External Event - Epic Iran Webinar: Discussing The History And Practice Of Zoroastrianism - SZI
7 June 2021
Discussing the history and practice of Zoroastrianism
Online webinar from The Iran Heritage Foundation
Wednesday 9th June, 17:00 BST
Description
Zoroastrianism is one of the world’s oldest religions and the exhibition Epic Iran , co-organised by the V&A and IHF, will feature a small number of objects exploring the history of its practice in ancient Iran. It became the state religion under the Sasanians, who ruled from 224 CE until the Arab conquest in 651. Many Zoroastrians subsequently fled Iran to avoid persecution and settled in the Indian subcontinent, where they became known as the Parsis.
Khojeste Mistree will give his take on some aspects of the history of the religion and its practice today, in discussion with Dr Sarah Stewart and Malcolm Deboo.
Biographies
Khojeste Mistree studied Oriental Studies at Oxford University under Prof. R.C. Zaehner and subsequently Prof. Mary Boyce. He co-founded Zoroastrian Studies, The Athravan Educational Trust, Mumbai and the World Alliance for Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ). He was elected Trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, the apex body of the Zoroastrian community (2008-2015).
Over the past four decades he has delivered many talks as well as workshops and seminars in India and abroad. He is the author of Zoroastrianism – An Ethnic Perspective and co-author of The Zarathushti Religion – A Basic Text .
Sarah Stewart is Senior Lecturer in Zoroastrian Studies at SOAS and co-chair of the SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies (SSPIZS). Formerly Deputy Director of the London Middle East Institute, she is co-convenor of the annual Idea of Iran series of symposia. She has written for numerous articles and books, and her most recent publication is the two-volume title: Voices from Zoroastrian Iran: Oral texts and testimony (2018, 2020). In 2013 she was the lead curator of the exhibition: The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, which toured to the National Museum in Delhi in 2016. Her research interests include oral traditions in Zoroastrianism and the living tradition in Iran and India.
Malcolm Deboo is the President of The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, a London-based charity established in 1861 to serve the Zoroastrian community in the UK and Europe. ZTFE remains the oldest established religious voluntary organisation in the UK of South Asian origin, currently based at the Zoroastrian Centre in the London Borough of Harrow. ZTFE represents the interests of the Zoroastrian community with the UK Government, interfaith, religious and educational institutions. In 2013 ZTFE secured the core funding for of the exhibition: The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS. Malcolm is also a Trustee of the Inter Faith Network, and the Co-Moderator of its Faith Communities Forum.