Despite their criticism of Hindu caste, Parsis have their own hereditary untouchables

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All it takes is one drop of poison

https://www.academia.edu/Documents/in/Untouchability

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DESCENT BASED DISCRIMINATION IN THE PARSI COMMUNITY: WIDENING THE AMBIT OF ARTICLE 17 OF THE CONSTITUTION 

BY MALCOLM KATRAK & ADITYA MANUBARWALA

Abstract

Zoroastrianism is considered to be the oldest monotheistic religion in the world. While mass persecutions occurred in Persia due to advent of Islam, Zoroastrians migrated to India and have thereafter imbibed the Indian culture and tradition albeit still maintaining the uniqueness of the religion. The ethnic entity of Zoroastrianism which migrated to India isthe Parsis. Parsis have been following the teachings of Prophet Zoroaster through the ancient scriptures of the Gathas and the Vendidad. However the scriptures being ancient and enumerated in five different languages originally have resulted into varied interpretations by the traditional head priests of the community. The direct effect of such traditionalists' interpretations of the scriptures has resulted in severe orthodoxy which has had adverse consequences on the Khandias, a category of the Pall bearers. The Khandias have been accounted as the lowest strata of Parsis and are deemed to be perpetually polluted. This has resulted into the social ostracizing of the Khandias, including the regressive practice of untouchability. This article provides for a glimpse of the lives of Khandias and the practice of descent based discrimination by the high priests and elitist Parsis. It is shown that the Khandias are essentially a sub-caste of Parsis and hence explores the relationship between descent based discrimination, which includes caste based discrimination and racial discrimination. The article further analyzes the constitutional and statutory norms protecting the civil rights of Khandias and provides for recommendations for the amendments to be carried in the laws. For the better understanding of the reasoning of the traditionalists' for such discrimination, the article analyzes the ancient scriptures of Zoroastrianism inter alia the Gathas and the Malcolm Katrak is a final year law student at the University of Mumbai. In the past, he has worked as a Judicial Apprentice under Justice S. J. Kathawalla, Judge, Bombay High Court and as an Intern with Mr. D. J. Khambata, Member, Singapore International Arbitration Centre's Court of Arbitration. He is also a Mobed (Parsi Priest) practicing since the last ten years. Aditya Manubarwala is a penultimate year law student at the University of Mumbai. In the past, he has been a Law Trainee with Justice F. M. I. Kalifulla, Judge, Supreme Court of India and an Attaché with the Office of the Speaker, Lok Sabha (Lower House), Parliament of India. By deposing before the Joint Committee of Parliament on Land Acquisition, he became the youngest Indian to have deposed before a parliamentary committee in Indian legislative history. Vendidad. The article concludes by providing an integral approach to be adopted by the Parsi Panchayat including changes in the Dokhma system and entailing interim measures for the safety of the Khandias.