Dr. Mehraban Puladi, President of the Anjoman-e-Mobedan, the highest religious authority for Zoroastrians in Iran, paid a visit to the holy Bhikha Behram Well in Mumbai, on 16^th December, 2024, as part of his religious and cultural tour where he will visit Zoroastrian religious sites in India. Accompanying him was Saloumeh Gholami, Professor of Zoroastrian studies, at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge, where she leads the project: ‘Persisting Through Change: A Study of Oral Literature and Cultural Interaction in the Zoroastrian Community.’ They interacted with devotees and trustees of the Bhikha Behram Well.

Dr. Viraf Kapadia, Trustee of Bhikha Behram Well Trust, shared, “We asked him about Zoroastrian religious rituals in Iran. We gave him a copy of the special calendar that we have published to mark the week’s tricentenary.” The Bhikha Behram well, built in 1715 CE by a Parsi businessman named Bhikhaji Behramji Panday, will celebrate its 300th-anniversary commemorations in March next year.

Mōbed Dr. Mehrabān Pūlādī, the son of Kayhosrow Mehrabān Pūlād Tīrāndāz, traces his ancestry back to the distinguished Mōbedān lineage of the Dastūrān quarter in Yazd. His family has long stood as custodians of the Zoroastrian community. A Civil Engineer, Dr. Puladi has a doctorate in ancient Iranian culture and languages. His life has been a delicate balance between the practicalities of modernity and the pull of ancestral duty, reflected in his dual pursuit of Civil Engineering and the study of Ancient Iranian Culture and Languages. He has endeavoured tirelessly to preserve the crumbling fragments of our community’s written and oral legacy within Iran. He is also the founder of the Museum of Zoroastrian Documents and Manuscripts, housed in the Dastūrān quarter itself.

Photo Credit: Sooni Taraporevala