During the 1800s, Aden had become an extremely prosperous port city and a home to thriving business. About a thousand Parsis (Zarathustis) belonging to business and shipping community had settled in Aden by the end of the 19th century.
The Parsis also built a fire temple in Aden to cater to their spiritual and religious needs.
A unique characteristic of the Parsi religious fire - known as 'Atash' - is that it is an amalgamation of fire from 16 hearths, of which 14 are from different occupational hearths (fire from a blacksmith's hearth, shepherd's hearth, baker's hearth etc), 15th from a funeral pyre and the 16th from a fire caused by natural lightning.
The core and fundamental religious belief of the Parsis states that this religious fire - Atash - must remain burning uninterrupted and must be protected at any cost so that the fire is not even seen by any non-Parsi.
In 1967, the British left Yemen and the country became a hardcore communist country. With no respect to religious sentiments of anyone, the communist government of Yemen wanted to seize the Parsi temple, which would mean an end to the religious fire - that should have burned uninterrupted without the flames being doused.
This was becoming difficult and so the Parsis started to look for another country where they could carry this fire.
The land route of carrying this fire would be sacrilege as the holy fire would have to pass through Islamic territories. Another dilemma was that the fire could not be directly carried on ships as it is not allowed to be on water. Yemen was not helping the Parsis with this problem of 'spiritual existence'.
When things seemed grim for the Parsis, India agreed to host.
It took a lot of diplomatic efforts to figure out a concrete plan - not just to bring the fire from Aden to India but also to protect the religious sentiments. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Foreign Minister YB Chavan and Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw took the matter in their hands.
It was planned that India would send an Air India Boeing 707, manned by an ALL-PARSI CREW, with Parsi priests to receive the fire from Aden. This was a difficult task because Air India needed Parsi pilots.
There were a few but they had been flying other planes and hence, needed to train and complete flying hours needed to fly the 707. After a lot of efforts, this finally happened on 14 Nov 1976. Captain Sam Pedder, a Parsi, took off for Aden. Once the flight landed, it was not touched by any ground staff at the airport to maintain the sanctity of the plane that would carry the holy fire.
All along, Air India had reconfigured this Boeing 707 first class to carry the LIVE BURNING FIRE - the first and only incident in the world when a plane had carried live fire in flight. With prayers, chants and all customs followed, the fire was loaded into the all-Parsi plane that took off for Bombay. To prevent the fire from dying, sandalwood was continuously being added to it inside a pressurised plane cabin at an altitude of 30,000 ft. Any spark could have resulted in a massive catastrophe. Thankfully, with all care, the plane landed safely.
Once it reached Bombay, the fire again had to be protected from the sight of non-Parsis to protect the religious sentiments. It was planned, by then, that the holy fire would rest in a Parsi temple in Lonavala.. The entire Bombay-Lonavala stretch of road was blocked for the public and a green corridor was created. The fire was unloaded and escorted by Parsis in cars and eight buses. The holy fire, finally, reached its new home in 1976.
Can any country in the world show an example of love for a religion whose followers are only around 50,000 in number all across the country! The last label anyone in the world can attribute to India is of intolerance. Show me an example of tolerance greater than this!
- Kshitij Mohan Singh.
Tailpiece.
Got up half an hour late as Lekha had not set the alarm because it was an off-day for the maid! Was ready correspondingly late. Had planned to go down to the town to do some work but Hamid and his auto could not fetch up on time. Meanwhile, a requirement had come to xerox a document and send it urgently to Lekha's friend, which was accomplished before lunchtime. It was then that I'd noticed that Dr Rani Menon's Eye Clinic had begun to function as before...Lekha and I'd seen the place being cleaned/spruced up on Sunday, when we'd gone to the supermarket.
Was very happy to see the clinic active. Must speak to the doctor to find out the reason for the change of heart!
The Parsis also built a fire temple in Aden to cater to their spiritual and religious needs.
A unique characteristic of the Parsi religious fire - known as 'Atash' - is that it is an amalgamation of fire from 16 hearths, of which 14 are from different occupational hearths (fire from a blacksmith's hearth, shepherd's hearth, baker's hearth etc), 15th from a funeral pyre and the 16th from a fire caused by natural lightning.
The core and fundamental religious belief of the Parsis states that this religious fire - Atash - must remain burning uninterrupted and must be protected at any cost so that the fire is not even seen by any non-Parsi.
In 1967, the British left Yemen and the country became a hardcore communist country. With no respect to religious sentiments of anyone, the communist government of Yemen wanted to seize the Parsi temple, which would mean an end to the religious fire - that should have burned uninterrupted without the flames being doused.
This was becoming difficult and so the Parsis started to look for another country where they could carry this fire.
The land route of carrying this fire would be sacrilege as the holy fire would have to pass through Islamic territories. Another dilemma was that the fire could not be directly carried on ships as it is not allowed to be on water. Yemen was not helping the Parsis with this problem of 'spiritual existence'.
When things seemed grim for the Parsis, India agreed to host.
It took a lot of diplomatic efforts to figure out a concrete plan - not just to bring the fire from Aden to India but also to protect the religious sentiments. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Foreign Minister YB Chavan and Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw took the matter in their hands.
It was planned that India would send an Air India Boeing 707, manned by an ALL-PARSI CREW, with Parsi priests to receive the fire from Aden. This was a difficult task because Air India needed Parsi pilots.
There were a few but they had been flying other planes and hence, needed to train and complete flying hours needed to fly the 707. After a lot of efforts, this finally happened on 14 Nov 1976. Captain Sam Pedder, a Parsi, took off for Aden. Once the flight landed, it was not touched by any ground staff at the airport to maintain the sanctity of the plane that would carry the holy fire.
All along, Air India had reconfigured this Boeing 707 first class to carry the LIVE BURNING FIRE - the first and only incident in the world when a plane had carried live fire in flight. With prayers, chants and all customs followed, the fire was loaded into the all-Parsi plane that took off for Bombay. To prevent the fire from dying, sandalwood was continuously being added to it inside a pressurised plane cabin at an altitude of 30,000 ft. Any spark could have resulted in a massive catastrophe. Thankfully, with all care, the plane landed safely.
Once it reached Bombay, the fire again had to be protected from the sight of non-Parsis to protect the religious sentiments. It was planned, by then, that the holy fire would rest in a Parsi temple in Lonavala.. The entire Bombay-Lonavala stretch of road was blocked for the public and a green corridor was created. The fire was unloaded and escorted by Parsis in cars and eight buses. The holy fire, finally, reached its new home in 1976.
Can any country in the world show an example of love for a religion whose followers are only around 50,000 in number all across the country! The last label anyone in the world can attribute to India is of intolerance. Show me an example of tolerance greater than this!
- Kshitij Mohan Singh.
Tailpiece.
Got up half an hour late as Lekha had not set the alarm because it was an off-day for the maid! Was ready correspondingly late. Had planned to go down to the town to do some work but Hamid and his auto could not fetch up on time. Meanwhile, a requirement had come to xerox a document and send it urgently to Lekha's friend, which was accomplished before lunchtime. It was then that I'd noticed that Dr Rani Menon's Eye Clinic had begun to function as before...Lekha and I'd seen the place being cleaned/spruced up on Sunday, when we'd gone to the supermarket.
Was very happy to see the clinic active. Must speak to the doctor to find out the reason for the change of heart!
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