Traditional Zarathushtris Mailing List (TZML) 25 October 2001 Khordad/Khordad 1371 A.Y.
Vada Dasturji Dr. K. M. JamaspAsa Mumbai 400 001
Respected Vada Dasturji Saheb,
We refer to your important letter entitled 'Survival Of Zoroastrian Religion Should Be Our Topmost Priority' published in the 'Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly' of 21 October 2001.
Your letter is a breath of fresh air, especially as it comes in the wake of shocking news that precious community charitable funds are being disbursed at the instance of a top community leader to further the un-Zoroastrian practice of intermarriage, that a popular Bagh (attached to a sacred Agiary) will now be thrown open for the wedding receptions of intermarried Parsi women with a Jashan for the same mandatory(!) in the adjacent Agiary, etc. etc.
Clearly, the forces of heterodoxy have infiltrated the highest echelons of the community, which is in no small measure due to the leadership vacuum left by a disunited and inactive orthodoxy. What the external threats of Alexander or the Arabs were unable to achieve may yet come to pass through the greater threat of internal sabotage - God forbid!
It is in the above context that your clarion call to "all right-thinking Zoroastrians" against "un-Zoroastrian practices which threaten the existence and identity of the community" assumes the greatest importance.
We urge you to continue to remain in constant communication with the community and issue correct and concrete religious guidelines as you have done in your letter under reference. The formation of a religious body like the proposed 'Council of Vada Dasturjis' of India (apex, and therefore independent) would also be of considerable value.
The still-faithful silent majority of the community is craving for effective leadership, especially from senior ecclesiastical quarters, to stem the rot and bring the community's religious affairs back on track. No further proof of this is needed than the rapturous reception (of a kind more usually associated with film stars!) accorded to the eight Vada Dasturjis of India by throngs of ordinary Zarthoshtis at the historic TZML-sponsored 'Vada Dasturjis Public Meeting' held on 21 April 2001 at Mumbai.
Be assured, respected Vada Dasturji Saheb, that you have the support of tens of thousands of faithful Zarthoshtis who are now waking up to the alarming prospect of their magnificent ethno-religious heritage being hijacked in broad daylight by a coterie of what you have called "misguided souls who have strayed from the path of Asha."
With appreciation and all good wishes,
Yours truly,
Roni K. Khan
(for and on behalf of the Governing Board & Membership of the TZML - 'Traditional Zarathushtris Mailing List' of the Internet)
SURVIVAL OF ZOROASTRIAN RELIGION: by Dasturji Saheb Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa