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Copying a manuscript was a time consuming and laborious task which only certain priests with  requisite    know-how could undertake. The person who commissioned the writing was the patron who would pay an honorarium to the scribe/priest who rendered this sacred service for which God bestowed blessings on the patron. It was an offence to erase the scribe’s or the sponsor’s name from the colophon of a manuscript bearing these details. A colophon is a postscript to a manuscript where the scribe provides his own name, the date and place where a manuscript is copied and the name of the patron at whose behest he copied it.

Sharing these details was Prof (Dr) Almut Hintze, Professor of Zoroastrianism at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. Her lecture "On Patronage in the Zoroastrian Tradition” saw the second floor auditorium in the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) packed to capacity with additional chairs being periodically brought in. The event on December 9, 2024 was held jointly under the auspices of The Museum Society of Mumbai and the F. D. Alpaiwalla Museum (see box "Alpaiwalla to reopen”).

Co-chair of the SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute and Fellow of the British Academy, Hintze has been extensively studying and recording Zoroastrian rituals and texts like the Yasna and Visperad. Her talk explored the role of the laity in the transmission of the Zoroastrian sacred texts and its significance for the survival of the Avesta. She also showed how travels and exchanges between the communities of Iran and India proved vital for the continuity of traditions.

The academic referred to two of the oldest sponsors, one from Khambhat in Gujarat and the other from Sistan in Iran. In 1377, a Parsi merchant Cahil, son of Sangan, had sent a letter and an honorarium for copying a book to a "Parsi priest Mihirwan (also referred to as Mihraban) who came from the country of Iranland (modern day Iran). Whosoever preserves or reads this book will reflect merit upon the merchant Cahil and also upon his ancestors whose souls have been liberated,” noted the colophon. 

The scribe Mihraban Kayhusraw (MK) copied many manuscripts in India between 1321 and 1351 at the request of Cahil Sangan, a merchant from Khambhat (Cambay) which was one of the two most important and prosperous ports of India. It had been described as a busy harbor by the Venetian traveller Marco Polo in 1293. "All surviving manuscripts of the Yasna and of the Videvdad (as the Vendidad is referred to) with its Pahlavi translations descend from the manuscripts copied by Mihraban,” mentioned Hintze.

Among Mihraban’s manuscripts, the Pahlavi Videvdad (identified as L4) is in the British Library. On the fourth colophon of this manuscript written in 1363 and now housed at the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute in Poona as Bh11, it is specified, "May everyone who owns and everyone who reads (this book) consider as worthy of paradise him who ordered the copying and him who copied it.”  "Sadly even scholars are not allowed to see the manuscripts at The K. R. Cama Oriental Institute,” regretted Hintze, hoping the trustees would revise their policy.

  above: a section of the audience

There is another instance of a priest and scribe Ardasir, son of Wahuman, patronized by Mahdad, son of Adurweh, who copied the Pahlavi Videvdad in Sistan, in 1205, the beneficiary being Mahyar, son of Mahmihr from Ucha in Punjab. As specified on the colophon of Mihraban’s K1 manuscript in the University Library of Copenhagen: "It has been written in the land of Sistan, following the order of the master of proud skill, whose soul shall be immortal, Mahadad, son of Adurweh, son of Denyar. From his own wealth he had made the expenditure for the benefit of Mahyar, son of Mahmihr, a priest from India from the city of Ucha which (is) on the bank of the Water of Sind which in the religious (texts) is called ‘good river.’ 

"For six years he was near the erbads of Sagastan (Sistan) and through him some religious matter was learnt and came to Hindugan (Hindustan). And this ‘anti-demon-law’ (as the Vendidad is referred to) with explanation came to this side through him.” Contacts between Iran and India go back to Achemenian times (553-330 BC, way before the Parsi settlement in India), reminded Hintze. There was an important community of Zoroastrians in Punjab. This Mahyar Mahmihr’s manuscript was copied in 1280 in Gujarat by Rustahm, son of Mihraban, for his own purposes.

In the Revayat of 1478 of the Iranian priest Nariman Hosang it is specified: "If possible, it is necessary that two wise herbads may come over (i.e. to Iran) and learn the Pahlavi language and know ‘the proper and the improper’ and then attend to the religion of Ohrmazd over there (i.e. in India) and be energetic in doing meritorious deeds so that they may attain Gorothman, the best existence and the abode of the pious. The way by land is nearer and from Qandahar to Sistan is the nearest way, and there is no danger on the road from Sistan to Yazd.”

Just as very few manuscripts have survived, ceremonies like the yasna, videvdad and visperad are in danger today because there are few requests for their performance, stated Hintze. She had earlier directed a collaborative project on the Multimedia Yasna, funded by the European Research Council. She is currently involved in filming the visperad ceremony.

Invited to share her impressions of the talk, Dr Bakhtawar JamaspAsa commended Hintze’s scholarship and grasp of the subject, adding "At one time Almut was my husband’s [Dastur (Dr) Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa’s] pupil and she is now the head of the department at SOAS. Appreciating the scholar’s efforts "to give us a glimpse into our ancient past,” Dr Pheroza Godrej, chairperson of The Museum Society of Mumbai, stated that since history was largely written by the Greeks, the contribution of Persians is not sufficiently acknowledged. "Knowledge should be available, made open for all.” She further gave credit to the priests for leading "a religious and tough life in your line of duties.”

Strict seminary

The talk was followed by the world premier of Mobed — Viewing the Sacred: Zoroastrian Magis in today’s world. Shot in 2017, the film is dedicated to the memory of Ervad Asphandiar Dadachanji who frequently featured in the narrative of the film. "I have kept the turban and the beard since I was 13,” Dadachanji who was then 80 years of age was quoted in the film. 

The rigors and regimen enforced at the two madressas — the Dadar Athornan Institute and the erstwhile M. F. Cama Athornan Institute in Andheri — come across in the movie. For the teachers tasked to create "proper, pucca, perfect priests” it is a thankless job. More so when the young students themselves are homesick and struggling to cope with the dual load of academics and memorizing of the scriptures. As explained DAI principal Ervad (Dr) Ramiyar Karanjia, the children spend "three hours daily for five years to learn by heart the 72 chapters” as also performance of the yasna, vendidad and nirangdin rituals.

Karanjia recalled in the movie his early days at the Madressa when as a neophyte student he made a plaintive plea to his parents to take him home, assuring them he would be willing to eat stale bread every day rather than stay at the madressa. While many senior priests recalled the slaps, whips and lashes they had received as children at the Madressa, the younger lot now are indulged with treats like ice cream that was unheard of earlier. Karanjia admitted that he is happiest when children under his care come to him with a broken button or inability to tie shoe laces for it reassures him that he is "approachable.”

At the Cama Madressa, the scenario presented was more bleak with deserted classrooms, no students and a senior priest reminiscing about his younger days as he walked down the deserted and forlorn corridors of the Institute with his grandson.

Scenes of the yasna ceremony when water drawn from a well is ceremonially purified to make it holy were meant to represent the evolution of a soul to become a better person and make the world a happier place. Since many in the documentary film speak in Gujarati, the subtitles in English made it easier to understand the content.

Alpaiwalla to reopen