ZOROASTER.
Sects.—The Parsees of India are divided into two sects, the Shahanshahis and the Kadmis. They differ as to the correct chronological date for the computation of the era of Yazdegerd, the last king of the Sassanian dynasty, who was dethroned by the caliph Omar about A.D. 64o. This led to the variation of a month in the celebration of the festivals. The Parsees compute time from the fall of Yazdegerd. Their calendar is divided into twelve months of thirty days each; the other five days, being added for holy days, are not counted. Each day is named after some particular angel of bliss, under whose special protection it is passed. On feast days a division of five watches is made under the protection of five different divinities. In midwinter a feast of six days is held in commemoration of the six periods of creation. About March 21, the vernal equinox, a festival is held in honour of agriculture, when planting begins. In the middle of April a feast is held to celebrate the creation of trees, shrubs and flowers. On the fourth day of the sixth month a feast is held in honour of Sahrevar, the deity presiding over mountains and mines. On the sixteenth day of the seventh month a feast is held in honour of Mithra, the deity presiding over and directing the course of the sun, and also a festival to celebrate truth and friendship. On the tenth day of the eighth month a festival is held in honour of Farvardin, the deity who presides over the departed souls of men. This day is especially set apart for the performance of ceremonies for the dead. The people attend on the hills where the "towers of silence" are situated, and in the sagris pray for the departed souls. The Parsee scriptures require the last ten days of
the year to be spent in doing deeds of charity.
On the day of Yazdegerd, or New Year's Day, the Parsees rise early, and after having performed their prayers and ablutions don a new suit of clothes, and go to the "fire-temples," to wor ship the sacred fire, which is perpetually burning on the altar. Unless they duly perform this ceremony they believe their souls will not be allowed to pass the bridge "Chinvad," leading to heaven. Then they visit their relations and friends, when the ceremony of hamijur, or joining hands, is performed, a kind of greeting by which they wish each other "a happy new year." Their relatives and friends are invited to dinner, and they spend the rest of the day in feasting and rejoicing.
There are only two distinct classes among the Parsees—the priests (dasturs, or high priests ; mobeds, or the middle order; and herbads, or the lowest order) and the people (behadin, behdin, or "followers of the best religion"). The priestly office is heredi tary, and no one can become a priest who was not born such.
The secular affairs of the Parsees are managed by an elective committee, or panchayat, composed of six dasturs and twelve mobeds, making a council of eighteen.
Their religion teaches them benevolence as the first principle, and they practise it with liberality. The sagacity, activity and commercial enterprise of the Parsees are proverbial.
See Menant, Les Parsis (1898) ; Dosabhai Framji Karaka, History of the Parsees (1884) ; Seervai and Patel, Gujarat Parsees from the Earli est Times (Bombay, 1898).