Parsi (redirected from Parsee)

Parsi

 or Parsee

Zoroastrian of India. The Parsis, whose name means “Persians,” are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who immigrated to India to escape persecution by Muslims. The migration occurred sometime between the 8th and 10th century. The Parsis settled in Gujarat and became a farming community. When the British East India Co. took control of the region around Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 17th century and established religious freedom, many Parsis moved there, and by the 19th century they had become a wealthy merchant class. The Parsis still live chiefly in the Mumbai area, though other Parsi communities exist in Bangalore, India, and Karachi, Pakistan. See also Zoroastrianism and Parsiism.

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Parsi 

(Parsee), a member of one of the religious communities of India. Parsis number more than 100,000 (1973). They live chiefly in Bombay and are descendants of the Zoroastrians who fled Iran during the seventh to tenth centuries, after the conquest of Iran by the Arabs, and who settled primarily in Gujarat. Their religion is Zoroastrianism. The Parsis worship fire in their temples. They do not bury their dead but allow them to be torn to pieces by vultures in “towers of silence,” in order not to defile the elements sacred to them: fire, water, air, and earth.

Material prosperity is considered the reward of religious virtue, and therefore the majority of Parsis have long occupied themselves with moneylending, trade, banking, and entrepreneurial activity. The Tatas, a family of the largest monopolists in India, are Parsis. The Parsis speak Gujarati, while their canonical literature is written in Avestan and Pahlavi. The Parsi community is predominantly endogamous, although the young people have begun to deviate from the ancient marriage regulations. The priests exert a great influence not only upon the religious but also upon the secular life of the Parsis.