-Parsi mother’s place of worship, be it a temple or a church, the whole family is united, as the Parsi father is also part of the visit. The treatment meted out to the non-Parsi parent has a negative psychological impact on the children. In the case of intermarried Parsi females, the situation and discrimination is even worse for herself and her children. ARZ’s aim is to bring a sense of unity and religious affinity to such families…”
Vispy reveals that the catalyst for setting up ARZ was a personal experience. "A school friend of mine, whose father was Maharashtrian and mother was Parsi, was called Nitin by his Maharashtrian relatives and friends and Neville by his Parsi relatives and friends. He grew up eating Parsi food, spoke Parsi Gujarati, regularly prayed from the Khordeh Avesta at home and considered himself a devout Zoroastrian but was afraid to enter an agiary because he had not had his navjote ceremony. This got my brother and me thinking that we need an institution where people like Nitin/Neville can go without fear of being insulted. We set up the ARZ trust in 2005.” Through a mutual acquaintance they borrowed and read books on the religion mainly by liberal authors such as Dastur (Dr) Maneck Dhalla, from the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute.
Equally troubling is the fact that several anjumans in Gujarat and Maharashtra have become defunct because there are no Zoroastrians left there. "Properties such as agiaries, sanatoriums and dharamshalas have been encroached upon by people who have no connection with our religion. Parsi agiaries and baugs will inevitably be occupied by others. It therefore makes sense to allow and accept at least the children and spouse of intermarried Zoroastrians into the faith rather than give up religious institutions and properties to people who have no connection with the religion,” says Vispy.
Several of ARZ trustees not only contributed financially but also devoted much time and energy to the setting up of the Centre. trustee Farhad Bottlewalla has also committed to providing kathi (firewood) lifelong, say the brothers. The late Dr Keki Grant was chairman of the ARZ, a position that Vispy, a businessman, now holds. "Dr Grant’s word carried a lot of weight,” while raising funds for the Centre. A second  drive to raise funds, a crore of rupees for the corpus of the charitable and cosmopolitan trust, is to begin. The brothers have not sought any income tax exemption (80G) for donations "to keep away from controversies...people who believe in the cause don’t mind if they get a tax benefit or not,” says Kerssie, who is a practicing chartered accountant.
The ARZ trustees are Vispy, Kerssie, Bottlewalla, Capt Behram Surty, Phiroze Dubash, Marzban Bharucha and Aspi Billimoria.
The Centre is located on Plot Number 51, Chandan Garden, NIBM (National Institute of Banking Management) Road, near Clover Highland Societies, Poona 411048. Email: arzmumbai@yahoo.com. Phone: +91 9821346601.