Probably the only confrontation that erupted between the orthodox athornan (priestly) Parsi community of Udvada and some local non-Parsi residents was in the years that followed India’s independence and Mahatma Gandhi’s demise. The controversy concerning the admission of two "harijans,” so-called untouchable boys, to the local school, led to its closure.
The residents argued that the caste system was prevailing among the Hindus but not among the Parsis. The two boys at the center of the controversy were deemed outcastes and untouchable because their ancestors had partaken of beef during the famine. As their parents were daily wage earners and not......