IOverview
Shahenshahi, also pronounced Shenshai by Parsis, is the calendar followed by most Parsis in India. To speak of the Shahenshahi group is to speak of those who date their observances by it. It is not a sect: Shahenshahis share the teaching, scriptures and ritual of those who use other calendars.
The difference is in the dates. Because the Shahenshahi calendar runs exactly one month apart from the Qadimi and drifts against the seasonal Fasli, the same New Year or seasonal feast falls on different days for each group. In a religion where every day bears the name of a sacred being and each rite belongs to a particular day, the choice of calendar is no small matter.
IIHistory
The Zoroastrian calendar has twelve months of thirty days plus five Gatha days at the year's end, 365 days in all, with no leap day. According to English Wikipedia, the Parsis of India inserted an extra month around 1125 to 1129, while Iran did not. From then on the two calendars were a month apart without anyone noticing. In 1720 a priest from Kerman arriving in Surat pointed out the gap. In 1745 a group of Surat Parsis switched to Iran's calendar, called Qadimi. Those who kept the old reckoning became known as Shahenshahi.
The dispute over intercalation, known as the kabisa controversy, was at times bitter. According to the Encyclopaedia Iranica, clashes between the two groups in 1782 and 1783 led to several deaths and imprisonments.
- 1125 to 1129Month inserted in IndiaPer English Wikipedia, Parsis intercalate a month, Iran does not.
- 1720Gap discoveredThe priest Jamasp Vilayati arrives in Surat from Kerman.
- 1745Split into two groupsOne group adopts the Qadimi calendar, the rest are Shahenshahi.
- 1782 to 1783Kabisa clashesBitter disputes with deaths and imprisonments.
- 1906Fasli calendar proposedA third option, followed by few Parsis.
IIIHow the Calendar Works
The Shahenshahi calendar keeps the 365-day year without leap days. Since the solar year is about a quarter day longer, the New Year moves one day earlier against the seasons every four years. Years are counted in the Yazdegirdi era, from 632 when the last Sasanian king came to the throne. According to English Wikipedia, year 1370 of this era began on 21 August 2000, and the date has kept slipping since, so it now falls around the middle of August.
Misconception: Shahenshahis and Qadimis believe different things. In fact: according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica, the two groups share the same theology and differ only in minor ritual details such as the pronunciation of prayers and purity requirements for priestly initiation.
IVObservances in the Shahenshahi Calendar
The New Year of most Parsis, which the Indian press calls Parsi New Year, is the Shahenshahi New Year and currently falls in August. The ten days of Muktad remembrance come just before it, the last five days of the twelfth month and the five Gatha days. The six Gahambar seasonal feasts, Khordad Sal, the traditional birthday of Zarathustra, and each fire temple's anniversaries are all dated by the same calendar. In addition, many Parsis keep Jamshedi Navroz at the spring equinox around 21 March, a day that stands outside the calendar dispute.
VWho Follows It and Where
Shahenshahis have no organisation of their own. The calendar belongs to each temple and each household: whatever calendar a fire temple follows, its priests and worshippers observe the rites by it. Most fire temples in India, including the Iranshah at Udvada, follow this calendar. The Encyclopaedia Iranica records that about 15 percent of Parsis followed Iran's calendar in the early 20th century and only about 7 percent by the early 1970s, meaning the rest, mostly Shahenshahi, grew as a share. In the diaspora, English Wikipedia notes that the largely Indian-origin community in Britain favours the Shahenshahi calendar.
VIIn Vietnam
No followers of the Shahenshahi calendar are recorded in Vietnam. Vietnamese readers, used to living with two calendars, lunar and solar, will find the idea easy to grasp: the same festival, marked on different days by different groups, simply because they count days differently.
VIISymbol of the Branch
No symbol of its own is recorded with a source for this branch, so the library uses the common symbol of the path.
VIIIOther Branches of Zoroastrianism
Parsisપારસી ParsiDescendants of Zoroastrians who left Iran for Gujarat over a thousand years ago.
Iranian Zoroastriansزرتشتیان ZartoshtiyanZoroastrians who remained in Iran, centred in Yazd, Kerman and Tehran, with a Council of Mobeds in Tehran.Iranis (India)IraniZoroastrians who came from Qajar Iran to British India in the 19th and early 20th centuries, still speaking Zoroastrian Dari.Uses the common symbol of the pathShahenshahi calendar groupShahanshahi, ShenshaiFollowers of the traditional Indian Parsi calendar, the majority among Parsis.Uses the common symbol of the pathKadmi (Qadimi) calendar groupQadimi, KadmiA section of Parsis adopted the Qadimi calendar in 1745.Uses the common symbol of the pathFasli calendar groupFasli, called Bastani in IranA seasonal calendar with a leap day, proposed in 1906 and widely adopted in Iran after 1930 and in the West.Uses the common symbol of the pathReformist ZoroastriansReformistA tendency since the mid-19th century that takes the Gathas as the core and treats much ritual law as later accretion.Uses the common symbol of the pathIlm-e-KhshnoomIlm-e KhshnoomAn esoteric school started by Behramshah Shroff in India after 1875, teaching reincarnation and vegetarianism and keeping strict ritual observance.Uses the common symbol of the pathZoroastrian revival in Iraqi KurdistanZardeshti (Kurdish)A Kurdish revival movement officially recognised by the Kurdistan Regional Government in August 2015, with a fire temple in Sulaymaniyah.Uses the common symbol of the pathZurvanismZurvanA Sasanian-era tendency that made Infinite Time the source of both Ohrmazd and Ahriman.Uses the common symbol of the pathIXSources
The library cross-checks the sources below. Where they disagree, the page gives both.
?Quick Questions
Is Shahenshahi a sect?
No. Shahenshahi is the name of a calendar. Its followers share the teaching, scriptures and ritual of those who use the Qadimi or Fasli calendars and differ only in festival dates.
Why does the Parsi New Year fall in August?
The Shahenshahi calendar has 365 days with no leap day, so the New Year moves a day earlier against the seasons every four years. Over the centuries it has drifted from spring to August.
How does Shahenshahi differ from Qadimi?
The two are exactly one month apart, because the Parsis of India once inserted an extra month that Iran did not. In 1745 a group of Parsis switched to Iran's calendar, called Qadimi.