Contact with the Zoroastrians of Iran in the early eighteenth century reveals that the Indian and Iranian calendars differ by a month. The Parsis split over which reckoning to keep: the Kadmis adopt the Iranian alignment, while the Shenshais hold the traditional Indian calendar. The two calendars, and later the Fasli, divide Parsi religious dates to this day.
Tagged: Schism Parsi Zoroastrianism
The Event
- Date
- 1740s (approximate)
- Era
- Parsi India; Standard periodization of Zoroastrian history
- Location
- Bombay and Surat; today India
- Traditions
- Zoroastrianism
- Streams
- Parsi
How the Tradition Tells It
Each party held its own reckoning to be the original one; the split also divided some fire temples and councils, and joint festivals remain rare where the calendars differ.
Connections
Primary Sources
- Parsi council records of the Kadmi and Shenshai parties.
Secondary Sources
- Boyce, Mary. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge, 1979.
- Choksy, Jamsheed K. Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, entries on the Avesta, the Sasanians, and the Parsi calendar disputes.
- Hinnells, John R. The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
- Rose, Jenny. Zoroastrianism: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.
Provenance: HIST-1017; confidence 0.85; accessed 2026-10-28.
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