Do you know the story behind how Zoarastrians (or Parsis as they are called locally) came to India? Listen to this short story on Baalgatha Podcast to learn how and why Parsis celebrate the festival of Pateti and the Parsi New Year.
About the story of Pateti on Baalgatha Podcast
This story was written by Minu Pandit and edited by Amar Vyas. Narrated by Shrerali Biju. Audio editing by Vyas. Baalgatha podcast is brought to you by gaathastory, the home of amazing storytelling shows.
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How Parsis (people from Iran who practised Zoarastrianism) came to India
During the 8th century A.D., the dominant religion in Persia was Zoroastrianism. It was the first religion to believe in only one all powerful God and was practiced in what is modern day Iran. When Islam began to grow in popularity, Arab tribes started invading land around Saudi Arabia and they finally reached Beaujon, in Iran. The Zoroastrian people were not equipped to fight, but neither did they want to give up their religion. So to avoid religious persecution, they began to board ships and fled to India.
When they arrived in Gujarat, local rulers offered them asylum and allowed them to settle in the kingdom.
As the story goes, when the spiritual leaders were taken before the King of Gujarat to ask if they could settle on his land, the King asked them to explain their customs and beliefs. He presented the leaders with a glass full of milk. He said that his kingdom was like a cup about to overflow and therefore had no room for immigrants. One of the leaders then put a pinch of sugar into the cup, told the king that his people would not make the kingdom overflow, but enrich the community.
The King was very pleased with this response and granted them permission to stay if they promised to adopt the local language, and never bear arms against the king. Since there was no name for this religion or group of people when they arrived on the shores of India, they were given the name Parsi, which literally means from Iran (derived from Farsi).
This episode was published in August 2019 and has been updated since then.