Syriac Christians and Parsis

From the 4th century CE, some Christian groups who used the ancient Syriac language in worship faced trouble in West Asia. In the Roman Empire they were sometimes called heretics, because some of their beliefs about Christ differed from the official Church. In the Persian Empire they were suspected of secretly helping the Romans, and were persecuted.

Caught between two empires for opposite reasons, some travelled east along trade routes to the Malabar coast (today's Kerala), where they could live and worship freely. In India they are also called Syrian Christians. (A heretic is someone whose beliefs go against the main view; persecution is cruel treatment because of religion, ethnicity or politics, often with harassment or violence.)

The Parsis, followers of Zoroastrianism, came to India mainly to escape religious persecution in Persia after the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century CE. Zoroastrianism had been the state religion of the mighty Sassanid Empire. After it fell, Zoroastrians faced forced conversions, a special religious tax (jizya), destruction of their sacred fire temples, and unfair treatment in society and law.

Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest religions, founded by the prophet Zarathushtra in Central Asia. Its followers worship one God, Ahurā Mazdā, and choosing good over evil is central to the faith.

Groups of Parsis reached India's west coast, in today's Gujarat, between the 8th and 10th centuries. They carried very little — their sacred fire, and the hope of a home in a land they had heard was safe.

Now the famous story. They asked Raja Jadi Rāṇā, king of Sanjān in coastal Gujarat, for a place to stay. They did not speak each other's language, so the Raja showed them a jug full of milk, meaning 'my kingdom is already full; there is no room'.

A wise man among the Parsis stirred a spoonful of sugar into the milk without spilling a drop. His meaning: 'Like sugar, we will blend in and only sweeten your land, without making it overflow.' The Raja was pleased and gave them a safe place to settle. A whole conversation, in two gestures! The Parsis' ancient sacred fire still burns at Udvada, and today India has the largest population of Zoroastrians in the world.

Zoroastrianism and India's ancient Vedic thought have deep links: both believe in a cosmic order holding the universe together, and both give great importance to fire in worship. Even the words match: soma = haoma, hotar = haotar, yajña = yasna. But there are twists: in the Vedas the devas are good gods, while in the Avesta the daevas are evil; the Avesta's chief god is Ahurā, while in later India asuras came to be seen as demons.