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2 FEZANA JOURNAL – SPRING 2007
Hamazorhamā-zor bād vehāne haft-keshvar zamīn … emān avā eshān, eshān avā emān, hamā-zorham-baher, ham-yāred“May we all be in co-operation withthe righteous men of all the sevenregions (i.e., the whole world) ....May we be one with them and maythey be one with us. May we all bene-fit one another, and help one another.”
[Āfrin-ī-Gāhambār 3]Hama Zor ‘united in spiritual energy.’ (Hamā =‘together’; Zor, Av. Zavare, zāvare = ‘strength, vigour’,as in yasnemcha, vahmemcha, aojascha, zavarecha. Zormeans much more than just ‘strength’:First level (Personal): Synergy with fellow men. Forthat, it is essential to have understanding and tolerance. Second level (Cosmic): Connected with a matrix with allcreations. Hence Hamazor with mountains, plants, riversand other creations.Third level (Celestial): We belong to a field which is con-nected with spiritual entities: God, yazads – spiritual enti-ties presiding over time, Gatha, gahambar etc.Fraspayokhedhram – progress is possible only with unity.
hamāzor bād, hamāzor hamā asho bād, hamāzor hamā nekih bād, hamāzor hamā khoreh bād, hamāzor vesh kerfeh bād, hamāzor kam gunāh bād, hamā-zor zarthoshti din rāstihā bokhtār bād, dine māzdayasnān hakikat dorost bād.
“May we be united in strength. May we be united instrength with all righteous people. May we be united instrength with all goodness. May we be united in strengthwith all divine energies. May we be united in strengthwith many meritorious deeds. May we be united instrength with the least sins. May we be united in strengthwith the Mazdayasni religion which gives redemptionthrough righteousness. May all the teachings of the Maz-dayasni religion be properly preserved.”
[Afrin ī Ardafravash, 1]Hamazor is a beautiful concept, but very difficult to putinto practice because of our individual egos. In order toachieve unity we need obedience – to a person, commu-nity, idea, message or a cause; and for obedience to set in,we have to control our sense of right (our ego) and giveimportance to the sense of right of others.The ‘Hamazor’ handshake. Among our ancestors, andeven in times not long ago, the word ‘Hamazor’ indicateda special handshake. It is an ancient tradition to expressHamazor with each other on any festive occasion, likeNew Year’s Day. Today, priests exchange it among them-selves during rituals, and with others after the ritual. [Presentation by Er. Dr. Ramiyar Karanjia, Principal,Athornan Madressa, at the “Coming Together Roundtable]
Following up on the first “Coming TogetherRoundtable” held at the World Congress in London
in June 2005 [see FEZANA Journal, Fall 2005], andavailing of the opportunity when a number ofZarathushtis from the diaspora would be in Mumbai forthe preceding WZCC meet, Rohinton Rivetna, FoundingPresident of FEZANA and WZCC, convened this secondRoundtable, at the Mancherji Joshi Hall of the AthornanMadressa in Dadar, Mumbai, on January 8, 2007. Allparticipants of the previous Roundtable and any otherinterested Zarathushtis were invited. Ervad Dr. Ramiyar Karanjia, principal of the AthornanMadressa, set the tone of the meeting with a beautiful talkon the traditional concept of “Hamazor” [at left]. Aftera round of self-introductions by the sixty or more partici-
pants, from India, Pakistan, Iran,USA, Canada, Australia, UK and Sin-gapore, Rohinton Rivetna [left]stressed the urgency for our global“Community Without Borders” to“come together and work together”on global challenges and projects.“We must foster connections between
coming together in hamazoriZarathushtis from India, Iran and thediaspora, gathered at the one-day“Coming Together Roundtable” in Mumbai for discourse and dialog onprojects and issues of import to theglobal Zarathushti community.
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listing of Zarathushtis, TheParsiMatch.com (for matri-monials) and TheParsiChronicle.com (for news).● Coordinated welfare programs. Prompted by asuggestion, in absentia, by Porus Dadabhoy of Chicagofor overseas Zarathushtis to participate in BPP’s 3rdChild Assistance program, Firdosh Mehta explained theprocedure for sending donations from overseas for wel-fare, critical assistance or natural calamities, and taximplications in USA and Canada. Alayar Dabestaniaddressed aspects of sending donations to Iran. JimmyMistry, founder-trustee of the Parsi Resource Group([email protected]) mentioned shortage offunds to sponsor PRG’s programs for the Youth, Mobedsand Agiaries, such as children’s educational sponsor-ships, and Mediclaim assistance for Mobeds. He willfollow up with Houtoxi Contractor, chair, FEZANA Wel-fare Committee ([email protected]) about “Adopt-a-Child” and “Adopt-an-Agiary” programs.While some, like Oorvaksh Medora of Ahmedabad andParsiana’s Jehangir Patel, questioned whether excessivedoles “would really help the community to grow?” or“Are we creating a class of professional beggars?” mostagreed on the need for coordinating welfare efforts.BPP chair Minoo Shroff suggested that the welfare trustsreview their archaic systems, be accountable, and share acoordinated application review process to avoid duplica-tion. Homai Modi, trustee and Hon. Secry. of the K. R.Cama Oriental Institute ([email protected]), offeredto facilitate reviving the Liaison Committee, and ensurethat the various trusts support this Committee. Armaity Desai, formerly director of the Tata Institute ofSocial Sciences, and a member of the PARZOR board
the diaspora and homeland communities, focussing onsocial togetherness, harmony and cooperation, withrespect for religious diversity. Our actions must be delib-erate to strengthen, not fragment, the remarkable bondingwe share, and to enhance our social capital. This is anaction-oriented, working meeting towards our vision”[see above] he said, and proposed a list of twenty-plusdiscussion items for the day, culled from the long list ofprojects and challenges, generated at the London meet. Zareen Karani Araoz (ZWIN International network,[email protected]) made an impassioned pleafor the community to harmonize their efforts and stayaway from political and religious divisiveness.
DISCUSSION POINTS/ACTION ITEMS● Supplies and services for overseas Zarathushtisand a web-based Zarathushti directory. Yazdi Tantra([email protected]) is developing TheParsiMall.com,with an online payment gateway, to include orderingliturgical items (sudrehs, kushtis, sukhad, ses, diva,prayer books), sending flowers/mithai to loved ones, andfinancial/accounting/legal services. With Ader Gandi, hehas also created ZoroastrianDirectory.com, a worldwide
Clockwise, from previous page: Nawaz Mody, Homai Modi, Kersi and Coomi Mehta (Mumbai), Soli Dastur (Florida),Sam Billimoria (California); Zareen Araoz (Boston) facilitating the discussion, from left, Adi Engineer (Pune), KersiCommissariat and Minoo Shroff (Mumbai), Bomy Boyce (Toronto), Jehangir Patel, Veera Patel, Arnavaz Mama andMarzban Giara (Mumbai); Jimmy Mistry (Mumbai), Russi Ghadiali (Singapore) and Ness Lakdawala (Montreal); Fir-dosh Mehta (Dallas) and Rustom Engineer (Houston).
VISION for the community (developed at the Lon-don Roundtable, 2005):“To nurture a caring, compassionate, harmonious,
observant, esteemed and prosperous community”MISSION for the community:“To come together and work together in hamazori
for the Zarathushti and global communities.”
([email protected]) presented funding needs for projectsundertaken by the PARZOR organization with assistancefrom UNESCO (www.unescoparzor.com): a geneticsand fertility research center at Masina Hospital; publi-cation of a children’s book on Zoroastrianism by ShernazCama; language studies and several other projects. Other projects. Minoo Shroff saw the need for a studyon aging and elder issues among Zarathushtis. Mentionwas made of a “Doctors Without Borders” networkspearheaded by Porus Dadabhoy ([email protected])and Dr. Mehroo Patel of Chicago. Such a cadre of medi-cal professionals could be an invaluable resource for ourZarathushti and global communities. Behram Pastakia([email protected]), former President of the ZoroastrianAssociation of Metropolitan Washington, presented fol-low up on Operation Eyesight, which offers eye care andglasses to the needy; opportunities for a ZarathushtiPeace Corps, encouraging individual acts of charity on aworld wide basis; supporting a Genealogy Archives pro-ject by Dr. Rubina Patel to help Zarathushtis understandour common heritage; and his vision of a safe, efficient,state-of-the-art environment for patient care at Parsi Gen-eral Hospital. At a subsequent meeting, Hector Mehta,Hon. Secry of PGH, was apprised of these opportunities.● Preservation of manuscripts and documents. Dr.
Homi Dhalla [left] founder of WZCF,the World Zarathushti Cultural Founda-tion, urged that precious books andmanuscripts at the Maherji RanaLibrary in Navsari and elsewhere mustnot only be preserved, but also madereadily accessible, and distributed – tosafeguard against a calamity. He has
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placed 45 out-of-print books on a CDROM, and offereda collection of 400 old books to any worthy Zarathushtilibrary. Natalie Vania mentioned Google’s project todigitize the world’s great literary works and make themsearchable over the Web. Homai Modi describedrestoration efforts at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute.Notable work has also been done for the Navsarimanuscripts by Shernaz Cama of PARZOR. At a subse-quent meeting, Dasturji Kotwal lamented on the dilapi-dated condition of the storage building at the Navsarilibrary, and the critical need to rebuild that structure.Russi Ghadialy suggested donating rare and valuableitems to museums and libraries to be restored and show-cased to the world. Dhalla touched upon other WCZFprojects: excavations in Sanjan and an archeologicalmuseum for the excavated artifacts; a forthcoming bookon Navsari; reviving Gujarati language and monajats;conservation work at Bahrot Caves; a traveling textilesexhibit, which could also evolve into an opportunity forsales/export. Mention was made of the Persepolistablets excavated at the Oriental Institute, that are cur-rently under contention with the Iranian government.Shirin Mistry requested help in collecting artifacts for aZarathushti Expo at the World Youth Congress. ● Participation in Interfaith and UN programs.Behram Pastakia [left] urged organizations to seek UN-
NGO status, as FEZANA has, and par-ticipate in their numerous humanitarianand peace programs, and offered help inthat process. Zarathushtis in the dias-pora are very active in Interfaith workand in humanitarian projects such asHabitat for Humanity. He suggested
FEZANA JOURNAL – SPRING 2007
Clockwise, Perin Cooper (Pakistan), Rusi Gandhi (USA), Sam Kerr (Australia), Oorvaksh Medora (Ahmedabad), Rus-tom Chami (Mumbai), Khodayar Attaie (Iran); Armaity Desai and Prof. Feredoon Kapadia of Aatash Consultants; Mr.Salamati (Iran), Alayar Dabestani (Seattle) and Yazdi Tantra (Mumbai).
5FEZANA JOURNAL – SPRING 2007
developing a traveling Zarathushti exhibit that could beloaned for events around the world, e.g. at UN Headquar-ters in New York. Homi Dhalla is working on thisexhibit, through WZCF. Behram is also working on plac-ing the Zarathushti logo in the UN chapel. Maneck Bhu-jwala ([email protected]) made a plea,in absentia, for Zarathushtis to take the lead in formingInterfaith organizations inIndia, and organizing eventswith government and industryleaders. An All-India Interfaithgathering was suggested, on themodel of the Parliament ofWorld’s Religions. ● Public Relations. BomiBoyce and Sam Billimoriapointed out the need to give acoordinated response to misin-formation in the press, on theinternet, and in books. AFEZANA Committee has beenformed to address this need.Numerous efforts are underway to bring awareness at theinternational level, e.g. UNESCO has been approachedto commemorate Nouruz as a world heritage day.● Selection of World Congress Venue. Firdosh Mehta,Behram Pastakia and Rohinton Rivetna will establish aformal process for allocating world congresses, to beeffective for Congresses after the 2009 Congress in Dubai,and the 2007 Youth Congress in Melbourne.● World Zoroastrian Council. Alayar Dabestanireported that a “World Zoroastrian Council” has beenestablished in Paris, with a donation of 2 million Eurosfrom Dr. and Mrs. Sassanfar, that will cater to the pur-ported large numbers who wish to claim Zarathushti her-itage; and suggested forming a Think Tank to addressthis development. “When we open our doors indiscrim-inately, when we stop using our Parsi-Irani identity, weare asking for trouble,” said Khojeste Mistree, “Thisshould be a lesson to all of us, especially in America.” Alayar also pointed out the need to form an Iranian Ad-Hoc Committee to aid Zarathushtis in the event of apolitical emergency in Iran.Alayar mentioned that work is in progress by HomerAbramian of Australia to place Cyrus the Great monu-ments in a hundred locations around the world, includingIndia. There was some sentiment that it might be moreimpacting to put replicas of the Cyrus cylinder – whichhas been generally acknowledged as the world’s first“Bill of Human Rights.”● Proposal for a World Zoroastrian General Assembly. Kayzad Namdarian of Australia submitted aproposal in absentia: “United Towards Frashokereti,”for a World Zoroastrian General Assembly (WZGA) toserve “as an evolutionary step forward from the Coming
Together Roundtable.” The proposal is to “create an openstructure forum of Zoroastrian entities around the worldfor the following objective: To ensure that Zarathush-tra’s message survives future millennia, by solving com-mon problems for Zoroastrians, across the world, in anon-binding, voluntary way.” WZGA is conceived to be“simply a formalized gathering forum” and not a body-
of-bodies. “It is completelynon-binding, and serves toaddress common issues in aprofessional, formal waythrough dialogue, action andresults.” For the full proposal,contact [email protected]. ● Network of Anjumans inMumbai. Marzban Giara andJimmy Jesia indicated interestin facilitating the formation of anetwork of local mandals inMumbai, to facilitate communi-cation and dialogue.
● Passing the Torch to the Next Generation. Chair ofthe Indian Federation of Zoroastrian Youth (FOZYA),Nauzer Kasad, painted a bleak picture: “Youth is frus-trated by all that is happening … they are ready to giveup, they are drifting away. No trustee, no organizationis interested in helping” he said, “We have to literally goaround begging.” Jimmy Mistry mentioned PRG’s Youth Empowerment(YES) and Making a Difference (MAD) programs havebeen successful in attracting the youth. Freyaz Shroffmentioned ZYNA’s (Zoroastrian Youth of North America)efforts to compile a world youth directory and an onlineyouth network, zspeakerbox, and its active participation inprojects at the local community and national level. MinooBhujwalla of New Orleans (mbhujwa @cox.net) has sub-mitted a proposal, in absentia, for a “Save the ZarathushtiYouth” program and youth camp with a team of psychia-trists and statisticians, and would like to discuss this fur-ther with any interested persons. Shirin Mistry([email protected]) mentioned the “FriendsForever” program at the World Youth Congress in Mel-bourne in 2007, and hoped that a legacy of that eventwould be closer bonding between Zarathushti youth.Next Steps. The day was short, and many importantitems, such as concerns about interfaith marriages anddemography, could not be covered. From the level ofinterest, though, and the breadth of topics covered, it wasevident that this was an effective forum. Notes, withaction items and ownership will be sent to all participantsand other interested persons. Contact [email protected] a copy. This will be a living document, to be updateduntil the next opportunity for a Roundtable.
- by Roshan Rivetna
Shirin and Jimmy Mistry (Melbourne), NauzerKasad (Surat) and Khojeste Mistree (Mumbai).
