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2
Faith and the Faithful |
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 A woman with her niece on New Year's day. Behind them, on the fire temple wall, is a stone reproduction from the Apadan Palace in Persepolis, depicting envoys from two satrapies of the Achaemenian Empire, paying tribute to Darius the Great (521-486 BC). Kapawalla Agiary, Bombay 1984 |
 At the end of each Zoroastrian year, ten days are reserved to invoke the souls and fravashis (guardian spirits) of departed ones. During the days called muktad, the souls are invoked with prayers and the fragrance of flowers. Wadiaji Atash Bahram, Bombay 1985 |
 Framroze Sukhia, an eminent lawyer, crosses the road with his wife Villoo, after visiting the Anjuman Atash Bahram. The pillars are copies of the columns of the Apadan Palace in Persepolis; square bases, fluted shafts, and double-headed capitalsof two bull-protons, that signify the benevolent animal kingdom. Bombay, 1986. |
 f
in the secular world we sometimes appear to ourselves and others as
good material for a joke, in matters that have to do with religion Parsis
are solemn and dignified. This is a side that no non-Parsi sees. "What
Masonic-like rites go on within the fire temple walls?" I am often
asked. Nothing startling or bizarre occurs in fire temples. Rather,
agiaries are dark, cool and tranquil places that preserve their quiet
even in the middle of the busiest, most crowded city streets..... |
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2000 Sooni Taraporevala. It is illegal to
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