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January 21-February 6, 2025

 
 

The Utsav’s utility

Despite the hardships of the journey, the Udvada Utsav draws the faithful

At the fourth Iranshah Udvada Utsav (IUU) held at the south Gujarat coastal town from December 27 to 29, 2024 the media shy real estate billionaire, Shapoor Mistry, chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, thanked "all the Zoroastrians and non-Zoroastrians who worked tirelessly for the renovation of the atash behram who came together to support us.”  Dastur Khurshed Dastoor, one of the two high priests of Udvada, recalled how he had approached Mistry to undertake the restoration of the building. "Without a blink Shapoor said it will be done by me and I will take care of it. Not a single......



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(Brief comments here, more in the letter to Parsiana)
This is a biased coverage. Only the pro-utsav viewpoints covered, but not writings by Parsi scholars & community leaders on the huge dangers of the utsavs. The events of the utsav may be beneficial, but the venue is certainly not appropriate. They combine several non-religious events into 48 hours & thereby de-emphasise Udvada as primarily a holy site and not a holiday or entertainment site.
About the self-praising viewpoints of Mr Tamboly & Dasturji Khurshed, one must say that there is a lot of denial in their statements.
Also not covered is the statement by Dasturji Tehemton B. Sidhwa (Mid-Day) that the financial benefits of the Utsav do not accrue to Iranshah and the Udvada 9 Kutumb Anjuman.
The Free Press article which talks about defiling the sanctity of our holy site and of indecently clad girls is also not mentioned. Also omitted is Dasturji Khurshed’s shocking mention that there is no role of Atash Behram in the festival.
- Adenwalla Family
- 29-Jan-2025