Another explanation is that before the Arab invasion of Iran, the languages of greater Iran were known to Iranians as Dari and not Farsi. But these served as spy-holes rather than windows, defense being uppermost in the minds of these persecuted inhabitants. There was once a relatively large Jewish-Yazdi community, however, after the creation of Israel, many have moved there for varying reasons. For this reason, instead of burying the corpse directly into the earth or burning it- which would also dishonor the fire like the earth-, they would apply another method as the funeral process of their loved ones’ dead bodies. Up to 1898, only brown, grey and yellow were allowed for body garments but after that, all colours were permitted, except blue, black, bright red or green. However, all Afghani Persian speakers are not called Parsiban. He returned to India 1478 carrying the answers and two In the past, perhaps in an attempt to remain as inconspicuous as possible and thereby avoid the jealous or angry attention of their Muslim neighbours, these dehs or neighbourhoods were fairly self-sufficient, independent and insular. At present, the greatest threat to Yazd’s Zoroastrian heritage is no longer external. Both mean fire). There are several disused towers of silence, dakhma, in the vicinity of Yazd city. Given that Khorasani Dari is spoken all along eastern Iran, from Khorasan to Siestan, and that many Zoroastrians from these areas migrated to Kerman and Yazd, carrying with them their language, the eastern Iranian connections with the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman bear further exploration. In his book Travels in Iran - A Parsi Mission to Iran (1865), [translation at fravarhr.org] Hataria notes "In the whole country of Iran, there are, today, two Atash Bahrams (he mentions elsewhere the Atash Bahrams of Yazd and Kerman) and 17 Adarians (Atash Kadehs). But the mobed in charge utilized it for the permanent use of his family members and their descendants and thus no trace even of the name of the donor is to be seen or found. There is also a considerable ceramics and construction materials industry and unique confectionery and jewellery industries. Hiromba may be a local Yazdi version of Sadeh and the difference in dates may be because traditional Yazdis use the Qadimi rather than the Fasli calendar. It is imperative to raise a suitable funds for the maintenance of these religious abodes.”. However, all Afghani Persian speakers are not called Parsiban. But the party using the land refused to pay rent and became the owners of the land. A video featuring an interview with an eighty-four year old salar cf. Thus the income for the maintenance of the said Atash Bahram stopped and the Atash Bahram is now in a sad plight; it requires immediate attention.". This Zoroastrian practice for the disposal of the dead involves the exposure of the corpse to the sun and vultures. Read more, Click one of our representatives below to chat on WhatsApp or send us an email to [email protected], Call us: +98 910 928 3853 09:00 to 21:00 (Tehran time). The high priest of Zoroastrians in medieval Iran was called the Mobedan Mobed, the Mobed of Mobeds. The sacred flame, behind a glass case and visible from the entrance hall, has apparently been burning since about 470 CE and was transferred from Nahid-e Pars temple to Ardakan (a town some 60 kilometres north of Yazd city) then to Yazd (city) and its present site.”. He was also known as the Dasturan Dastur. Finally, at the end of a gloomy corridor, a narrow door - the smallest of them all - led into a bare, central courtyard or rikda. In his memoirs Yazd dar safarnameha (Yazd in Travelogues), Jalal’e al’e Ahmad writes in the section Safar-e be Shahr-e Badgir-ha (Journey to the City of Wind-Catchers), that in the city, “You see less thieves and beggars, you hear less profanity, insult and conflicts in the streets.” In addition, a report published in the Keyhan newspaper (dated 17th Tir 1342, p. 15) states that of the forty prisoners in Yazd’s jail, none were Yazdi, but that they came from elsewhere in Iran. Maneckji Hataria in his book Travels in Iran - A Parsi Mission to Iran (1865) states, "The dakhma of Yazd was in a ruinous condition. and Dastur Namdar Shahriar, The Atash Bahram was officially opened by Arbab Rustam Guiv on June 3, 1944.” Ardeshir Meheraban Keikhosrowi was also the father of Morvarid who would wed Arbab Rustam Guiv.]. Up to 1891, all Zoroastrians had to walk in town and even in the desert, they had to dismount if they met a Mussalman of any rank whatever.’, “Browne writes about an incident in 1860 where a Zoroastrian man of 70 years went to the bazaar in white trousers of rough canvas. By paying a levy, Yazd was allowed to remain Zoroastrian even after its conquest, and Islam only gradually became the dominant religion in the city. While conditions for Zoroastrians in Iran were difficult enough after the Arab invasion, conditions reached the depth of despair in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 2000 the Yazd Water Museum opened;[19] it features exhibits of water storage vessels and historical technologies related to water. Furthermore, weepers and mourners should move in pairs while they are following the corpse. In 2013, Sepanta Niknam was elected to the city council of Yazd and became the first Zoroastrian councillor in Iran. During the Qajar dynasty (18th century AD) it was ruled by the Bakhtiari Khans. The fact that there was a need for two towers to be used in conjunction indicates that the population of Zoroastrians in and around Yazd city was large enough to require this system. Yazd has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). [* B.B. A June 18, 2006 article in the Washington Post by Karl Vick states: “In Taft, 10 miles south of Yazd, only the elderly linger in the mud-walled warren of houses identifiable as Zoroastrian by the tiny oil lamps burning in glass cases fitted into walls. The Zoroastrians of Yazd acknowledged his contribution by casting a bronze bust of Hataria presenting placed outside the new Atash Bahram. Today that said plot of land and the constructions thereon have gone out of the hands of the trustees and the Adarian is in a sad plight. The Muslims often forbade the Zoroastrians to repair buildings; and it is characteristic of the resourceful Maneckji that, less than a year after his landing, he somehow managed not only to restore but even to enlarge this very important fire temple.”, Apparently, this Atash Bahram had been built with funds sent from India. However, after 1970s, this tradition became illegal in Iran and the government made the Zoroastrian community to adjust to other methods as the funeral process. 'I'm sorry to say it and it might sound offensive, but these Zoroastrians are better Muslims than we are,' said Mohammad Pardehbaff, a Yazd driver." This process is known as ‘Sagdid’ which means the glance of dog (‘Sag’ in Persian means dog and ‘-did’ means to see) and forms an essential part of Zoroastrian funeral ceremony. This Atash Bahram was built at a cost of Rs.31,823/- by the trustees of the Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund, Bombay, on lands donated by the sons of Ardeshir Mehraban, Dastur Rashid Shahriar. Up to 1895, there was a strong prohibition upon eye-glasses and spectacles; up to 1885 they were prevented from wearing rings; their girdles had to be made of rough canvas, but after 1885, any white material was permitted. A new dakhma on the top of the hill was constructed by the efforts of the Zoroastrian Anjuman of Bombay; but still the mobeds of the old school prefer to use the old dakhma, saying the new one was constructed in modern style and thus was not in keeping with our religion. Many neighbourhoods and Yazdi towns have ancient Zoroastrian roots, and within Yazd city lie the Markerabad schools, clock and the Markerabad gardens. Over the next 300 years until 1773, another twenty-five messengers made that journey despite great danger to themselves. Its minarets are the highest in the country. Yazd and its nearby towns contain the following institutes of higher education: Top to bottom, left to right: Jame Mosque Rotunda, Zoroastrian Fire Temple, Dowlatabad Garden, Markar Squire, Jame Yazd Mosque, Tomb of Seyyed Ruknaldin, Malekzadeh House. However, despite sharing the same name, the Dari dialects of Yazd or Kerman are quite different from the Dari of Afghanistan. There are many fine woods producing dates upon the way, such as one can easily ride through; and in them there is great sport to be had in hunting and hawking, there being partridges and quails and abundance of other game, so that the merchants who pass that way have plenty of diversion. There was also a prohibition against white stockings and up to about 1880, the Parsis had to wear a special kind of peculiarly hideous shoe with a broad, turned-up toe.