Project
The Parsis of Mumbai
Mumbai’s influential Zoroastrian community faces extinction even as its conservative and reform...
Nell Freudenberger talks from Mumbai about the dwindling population of Parsis in India. The word Parsi refers to followers of the prophet Zarathustra who came to the west coast of India from what is now Iran in the 10th century, looking for religious freedom and economic opportunity. In India today, Parsis are known for their industriousness, philanthropy, eccentricity and low fertility rates. Their numbers in Mumbai have dipped to about 60,000 and there are growing fears that the community may be on the verge of extinction.
