Parsees

parsez, a remnant of ancient Persians, followers of Zoroaster. The name is a corruption of Parsis, meaning Persians. Their priests were known as magi. The religion of Zoroaster was the national creed of Persia at the time of Alexander the Great and continued to flourish until the Persians were subdued by the Caliph Omar, 651 A. D. The great bulk of the Persians were converted by sword to Mohammedanism. A few thousands hid themselves away in the mountain fastnesses of the country. Their descendants, known as Guebres, still live in Persia, particularly in the city of Teheran. Many fugitives found their way to southern Asia, where their descendants, called Parsees, still form prosperous central colonies at Calcutta, Madras, Aden, and various cities of Burma and China.

The largest Parsee community, 60,000 in number, is to be found at Bombay, where the Parsees form a highly respectable portion of the inhabitants. They are self-respecting, honorable, and of a prepossessing appearance. They are accounted a handsome people. They eat no food that has been handled or cooked by people not of the Parsee faith. They eat no beef nor pork. They do not marry outside of their own people and are not polygamists. Funerals are attended to by priestly officials. The dead are exposed on the top of a vast tower some distance from the heart of the city. It is called the Tower of Silence. It stands in the middle of gloomy woods, the home of great hordes of vultures.

Sacred fires, kindled by lightning, are maintained on altars in the Parsee temples and on the tops of hills. The Parsees do not worship the flame, but consider it the emblem of deity. The purity of their creed has been marred by various superstitions. As a body, they are divided more or less into sects.

See Zoroaster; Magi; Fire-Worshipers; Bombay; Jejeebhoy