SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in history and imagination

The exhibition “The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in history and imagination” will provide a visual narrative of the history of Zoroastrianism from its ancient Iranian roots, to its emergence as the foremost religion of the Achaemenid and Parthian empires and its consolidation as the state religion under the Sasanians and the establishment of the great regnal fires. The reach of Zoroastrianism into Central Asia and China, and its influence on the major religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam will also be demonstrated in the exhibition. From Iran to the west coast of India the story will continue with the maritime journey of Zoroastrians and their settlement in India, their growth as an immigrant community under British colonial rule, and the later expansion of the modern diaspora.

The exhibition will consist of a series of 10 stories within the overall historical narrative. It will explore the ways in which Zoroastrianism has been imagined through the art, iconography and literature of non-Zoroastrians down the ages. Artefacts, coins and silverware will introduce the ancient and imperial periods of Iranian Zoroastrian history. Illustrated texts and manuscripts written in Avestan, Pahlavi, Persian and Gujarati languages, and held in university libraries in Britain and elsewhere, will show how the oral tradition was committed to writing during the Sasanian and later periods. The economic growth of the Parsi diaspora in India will be demonstrated through paintings, porcelain, textiles, jewellery and furnishings from the nineteenth century. Photographic materials will illustrate the grown of the later diaspora in Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States and Britain.