Zoroastrians- or better knows as Parsis and Iranis of India- have a separate calendar. We look at the English calendar of course, but we also follow the Zoroastrian calendar. So, we celebrate two birthdays, two anniversaries and so on. Like in English calendar, there are 12 months in the Zoroastrian calendar. Each month and each day has a religious name (in Avesta language, which ironically no one in the world speaks anymore) and connotation attached to it. Our calendar begins on around 21 August; after the Parsi new year. But each month in our calendar has 30 days fixed. Which is why, our calendar gets over around five, non-month, days before the new year. Like all months and days, these special five days also have special names attached to them.
Of all the months in the Zoroastrian calendar, I have a particular affiliation towards Meher, Ava and Adar months. The Meher month, the first of this trinity, comes sometime around mid-February. Then comes the Ava month and then the Adar month. It's the onset of summer, and while I don't really like the scorching heat of Mumbai, I like summers because it reminds me of the holiday season. It is usually the time when I start planning for my first big holiday of the year.
According to an article by Ramiyar Karanjia, a Zoroastrian priest and the principal of a priestly school based in Mumbai, the month of Meher, named after the Meher Yazad (angel) is "associated with light. He looks after all cosmic lights, including the sun light. He also looks after the atmospheric spheres, wide spaces and expanses. He is the lord of rituals and ritual spaces. On account of this, a Zoroastrian house of worships, especially in Iran and the west, is referred to as a Dare-Meher or Darbe-Meher, which means "House of Meher Yazad"".
The Ava month, which follows the Meher month, is named after the angel who looks after water. And the Adar month that follows the Ava month, is named after the angel that looks after the fire. Another month in the Zoroastrian calendar, called Ardibehest, is also for fire. The birthday of our Udwada fire temple, the highest order fire temple for Zoroastrians, falls in the Adar month and on a day that's also named Adar.
As far as common men like me are concerned, we go to the Aslaji agiary (fire-temple) in Meher month and on a specific day which is also named after the Meher Yazad. Aslaji agiary is a very popular one in south mumbai and many Parsis / Iranis visit it, especially every fridays. It was- and still is- believed that if you go there every Friday for about 7-9 Fridays consecutively, any wish gets fulfilled. These are things we used to believe in, in our growing up years. During my college days in the late 1990s, my friends and I used to visit Aslaji Agiary regularly, almost every Friday. But in later years, on account of office and working hours, I don't go there as much as I'd like, but I still try and make it a handful of times in a year. Ofcourse, over time, we all overgrow (hopefully) the need to go to a temple only to get our wishes fulfilled and more so because we really want to go there and just pray and be thankful; be it on Fridays or Mondays or any other day.
The Aslaji Agiary is located in a lane that is steeped into history <http://kayezad.blogspot.in/2018/01/opera-house-is-not-just-opera-house.html>. On Meher marino (month) and Meher roj (day), there is a queue to get inside the Aslaji agiary in the mornings. Office goers prefer to start their day with their annual visit, on this day. Many of course would be going there regularly. The Agiary has a loft where you can light diyas (lamps). This loft is made available for lamps only on this day of the year because it caters to a large crowd.
The next month Ava, as I said, is devoted to water. Just like the Meher mahino, there is one day in the Ava month that is special. This day, coincidentally, is also named Ava. On this day, we do special prayers standing near a well, any well, be they in our homes (old houses in Gujarat still have wells in their backyards) or one that's in a Zoroastrian fire temple's courtyard. Every fire-temple has a well. But Zoroastrians' most famous well in Mumbai is the Bhikha Behram well, at Churchgate, at the southern end of the Cross Maidan. The well and its stone canopy are decorated with beautiful stained glass.
Every year on Ava month and Ava day, there is an elaborate prayer ceremony performed by many priests and attended by many Zoroastrians. I think there's one in the morning and another in the evening; I usually attend the evening. The well's compound, which usually wouldn't be seeing more than 5 Parsis / Iranis at any given time of the year, would be filled by atleast 100 Parsis on this day, during the prayer ceremony. After the prayers here get over, I catch bus No. 123 and go to Chowpatty, near the Tarapore fish aquarium, on the sea front. It's my favourite place to be, especially on this day as you can see a congregation of Parsis there. Most of them are praying in front of the Arabian sea as Ava Mahino is devoted to water. For many it is like a family picnic. Children are making merry on the wide pavement, the older Parsis concentrating on their prayer books from where they read their prayers from. There is the occasional photographer from one of the Parsi publications clicking the ceremonial pictures. It is the only time of the year where you will see more Parsis than those of any other community, at Chowpatty. Usually, we are outnumbered.
Of all the months in the Zoroastrian calendar, I have a particular affiliation towards Meher, Ava and Adar months. The Meher month, the first of this trinity, comes sometime around mid-February. Then comes the Ava month and then the Adar month. It's the onset of summer, and while I don't really like the scorching heat of Mumbai, I like summers because it reminds me of the holiday season. It is usually the time when I start planning for my first big holiday of the year.
According to an article by Ramiyar Karanjia, a Zoroastrian priest and the principal of a priestly school based in Mumbai, the month of Meher, named after the Meher Yazad (angel) is "associated with light. He looks after all cosmic lights, including the sun light. He also looks after the atmospheric spheres, wide spaces and expanses. He is the lord of rituals and ritual spaces. On account of this, a Zoroastrian house of worships, especially in Iran and the west, is referred to as a Dare-Meher or Darbe-Meher, which means "House of Meher Yazad"".
The Ava month, which follows the Meher month, is named after the angel who looks after water. And the Adar month that follows the Ava month, is named after the angel that looks after the fire. Another month in the Zoroastrian calendar, called Ardibehest, is also for fire. The birthday of our Udwada fire temple, the highest order fire temple for Zoroastrians, falls in the Adar month and on a day that's also named Adar.
As far as common men like me are concerned, we go to the Aslaji agiary (fire-temple) in Meher month and on a specific day which is also named after the Meher Yazad. Aslaji agiary is a very popular one in south mumbai and many Parsis / Iranis visit it, especially every fridays. It was- and still is- believed that if you go there every Friday for about 7-9 Fridays consecutively, any wish gets fulfilled. These are things we used to believe in, in our growing up years. During my college days in the late 1990s, my friends and I used to visit Aslaji Agiary regularly, almost every Friday. But in later years, on account of office and working hours, I don't go there as much as I'd like, but I still try and make it a handful of times in a year. Ofcourse, over time, we all overgrow (hopefully) the need to go to a temple only to get our wishes fulfilled and more so because we really want to go there and just pray and be thankful; be it on Fridays or Mondays or any other day.
The Aslaji Agiary is located in a lane that is steeped into history <http://kayezad.blogspot.in/2018/01/opera-house-is-not-just-opera-house.html>. On Meher marino (month) and Meher roj (day), there is a queue to get inside the Aslaji agiary in the mornings. Office goers prefer to start their day with their annual visit, on this day. Many of course would be going there regularly. The Agiary has a loft where you can light diyas (lamps). This loft is made available for lamps only on this day of the year because it caters to a large crowd.
The next month Ava, as I said, is devoted to water. Just like the Meher mahino, there is one day in the Ava month that is special. This day, coincidentally, is also named Ava. On this day, we do special prayers standing near a well, any well, be they in our homes (old houses in Gujarat still have wells in their backyards) or one that's in a Zoroastrian fire temple's courtyard. Every fire-temple has a well. But Zoroastrians' most famous well in Mumbai is the Bhikha Behram well, at Churchgate, at the southern end of the Cross Maidan. The well and its stone canopy are decorated with beautiful stained glass.
The Bhikha Behram well
Zoroastrians praying at the Bhikha Behram well
The site at Marine Drive / Chowpatty (opposite the Taraporewala aqaurium where Zoroastrians congregate to offer their prayers to the water (Arabian Sea)
Old and young; some prayers, some chit-chatting, some get-togethers, some catching up
Concentrating
so many Parsis at one place
Every year on Ava month and Ava day, there is an elaborate prayer ceremony performed by many priests and attended by many Zoroastrians. I think there's one in the morning and another in the evening; I usually attend the evening. The well's compound, which usually wouldn't be seeing more than 5 Parsis / Iranis at any given time of the year, would be filled by atleast 100 Parsis on this day, during the prayer ceremony. After the prayers here get over, I catch bus No. 123 and go to Chowpatty, near the Tarapore fish aquarium, on the sea front. It's my favourite place to be, especially on this day as you can see a congregation of Parsis there. Most of them are praying in front of the Arabian sea as Ava Mahino is devoted to water. For many it is like a family picnic. Children are making merry on the wide pavement, the older Parsis concentrating on their prayer books from where they read their prayers from. There is the occasional photographer from one of the Parsi publications clicking the ceremonial pictures. It is the only time of the year where you will see more Parsis than those of any other community, at Chowpatty. Usually, we are outnumbered.
People lighting diyas at Marine Drive / Chowpatty
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