The Social Life of Zoroastrians in the Safavid Era 1501-1722, Based on the Accounts of Travel Memoirists, and the Influence of Religious Teachings on It

• Main Author: Fahimeh Shakiba
• Format: Article
• Language: Arabic
• Published: Karabuk University 2019-07-01
• Series: Tarih Kültür ve Sanat Araştırmaları Dergisi
• Subjects: safavid, zoroastrians, social history, travel memoirs, zoroastrian religion.
• Online Access: http://kutaksam.karabuk.edu.tr/index.php/ilk/article/view/2010

Zoroastrians are the adherents of the ancient Iranian religion who, despite cultural and historical changes, still live in Iran and other countries. For gaining knowledge on their condition throughout the history of Iran, other than historical sources, travel memoirs reflect the social and cultural condition of common Zoroastrian people and provide us important information regarding their social and cultural history. In the present study, the social life of Zoroastrians is explained based on what the travel memoirists of the Safavid era have referred to, and it has been correlated to Zoroastrian religious teachings. In this regard, these questions have been answered: what the social life of Zoroastrians was like in this era, what the functions of Zoroastrian religious teachings were in their life and how they adhered to them. For this purpose, following the introduction, the population of Safavid era Zoroastrians is studied based on travel memoirs, then their daily life (jobs, clothing, food, marriage), beliefs (belief in a savior figure, fasting, impurity, loved and loathed animals) and rites (celebration, death and purification) are investigated and correlated to the teachings of their holy texts. In the end it is concluded that despite pressures, placement in lower social and professional ranks, and different clothing to distinguish them from Muslims, they were steadfastly hopeful for the coming of Sōšāns (the future savior) in the face of the hardships of the time and they enacted their celebrations and rites related to death, impurity and purity according to the teachings of their religion.