The Parsi Zoroastrian Association of Singapore
Talk by Ervad Hormuz A. Dadachandji, Singapore, October 2nd 2011
Dear friends,
Today I am going to talk about the 3 different grades of fire, how they are consecrated and the importance of Fire in our religion.
In our Atash niyayesh prayer we pray, ” Daiyaome Atash puthra ahure mazdao” or Athra Ahure mazdao Puthra” meaning “ O Fire You are the son of Dadar Hormuzd” O Atash Tu Dadar Ahuramazad no Dikro chhe.
After our last King Yezdezard Sheriar was killed by the Arabs and the persecution began, our forefathers decided to look for other places where our religion could flourish. So it is said that from the province of Khorasan we set sail towards south and came to a port name Hormuzd, and from there we set sail again and landed in Diu. We stayed here for 19 years and our forefathers had built a dokhma and a Fire Temple here, but later it was destroyed. From Diu we again set sail towards Gujarat, where we were caught in a storm. Our forefathers prayed to Almighty that if they land on the shores safely, they will build an Atashbehram. Atash means Fire and Behram means victory. So it is said that the storm subsided and we landed on the shores of Sanjan when at that time the ruling king was Jadi Rana.
One thing we have to remember that when we came from Iran to the shores of Sanjan, we did not bring our Holy Fire with us. It is only after settling in Sanjan for 5 years that we built our 1stAtashbehram after getting the Alat from Iran. Alat means the Requirements for consecrating an Atashbehram, I.e. Nirang (consecrated bulls urine), water consecrated during the Nirangdin ceremony, Hom twigs, Ash of the Atashbehram Fire, hair of the Varsijaji’s tail, vessels used for the ceremony, etc. So after settling in Sanjan for 5 years, 2 priests were sent to Iran on horseback to get the Alat from Iran to set up the 1st Atashbehram in India.
In our Atash niyayesh prayer we remember 3 grades of fire, viz 1. Atash Behram , 2. Atash Adaran and 3. Atash Dadgah.
First we will talk how the Atashbehram fire was consecrated. Now to consecrate this grade of fire, 16 different types of fire have to be collected and different types of prayers are performed on them.
The fire that are taken are from the following:-
1. Burning corpse 91
2. Dyer 80
3. King 70
4. Potter 61
5. Brick maker 75
6. Ascetic 50
7. Goldsmith 60
8. Mint 55
9. Ironsmith 61
10. Armoury 61
11. Baker 61
12. Distillery 61
13. Solider 35
14. Shepherd 33
15. Lightning 90
16. Priest 40
Now the fire is just not taken directly. Whenever a fire is to be consecrated a priest with 2 laities go to the person concerned and request him that we are building a new Fire Temple and for that we require a small quantity of fire for that purpose. When they agree, the priest and the laity do their Kusti and go where the fire is burning. A small amount of fire is set aside and the priest with a long handled ladle with sandalwood, incense, cotton put on it lights up the fire on the ladle with the flames of the concerned burning fire. Then the burning flame on the ladle is taken in a fire vase, the afarganyu which is then taken to the place where the consecration work is going on. Here the fire is filtered 91 times. There are 91 pits dug in one line in such a way that the fire which is put in the 1st pit, (where there is sandalwood incense, tachho, cotton) with the help of the wind blowing, it is transferred to the 2nd pit and the fire in the 1st pit is let to die down, and so on till it reaches the 91st pit. After the fire is filtered and made pure with such rigorous and powerful prayers and rituals It is taken where the ceremonies are going to be performed. On the fireof a burning corpse 91 yazeshne and 91 Vendidad ceremonies are performed before it is merged with the other fires. In all there are 1128 Yazeshne and 1128 Vendidad performed before an Atashbehram Fire is consecrated. So you see it is after such rigorous efforts of almost 2 to 3 years that an Atashbehram Fire is consecrated.
Now for consecrating an Adarian fire 4 types of fires are needed namely the fire of an Athornan meaning a priest, Rateshtar meaning warrior, vastriosh meaning worksmith and hutoxsh meaning farmer. On all these fires 4 Yazeshne and 4 Vendidad ceremonies are performed and an Adrain fire can be consecrated in less than a month’s time.
And to consecrate A Dadgah Fire only one fire is needed and 2 Yazeshne and 1 Venidad is performed.
A brief history of the Iranshah fire
The present day Udwada Fire is called the Iranshah Fire. Why? It is because since after the demise of our last king Yezdegaird Sheriar, we did not have any king to rule over us. So we called our Fire Iran Shah meaning the King of Iran. After the consecration of The Iranshah Atashbehram Fire in the year 721, The Fire stayed in Sanjan for 660 years. It was then shifted to the Bharot Caves and kept there for 12 years. From there the Fire was taken to Vansda forest and kept there for 14 years. From there it was shifted to Navsari where It stayed for 318 years. Due to a fight between the Sanjana priests and the Bhagaria priests The Fire was again shifted to Surat for 3 years, then to Valsad for 1 year and finally in the year 1730 approx. the fire was shifted to Udwada. (Utwada).
We call our Fires Padsha meaning King. So we all are supposed to be well attired to go before the King. People here should make use of this building housing the dadgah Fire and see to it that some activities are held for the kids also.
