Frashogard: The definitive blog on Zarathushtrian Mysticism

How the power of our Manthra prayers and the Amal of a revered priest conquered the toughest of evil spirits

Roj Govad Mah Tir, 1378 Yz.

In my earlier post on Bhulki Daakan, we saw how the Parsis of Navsari used the services of a Hindu exorcist to rid the possession of a young Parsi maiden from the clutches of an evil witch. Many readers wrote back to ask as to why the Parsis did not use the services of the many pious and experienced Mobeds of Navsari to cure Dhunmai. I have no answer to that question, since I was merely reporting on the incident which happened more than a century ago. However, there is another well known incident of a similar type, where the services of a revered Mobed Saheb were used with amazing results. This is the story of Dastur Pesuji of Surat.

This incident took place in Surat more than 200 years ago. As with stories handed down through the oral tradition, it is difficult to put an exact date to the events, but definitely this is quite an old episode, somewhere around the time when the British were first making inroads into west India. Surat, at that time was under Mughal rule and the local affairs were looked after by a Nawab, who reported to the Mughal emperor.

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The strange incident of mind and body possession in the life of Bai Dhunmai Merwanji Katrak, nee Hathiram

Roj Sarosh Mah Tir, 1378 Yz.

The remembrance of our grandparents and family elders telling us strange and almost impossible to believe stories of the past often form the most fond memories of our childhood and days of innocence. How we used to sit at their feet and listen in awe at the most outlandish of tales and imbibe the deep lessons of morality and human decency from them! How we used to be terrified of the evil and horrible villains of these stories, making our nightly trip to the toilet an act of extreme bravery! And how we used to pester our elders to repeat the same story again and again, listening to those almost hypnotic words, in the peculiar village dialect that all Parsis of those times used!

One such story often told was of Bhulki Daakan, an evil witch and her

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Roj Ashishvangh, Mah Bahman 1377 Yz.

In my last post on the Baj of our Master, Ustad Saheb Behramshah N. Shroff, I had mentioned the existence of some close disciples of the Master who were touched by him in very mysterious ways. The episode I am about to describe was recounted by Mr. Kavasji Pestonji Sarkari in the Ustad Saheb Behramshah N. Shroff memorial volume printed in 1930, three years after the passing away of the Master.

Mr. Sarkari was an engineer who lived and worked in Hubli, Karnataka. He first came to know of the Master through newspaper writings and initiated a correspondence with him. Shortly thereafter, he came into close contact with the Ustad and after 1914 right till the time of the Ustad’s death, he was in very close contact with him and was privy to many hours of private discussion and guidance. In his essay in the memorial volume, Mr. Sarkari has recounted a very strange and mysterious occurrence which happened on 7th August, 1917. Here is my free rendering from the original Gujarati written in first person by Mr. Sarkari.

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Roj Daepdin, Mah Bahman 1377 Yz.

Today is the 81st death anniversary or Baj of the Master, Ustad Saheb Behramshah Nowroji Shroff, who passed away on 7th July, 1927 in Surat. In an age where the dead are forgotten within a few months or years at the most, the memory of the Ustad lingers on today as fresh as the bloom of a new rose even after three quarters of a century. It is a testament to his unique position within the community that on his Baj today, ceremonies are being performed by committed priests, various organisations and simple Parsis in numerous Agiaries and Atash Behrams in Mumbai, Udvada, Navsari and Surat in addition to other small towns and villages. In an age where Parsis are most attached to photographs and idols, here is a man who is remembered even though we do not have a single photograph of his. [In my interaction with the late Namdar Sanjana, a very old person who was fortunate to see the Ustad in his youth, he had told me that the Ustad looked much like the late Jamsetjee Tata, the founder of the Tata group.]

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