Iconic Parsi magazine 'Parsiana' to shut after 60 years: 'Sense of tiredness mixed with sadness'

Since the announcement of the closure, tributes have poured in from across the globe. (Image credit: Parsiana)

One of India’s oldest and most respected Parsi magazines, Parsiana, will stop publication this October after six decades of chronicling the Zoroastrian community. The decision, announced in its August editorial, has left readers mourning the loss of a publication that served as both a mirror and a bridge for a dwindling diaspora.

Founded in 1964 by Pestonji Warden, a doctor and sandalwood trader, Parsiana began as a monthly journal featuring essays and medical writings. It was transformed into a fortnightly in 1973 by Jehangir Patel, who bought it for one rupee and turned it into a full-fledged journalistic endeavour. “Nobody expected to read something like that in Parsiana,” Patel told BBC, recalling his first story on the community’s high divorce rate.

Under Patel’s leadership, the magazine tackled sensitive issues—from interfaith marriages and declining population to the fading tradition of the Towers of Silence—with clarity and courage. In 1987, it broke ground by publishing interfaith matrimonial ads, defying community norms. “Many readers asked us to stop. But we didn’t,” Patel said.

Tributes and reflections
Since the announcement, tributes have poured in from across the globe. A reader in Pakistan called it “a companion and bridge,” while another in Washington praised its realism on contentious issues. “It’s like the end of an era,” Sushant Singh, 18, a Mumbai-based student, told the publication. “You weren’t a true Parsi if you didn’t know about Parsiana.”

End of an era
The magazine’s closure is attributed to dwindling subscriptions, lack of funds, and no successor to carry the torch. The 15-member team, many in their 60s and 70s, will retire alongside the publication. “There’s a sense of tiredness mixed with sadness,” Patel said. “We’ve been doing this for a long time.”

The office, housed in a crumbling neo-Gothic building in Fort, Mumbai, will host a quiet farewell. “No cake. No celebrations,” Patel said. “It’s a sad occasion. I don’t think we’ll feel like celebrating.”