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I found my new Indian correspondent Dr. Sunavala’s description of the Parsi attitude toward death fascinating. They expose the body on a high platform, and allow it to be devoured by vultures. It seems to me a very sensible approach to disposing of the cast-off body as cheaply and as speedily as possible. A community in whose religious ceremonies the invocation of fire occupies the central place, who wear the sacred thread, whose ancestors worshipped gods named Mitra Vayu, Veretraghna, whose society was traditionally divided into various orders of priests, warriors and peasants, who consider themselves descendants of the Aryans - a race which originally lived in the sub-Artic regions near the North Pole - this obviously is a description of the Aryan settlers of India. Yes, but it applies equally well to the ancestors of the inhabitants of Iran and the Zoroastrian Parsis who migrated from Iran and settled in India around 900 C. E. The word Iran is itself a corruption of the original word Airyana meaning land of the Aryans'. India was referred as Aryavarta which also means 'land of the Aryans'. Many root-words and racial customs from the original people still survive in these communities. The words for mother, father, brother, etc., are practically the same in the language of the Avesta (holy book of the Zoroastrians) and that of the Veda, they are also similar in Latin, Greek, English, German, Russian and other Indo-European languages. An Indian especially can find many familiar root words in the text of the Zoroastrian Scriptures. The word Zarathustra which in the Avestan language means 'Loving the camel' (Zarath means to love and Ustra means camel) is exactly identical with the Sanskrit word for camel which also is Ushtra. The Zoroastrian term Vohu Manah meaning 'Good Thoughts' also has a very Similar Sanskrit word 'mana' for mind. Other similarities include 'Kshtra' which means power in both Sanskrit and Avestan Pahlavi. |
