A celebration of legacies of the Parsi community with Shantanu Das' candid photographs

When we hear term ‘Parsi’, re are a few ims that crop up in our minds that we associate with community because of ir representation in media. Gujarati-speaking, dhansaak-eating, cap-wearing labels are just some superficial signifiers of a Parsi. re is an entire gamut of quaintness and fervour that community as a whole brings along with it, and that is much more than just stereos.

National Geographic award winning photographer Shantanu Das, who firmly believes in everlasting fabric of natural environment, has captured some of most candid and timeless moments in which essence of culture, rituals and tritions of ethnic community have been preserved. An exhibition of his photographs is being hosted by prestigious Tao Art Gallery in Mumbai from vember 29 to December 4, 2019. 

opening event of exhibition was held at gallery on Friday by ever-so-gracious hosts Parvez Damania and Ratan Luth, who are avid art conisseurs and are proud of ir ethnic herit. evening was graced by presence of veteran actor Jeetendra, fitness guru Mickey Mehta, food critic and actor Kunal Vijaykar, Bombay Parsi Punchayet chairman Yazdi Desai, Della group founder Jimmy Mistry, atre personality Raell Pamsee, painter and art curator Bina Aziz, Tao Art Gallery owner Kalpana Shah, among or prominent personalities from Parsi community.

Parvez Damania and Ratan Luth h ir guests enthralled by ir personal involvement in bringing out intricacies of ir culture in photographs showcased. hosts and many of attendees were seen in tritional Parsi attires. men wore daglis (tritional white coat and pants) and feto ( ceremonial hat) while women wore garas (tritional embroidered sarees), thus expressing ir solidarity in celebration of ir unique cultural herit.

Take a look at some moments from event:

Ratan Luth, Parvez Damania and Shantanu Das with guests at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

Photographer Shantanu Das at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

Kunal Vijayakar at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

Ratan Luth, Parvez Damania and Kunal Vijayakar at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

Parvez Damania, Jeetendra and Shantanu Das at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

Raell Pamsee at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

Ratan Luth and Mickey Mehta at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

Art gallery owner Kalpana Shah at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

Bina Aziz, Aarti and Kailash Surendranath at 'Parsis - A Timeless Legacy' photography exhibition at Tao Art Gallery

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collection of photographs, ed by Shantanu Das and curated by Parvez Damania, is chosen from pictures captured during Das’ travels to many Parsi inhabited places all over India. moments captured by photographer are t restricted to city but have also been taken in Udva, Navsari, Surat and Kolkata. Damania and Das has previously collaborated for a coffee table book with ir focus on vill of Udva and its Zoroastrian herit.

Gujarati town of Udva is home to ancient Iran Shah Atashbehram which is one of eight fire temples of Zoroastrian religion in country. It is a site of pilgrim for Parsis, as it was in Gujarat that y h settled after arriving in boats from Persia. Several photographs in exhibition encapsulate contribution of Parsis to rich architecture that can be seen in many places in city.

Exhibition to enlighten people

main concern that was undercurrent of this exhibition was struggle to hang on to ir distinctive identity as number of Parsis across world were diminishing at an alarming rate.

Commenting on this, Parvez Damania said, “We thought of this exhibition to enlighten people about life and presence of Parsi community, who may be small in number but have me a tremendous contribution to India. Few artists have dedicated time to documenting Parsi people, and fewer have h permission to document what are often very private and personal tritions.”

He also spoke about pride that community takes in being one of most progressive in terms of education and revealed that it is one of reasons why young and ambitious Parsi men and women refrain from starting a family. y have eir migrated to Western countries or married outside community which has caused a decline in population of Parsis.

Ratan Luth, who is an educationist and founder of Fravashi Acemy, ded, “This exhibition is an effort to document and preserve culture, rituals and tritions of an ethnic community that is rapidly diminishing in number. It is important that Parsi legacy is remembered and maintained for current generation and generations to come, to ensure it is t lost forever with passing of time.”

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Glimpses of all emotions

As forward as Parsis may be in different walks of life, y are proud flag bearers of what is arguably world’s oldest moistic religion. photographs candidly portray people in prayer and celebration as y uphold sacrosanct boundaries set by ir religious edict. Some of photographs that stood out and were Damania and Luth’s favourites were - one with two Parsi priests and a Parsi boy on a Jawa motorcycle with a sidecar, Parsi women dressed in exquisite garas at a wedding, a vint Parsi-owned motorcar on ro and architecture with sloping tiled roofs dominating Udva skyline. All photographs were brilliantly captioned by writer-editor Mark Manuel who was also present for event. 

re were few photographs depicting older generation Parsis which brought a sense of loneliness in rar exuberant community. Speaking about this loneliness, Bombay Parsi Punchayet chairman Yezdi Desai said, “Basically re's loneliness because our youngsters are getting educated and want to go abro. Once y go abro, y want to live that quality of life and come back to India. So most of our youngsters are basically starting new generations abro. We have rising Parsis in Australia, Cana, rth America, England, Singapore, New Zealand.”

Among those genuinely fond of zealous race of Persians was owner of gallery, Kalpana Shah who h previously held a similar exhibition with photographer Shantanu Das. Her affection towards Parsi people, in general, me her want to showcase new exhibition. She said, “I love Parsis, I love ir nature, ir humour, ir intelligence and y have contributed so much in society, even though y are very few in numbers left w. That is quite alarming. So this show just shows ir different lifestyles, moods, you kw natural, many pictures are so natural, how y live. And se are taken in Calcutta, Surat, Navsari, Udva, Bombay. So I found it interesting.”

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Something for posterity

Talking about how an exhibition like this helps Parsi community, Della group founder Jimmy Mistry said,

“It kind of brings out your culture. Anything that brings out your culture and talks of your line makes you feel proud and nice.”

He emphasized need for younger generation to be aware of ir unique culture. As an established architect himself, he has also ded Parsi touch to some of his own projects. He said, ”If you look at my building in Dar, whole purpose of that building that I did, architecture of that portion, (is so that) current generation feels proud of its line. Because you show everything in ruins and say we used to be this, but today we are gone. So I wanted to show Persian history and herit and architecture in pristine glory.”

He furr claimed that more efforts should have been taken by older generations to hold younger generations close by recounting delicate and peculiar details of what it means to be a Parsi. true essence of religion to him is awareness of customs, tritions and culture. 

evening was an ode to sweetness that Parsi community has brought to our country as y have me massive contributions to  society. values of immense self-respect and n-violence that y believe in are reflected in ir temperament at all times. exhibition is an effort to preserve and celebrate legacy of this delightful community.

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