A question the Parsi Irani Zarathushtis (PIZs) in India have been asking for a long time is: "Who is a PIZ?” Differing opinions have been given by different persons.
A PIZ is one born of both PIZ parents and grandparents and whose navjote has been performed between the ages of seven and 10. Only Ahura Mazda decides who can be a PIZ. Nobody can become a member of this super-exclusive club by adoption, conversion or re-conversion, irrespective of what some vada dasturs may say!
Some claim that a child born of a PIZ father and a non-PIZ mother who has had his/her navjote done can be a PIZ according to the judgment of Justices Dinshaw Davar and Frank Beaman dating over a century ago. Others say that the two judges had made a "passing remark” (obiter dicta) and therefore such navjotes are "null and void” and such children cannot be considered PIZs.
Some PIZs maintain that if the child of a PIZ father and a non-PIZ mother can be a PIZ, the same yardstick should apply to children of PIZ females married to non-Parsis as also to children born out of wedlock to a PIZ male or female, or even to those born via a surrogate mother or created in a petri dish! Others say that this would amount to "genetic pollution.” A hundred years from now, the Parsi community will be a "genetic khichri” and the Parsipanu of the present-day Parsis will be lost forever.
The World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis and the present Bombay Parsi Punchayet trustees quote the Davar-Beaman judgment to state that the children of intermarried PIZ males can be considered to be PIZs, but the children of inter-married Parsi females cannot, even if the navjotes of these children have been performed. This is blatant discrimination and violates the constitution of India which mandates gender equality.
Some say that the PIZs should actively proselytize in order to increase their numbers. Others say that this would completely destroy the Parsi community.
So who should decide? Obviously, the PIZs themselves! How? Ask the Parsis in India to vote on the issue because the matter is of importance to them; PIZs living in other countries are not as orthodox and are not averse to being a part of a "genetic khichri.”
Persons living in Kurdistan, Russia, Brazil and other countries claim to be followers of the teachings of Zarathushtra. How can anyone prevent such persons from calling themselves Zoroastrians? In India, such persons would not be accepted as Zoroastrians, though they are accepted as such by the PIZ diaspora. In India, the orthodox believe in 100% racial purity and do not accept the children of intermarried Parsis.
In India, a Parsi has to be a Zoroastrian and a Zoroastrian has to be a Parsi! There is no such thing as a Christian Parsi or a Russian Zoroastrian. Some persons may wish to differentiate between race and religion, but this is completely rejected by orthodox PIZs. In India, only a PIZ can be allowed to enter an agiary or atash behram, reside in a Parsi baug or colony, or benefit from community charitable trusts. JAL S. DESAI