For Delhi’s Parsi population of about 700, the Parsi Anjuman is their only link to a culture and demographics that is shrinking fast

Parsi kaun? Fire tempil? Aag lagi hain? Aap kuch theek nahi bata rahein hain,” said the guard at Maulana Abdul Medical College on Delhi’s Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. By now, he was sitting on the edge of his plastic chair, ready to help, if only I made better sense. “Nahin, Parsi logon ka mandir,” I said. Now, that wasn’t quite as exciting as a temple on fire so the guard sank back into his chair, looked away and nodded. As it turned out, the Delhi Parsi Anjuman was next door, a sprawling campus with a rest house, a Fire Temple—the only such temple in Delhi—and a 19th century cemetery.

The Parsi Anjuman (Anjuman is Persian for association) is perfectly at ease with this anonymity as it is about being a social and cultural oasis for Delhi’s tiny Parsi community of about 700 people. At the gate, the Farohar symbol (a feather-robed archer that is one of the best known symbols of Zorastrianism) is a reminder that this is a community that had integrated into Indian society centuries ago but is constantly in conversation with its faith. Somewhere in the 8th century, the first Parsis are said to have left their homes in Persia, now Iran, and landed on the Kathiwar coast in Gujarat.

The first Parsi probably came to Delhi over 500 years ago, though some think it was much earlier. But it is said that when Akbar was in power, he invited learned Parsis to his new capital of Fatehpur Sikri, where they took part in religious discourses with Hindu, Jain, Muslim and Christian scholars.

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