The Encyclopedia of World Religions

334 S Parsees

become influential in business, higher educa tion, and the professions. In the 20th century significant numbers of Parsees also settled in London and Toronto. Parsee priests are males who inherit their posi tions from their fathers. Five times a day they place fuel on the eternal fires that burn in their temples. As they do so, they recite PRAYERS from the Zoroas trian SCRIPTURES . According to tradition a person is a Parsee if her or his father is a Parsee, it is not possible to convert to the FAITH . At the age of seven, Parsee children undergo a ceremony known as navjot. In that ceremony they receive a white shirt and a sacred thread. The faithful always wear these symbols of the Parsee faith except when they are sleeping and bathing. Parsees are well known for their traditional funeral practices. They place bodies of the dead in “towers of silence.” There the bodies are eaten by vultures. The idea behind this practice is that no element—earth, air, fire, or water—should be defiled by corpses. In the 20th century some Parsees began to advocate electric cremation as an acceptable alternative to exposure. In a few places they even began to raise the possibility of converting to the faith. Parvati The consort of the god S IVA in Hindu mythology. Parvati’s name derives from a San skrit word for mountain ( parvata ). Indeed, she is said to be the daughter of Himavat, the lord of the Himalayas. As a GODDESS she is much less inde pendent than D URGA or K ALI . Her major role is as Siva’s wife, but in this role she is indispensable. She tames the wild, limitless, austere energy of the god and makes it available to human beings. A famous line by the poet Kalidasa equates the necessary relation of Siva and Parvati with that of a word’s meaning and its sound. Parvati is the mother of both of Siva’s sons: the elephant-headed god G ANESA and the six headed god Skanda. According to the Siva-P URANA , she gave birth to Ganesa all by herself. One day

Henry IV. In doing so, he established the power of popes over kings and princes. From 1100 to 1300 the popes enjoyed unmatched power in western Europe. At the end of this period Boniface VIII (1294–1303) claimed complete supremacy over virtually all of creation. A document known as the Donation of Constantine supported papal claims. It stated that Emperor Constantine had given all of his power to the popes. After Boniface the political power of the papacy gradually diminished. A number of events were responsible: a period during which the popes lived in Avignon, France (1309–77), followed by a period in which two, then three, men claimed to be pope (1378–1417); the demonstration that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery; the rise of national powers in Europe; and the Protestant R EFORMATION . In the 20th century John XXIII (pope, 1958– 63) attempted to modernize the church. But suc cessors such as John Paul II (pope, 1978–2005) took a more conservative line. That meant that the papacy was occasionally at odds with the more liberal North American Catholic Church. One pre sumes that Pope Benedict XVI (pope, 2005– ), will continue the direction established by his pre decessor, John Paul II. Further reading: William J. La Due, The Chair of Saint Peter: A History of the Papacy (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1999); Philippe Levillain, ed., The Papacy: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 2002); Michael J. Walsh, ed., Lives of the Popes: Illustrated Biographies of Every Pope from St. Peter to the Present (London: Salamander, 1998). Parsees Zoroastrians who live in India and their descendants. By 1000 C . E . Zoroastrians had emigrated from Persia (today Iran) to the region of Gujarat in western India ( see Z OROAS TRIANISM ). Tradition says they did so in response to the conquest of Persia by Muslims, which began about 635 C . E . The name “Parsee” refers to Persia, their country of origin. Today a large number of Parsees live in Bombay. They have