Parsis: The Zoroastrians of India FROM THE PUBLISHER
The result of a 20 year labor of love, photographer and screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala's Parsis: The Zoroastrians of India offers a rare insiders view of how the Parsis, a religious and ethnic minority of India and the South Asian diaspora who follow the religion of Zoroastrianism, endure today. UNESCO recently celebrated 3000 years of Zoroastrian culture. Today, the Parsis are a proud but often misunderstood religious minority, small in number but significant in influence—the community has produced many well-known leaders and artists, including the world-renowned conductor, Zubin Mehta; the late rock singer Freddy Mercury, of Queen; and the international award-winning author, Rohinton Mistry. As a people, the Parsis are highly literate and educated, comprising one of India's most wealthy and urbanized communities, yet they are also the smallest. They also follow what many would consider Stone Age rituals: perhaps most notably, leaving their dead out in specially designed open air towers for vultures to devour. The words and images in Taraporevala's unique book chronicle, for the first time, the faces, voices, and unique culture of the Parsis—a community of intense contradictions.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Rohinton Mistry
"The visual feast Sooni Taraporevala provides is without doubt an invaluable record,
ranging from the sacred to the profane, the everyday to the ceremonial. But it is more than
that.The pictures tell a story.And, like all good stories, it reminds us once again about the
unique contribution which all cultures and communities, large or small, make towards the
richness and diversity of this world that is the human family." — Writer
Homi K. Bhabha
"Sooni Taraporevala's stunning achievement lies in providing Parsis with a vibrant visual identity that has often been overlooked in celebrations of contemporary Indian cultures and communities. Taraporevala has mastered the art of capturing, with an unerring eye, what is both personal and communitarian in the Parsi world. As a Parsi, these remarkable photographs bring to life the vivid pageant of living amongst my people." — Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of English Literature, Harvard University
Zubin Mehta
"Sooni Taraporevala's book on the Parsis of India is indeed the finest documentation of the
life and achievement of our community in 20th century India." — Maestro
Mira Nair
"Sooni's book is an intimate epic. A monumental book, magnificent in its sweep yet always
retaining its love for the particular. This is a remarkable marriage of heart and mind-a
book of photographs that tells many good stories alongside." — Filmmaker
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