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Liber XXXVI · Zoroastrianism

Liber XXXVI · Zoroastrianism · Chapter III: Fire Temples & Ritual

Navjote: Zoroastrian Initiation with the Sudreh and Kusti

The Navjote or Sedreh-Pushi, Zoroastrian initiation of children: the sacred shirt and cord, prayers and ceremony, daily kusti ritual and modern debates.

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The Navjote is the ceremony by which a Zoroastrian child is initiated into the religion, receiving from a priest the sudreh, a white undershirt, and the kusti, a sacred cord tied around the waist, which he or she will wear for life. Known among Parsis in India as Navjote and among Zoroastrians in Iran as Sedreh-Pushi, "putting on the sudreh", it is performed for girls and boys alike, usually between the ages of seven and fifteen, and marks the moment from which a person takes personal responsibility for the choice between good and evil.

The Parsi name Navjote is usually explained as "new zot", that is, a new offerer of prayers (from zaotar, the priest who recites the liturgy), although it is popularly understood as "new birth". The Iranian name Sedreh-Pushi simply describes the central act of the rite. Both refer to the same ceremony, which is regarded as obligatory: Zoroastrian tradition holds that from the age of religious maturity, fifteen in the Middle Persian texts, a person who goes without the sacred shirt and cord is exposed to sin and to the assaults of evil.

The rite's purpose is to place the child consciously within the "Good Religion" (Daena Vanguhi) founded by Zarathustra. In the Zoroastrian view every human being must choose between asha, Truth and Order, and druj, the Lie, as the twin Spirits chose at the beginning, a choice explained in Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. The Navjote is the formal and public moment when that choice is professed. Its moral content is summed up in the triad of good thoughts, good words and good deeds discussed in Zoroastrian ethics.

Scholars note that the sacred cord has Indo-Iranian roots: Brahmin boys in India receive a sacred thread at their own initiation, the upanayana. In Iran, however, the girdle was given to women as well as men, so that Zoroastrianism has initiated daughters and sons in the same rite for as long as its practice can be traced.

The Sudreh and the Kusti§

The sudreh (sedreh in Iran) is a loose, short-sleeved undershirt of white cotton or muslin worn next to the skin. Its white colour signifies purity, and it is often described as the armour of the faithful. At the front of the neck it has a small fold or pocket called the girehban or, in Gujarati, the kisseh-kerfeh, the "purse of righteousness": a reminder that the wearer should fill it daily with good deeds, which are the only treasure that accompanies the soul after death.

The kusti is a long, thin cord of white lamb's wool, woven of seventy-two threads; the number is usually connected with the seventy-two chapters of the Yasna, the central liturgy described in Zoroastrian fire temples and ritual. The threads are grouped into six strands of twelve, and these numbers are given symbolic meanings, such as the six seasonal festivals and the twelve months. The cord is wound three times around the waist, recalling good thoughts, good words and good deeds, and tied with two knots in front and two behind, with tasselled ends left hanging. In India kustis are traditionally woven by women of priestly families on a small loom, with prayers recited during the work, and consecrated before use.

Interpretations of the girdle vary. Many Zoroastrians explain that it divides the body into an upper and a lower part, the spiritual and the material, or that it binds the wearer to the service of Ahura Mazda as a soldier is bound by his belt. The Avesta itself speaks of a star-adorned girdle, made by the spirits, that Ahura Mazda brought to the divine Haoma (Yasna 9), a mythical prototype that tradition links with the human kusti.

Preparing for the Navjote§

Among Parsis the Navjote usually takes place between seven and fifteen, often at an odd-numbered age such as seven, nine or eleven; in Iran it was by older custom often performed somewhat later, closer to fifteen, though practice now varies everywhere. The child must first learn the basic prayers by heart in Avestan, including the Ashem Vohu and the Yatha Ahu Vairyo (Ahuna Vairya), the Kem na Mazda and the Ahura Mazda Khodae, and the profession of faith. The two holiest of these prayers are explained in the Ahuna Vairya and Ashem Vohu.

On the day of the ceremony the child undergoes a ritual bath, called nahn among the Parsis, administered by a priest. It includes sipping a small quantity of consecrated liquid and chewing a pomegranate leaf, followed by washing, after which the child is dressed in new white clothes with a shawl or cap and brought to the place of the ceremony, which may be a fire temple, a hall or the family home. Before the priest are placed a lighted lamp or fire, a tray holding the new sudreh and kusti, and trays of symbolic items: rice, a coconut, flowers, betel leaves, almonds, raisins, pomegranate seeds and sugar.

The Navjote Ceremony§

The child sits facing the officiating priest, often with other priests seated alongside, and the family and guests gather around. The rite often opens with the recitation of the patet, a prayer of repentance, and the child then stands. Holding the sudreh, the child recites, with the priest, the profession of faith known in Gujarati as the Din no Kalmo: a declaration that the religion given by Ahura Mazda through Zarathustra is true. The priest then helps the child put on the sudreh.

Next comes the investiture with the kusti. The child faces east, or the light of the lamp or fire, while the priest stands behind and passes the cord around the child's waist, reciting the prayers that accompany the kusti ritual and guiding the child's hands as the knots are tied. During the final prayer the child declares the creed known as Jasa me avanghe Mazda, adapted from the ancient profession of faith in the Yasna (Yasna 12), in which the speaker affirms that he or she is a worshipper of Mazda, a follower of Zarathustra, who praises good thoughts, good words and good deeds and rejects the daevas.

The ceremony closes with a blessing, the Tandarosti, invoking health and long life on the newly initiated child, during which the priest showers the child with rice, rose petals, pomegranate seeds and pieces of coconut. The child is now a behdin, "one of the good religion", in the full sense. Gifts and a festive meal follow, and among Parsis a Navjote is a major family celebration, sometimes comparable in scale to a wedding. Priests' sons who later train for the priesthood undergo further initiations, described in Zoroastrian priests: mobeds and dasturs.

Living with the Kusti: The Daily Prayer Ritual§

The Navjote begins a lifelong practice. Initiated Zoroastrians perform the padyab-kusti — washing the face, hands and feet (padyab) and then untying and retying the kusti — on waking, before prayers, after using the toilet, before meals and at other moments of transition. Standing and facing a source of light, the worshipper unties the cord while reciting Avestan prayers; at the words in which Ahriman is declared defeated, the ends of the kusti are flicked as if to drive him away. The cord is then retied with the double knots, accompanied by the creed.

For many Zoroastrians this short ritual, repeated several times a day, is the most constant expression of their faith. It renews the commitment made at the Navjote, marks the boundary between ordinary activity and prayer, and keeps the body in a state of purity. Prayers are traditionally said at the five watches (gahs) of the day, and the ritual frames them. Many Zoroastrians today perform it less often than tradition prescribes, but the sudreh and kusti remain the most visible signs of religious identity.

Because the Navjote is the gate of entry into the community, it has been at the centre of debates about who is a Zoroastrian. Most Parsi religious authorities in India have held that the religion is not open to converts and that the Navjote may be performed only for children of Zoroastrian parents — and, in many orthodox views, only where the father is Zoroastrian. A famous Bombay court case of 1908, Petit v. Jijibhai, arose after the French wife of R. D. Tata had undergone a Navjote; the court held that the community's trust funds were intended for Parsis by birth and for Iranian Zoroastrians, not for converts.

These questions remain live. Children of Parsi women who marry outside the community are refused initiation by some priests and accepted by others, and in North America and elsewhere some priests have performed Navjotes for spouses and converts, a practice that orthodox authorities in Bombay reject. Iranian Zoroastrian practice has generally been somewhat more open to children of mixed marriages, while conversion from Islam carries severe legal risks in the Islamic Republic. Supporters of wider initiation point to the universal message of the Gathas and the shrinking numbers of the community; opponents stress the preservation of a hereditary identity that has survived for over a millennium. The broader history is set out in Parsis and modern Zoroastrianism.

Frequently asked questions§

At what age is the Navjote performed?§

Among Parsis it is usually performed between the ages of seven and fifteen, and Zoroastrian tradition regards fifteen as the latest proper age. In Iran the Sedreh-Pushi was traditionally held somewhat later, but practice varies in both communities.

What do the sudreh and kusti symbolise?§

The white sudreh symbolises purity and righteousness, and its small pocket reminds the wearer to gather good deeds. The kusti, tied three times around the waist, recalls good thoughts, good words and good deeds and binds the wearer to the service of Ahura Mazda.

Are girls initiated in the Navjote?§

Yes. Zoroastrianism initiates girls and boys in the same ceremony, and both wear the sudreh and kusti and perform the daily kusti prayers.

Can someone who is not born Zoroastrian have a Navjote?§

This is disputed. Most orthodox Parsi authorities in India do not accept converts, while some priests, especially in the diaspora, perform Navjotes for converts and for children of mixed marriages.

Sources and further reading§