Sal Mubarak to all our lovely Kadimi readers! May the New Year usher in peace, prosperity, unity, happiness and unending smiles for us all!

We may be small in numbers as a community, but boy, are we big on celebrations! While most of us true Bawajis are always ready to partake of the joy, positivity and festivity of virtually every event or happy occasion, some days are extra special and auspicious, calling for extra celebrations! Take for example our birthday – celebrating just one is not enough! We celebrate what we like to call our ‘Roj nu Birthday’ and also our regular Birthday by date! And, when it comes to New Years, it’s a year-round bonanza! We celebrate three of our own (Jamshedi Navroz on 21^st March; the Kadmi New Year and the Shehenshahi New Year) and add to that, the universal, 1^st January and also the Hindu New Year after Diwali!

With the Kadmi New Year falling on Tuesday, 16^th July, 2024, let us gain a better understanding of the Kadmi sect. The root of this division goes back in history to our calendar. Hence, first let’s understand our Zoroastrian calendar – it dates back to the coronation of the last Zoroastrian King (Yezdazard III) of Zoroastrian (Sassanian dynasty) Iran. Thus, when we say that currently the year is 1393 YZ, it means 1,393 years ago, our last monarch Yezdazard Shariyar or Yezdazard III, ascended the throne of Iran.

The Zoroastrian calendar is a fairly simple, with each month comprising thirty days, each of which is dedicated to a divinity presiding over a good creation of Ahura Mazda. The twelve months of the Zoroastrian calendar are also dedicated to different divinities that preside over a good creation. Thus, we have twelve months multiplied by thirty days, giving us a calendar of 360 days, to which are added the five days of the ‘Gatha’, at the end of the year, aggregating to 365 days.

Since Zoroastrians traditionally do not add a leap year, the New Year slips by a day, every four years. The Zoroastrian tradition in ancient Iran was to add a whole month of thirty days, every 120 years, to keep the calendar in tune with Nature and the seasons. The Zoroastrians who stayed back in the province of Yazd in Iran discontinued this tradition after the fall of the Sassanian Empire and even the Parsis who came to India (from the province of Khorasan) intercalated a month only once after their arrival in India. This explains the difference of one month between the Kadmi (ancient) calendar followed by some Iranian Zoroastrians and some Parsis of Gujarat and the Shehanshai (Imperial) calendar, followed by majority Parsis in India.

Of course, the community also celebrates Jamshedi Navroz as ‘Nature’s New Year’ around 21^st March, marking the spring equinox. The Fasli (Fasal = seasonal) calendar was introduced in India by the renowned scholar K R Cama around the beginning of the twentieth century with 21^st March as the New Year and adding an extra day every four years called Ruz-i-Vahizak. It never gained much popularity in India, but the community in Iran and the USA has largely embraced it.

The Kadmi movement emerged in eighteenth century India mainly over disagreements among priests whether to adjust the one-month discrepancy between the calendars of the Indian Zoroastrian (Parsi) and the Iranian Zoroastrian (Irani) communities. The Kadmis considered the Irani calendar as ‘Kadim’ or old and therefore original, while most Parsis, who did not change their Imperial calendar (followed from the time of Yazdazard III) came to be known as Shehenshahis. The fact remained that both were going wrong!

The Shehenshahis and Kadmis are generally in agreement with regard to Zoroastrian theology and doctrines, and there are not any social or religious restrictions between the two sects. However, there are a few minor differences in their rituals, apart from the different calendars and the subsequent discrepancies between their festivals.

In the Khordeh Avesta, Shehenshahis and Kadimis use different opening and closing phrases for most prayers. In the Ahem and Yatha prayers, the Shenshahis say ‘vohu’ and ‘ahu’ whereas the Kadmis say ‘vahi’ (or ‘Vohi’) and ‘ahi’. There are also minor differences in other rituals, such as the Afringan, Ijashne and the Boi at the change of the gah. Navjote, marriages and death ceremonies too, are conducted slightly differently.

First Kadmi Atash Bahram: In 1767, Seth Dhanjishah Manchershah of Bombay sent Er. Kaus bin Rustam Jalal, a learned priest from Bharuch who was well versed in Persian and Arabic, to Iran, where he studied intercalation (or Kabisa) for 12 years. On his return to India in 1780, Dadibhai Nosherwanji Dadyseth invited Er. Kaus (known after his travels to Iran also as Mulla Kaus) to consecrate and install an Atash Bahram in Mumbai and Mulla Kaus became the first Kadmi Dastur of this first Kadmi Atash Bahram, situated at Fanaswadi in South Mumbai, which is known to this date as Dadyseth Atashbahram.

Celebrating Unity In Diversity: Today, as a community, we don’t care to ask fellow coreligionists whether they are Kadmi or Shehenshahi. We all pray with equal devotion and respect at both – Kadmi and Shehenshahi Atash Bahrams. We are indeed a blessed community to be able to celebrate such unity in our diversity! And when it comes to celebrating out New Year – be it our ancient (Kadim), imperial (Shehenshahi) or seasonal (Fasal) one, it brings us even closer as a reason to feast, celebrate and bond! As a minuscule community following three calendars and observing three New Years, let’s celebrate the fact that we are thrice blessed!