Zoroastrianism that was once most powerful religion of the world originated in Persia, today’s Iran. Zoroastrianism was founded by Prophet Zoroaster or Zarathustra in ancient Iran approximately 3500 years ago. As the number goes by today it is one of the smallest religion in the world with merely less than 1,00,000 followers and the majority of them are living in India and specially in Mumbai.
Zoroastrians as its followers are called believe that there is only one God called Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord) who has created this world. And Ahura Mazda has revealed the truth through the Prophet, Zoroaster. As it is perceived by the outside people Zoroastrians are not fire worshippers but they believe that the elements are pure and the fire represents God’s light or wisdom.
Zoroastrians worship in a Fire Temple or Agiary and their book of Holy Scriptures is called The Avesta.
Zoroastrians are subdivided into two groups : The Iranians and The Parsis.
The Parsis came to India in 8th century when Islam spread in Iran and then settled in Gujarat. In 17th century they started migrating to Mumbai where they built Fire Temples. In these year Parsis have become a strong force as business owners , shipbuilders, administrators and wealthy philanthropists and even supported freedom movement. Tata & Godrej belong to this community that has contributed a lot to our country’s modernization and development.
Like other religious communities Parsis also have their share of triumph as well as fears. Today Parsis population is even less than 100,000 in the world and majority of them are living in India. According to 2011 census since 2001 their population has reduced from nearly 69601 to 57264, a decrease of 18%. Parsis are achievers who believe to excel in whichever field they are and thus late marriages are common in the community and above all nearly 30% of Parsis don’t marry. They are modern and yet traditional. As their population is decreasing in India , Indian Government started a “Jio Parsi “ campaign to assist them to have bigger families otherwise as few fear this high achieving religious community might reduce to a status of a tribe. As demographic trends state that till 2020 India will be a most populated country in the world but Parsis population might get reduced to less than 30,000 giving it a status of a tribe.
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Religion World is one and only indian website to give information of all religions. We are dedicated to present the religions. You can send any info, news, engagements and advice to us on – religionworldin@gmail.com – or you can WhatsApp on – 9717000666 – we are also on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.
