The result of a 20 year labour 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; endures 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 a highly literate and educated people; comprising one of India's most wealthy and urbanized communities; yet they are also the smallest - and 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.
#2467969 in Books British Museum Press 1989-12-31Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.60 x .30 x 4.40l; .75 #File Name: 071412180096 pages
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