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Zoroastrians and the Theosophical Society

Prominent Zoroastrian Theosophists

These practitioners of Zoroastrianism were Theosophists or were significant to the Theosophical movement. Two culturally distinct groups of Zoroastrians exist in India: Parsis or Parsees, who descended from Persians who emigrated to India in the 8th and 10th centuries CE; and Iranis, who made a similar migration many centuries later. Theosophists were generally Parsis.

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  N. D. Khandalavala
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  Burjorji J. Padshah
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  Dinshah P. Ghadiali
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  B. P. Wadia

N. D. Khandalavala (Khān Bahādur Navroji Dorabji Khandalavala) was a provincial judge who greatly assisted the Founders after becoming a member in 1879. He corresponded with Madame Blavatsky, who disclosed to him important information about the Mahatmas and other matters.

K. M. Shroff was a highly educated Parsi member in Bombay. In 1874 he lectured in the United States, and Shroff joined the Theosophical Society by corresponding with the Founders before they left New York, making him one of the earliest Indian members. He was vice president of the Bombay Branch from 1882 to 1885, a member of the TS General Council, and a major speaker at the 1882 convention. Col. Olcott referred to him as “the all-accomplishing Mr. K. M. Shroff.” Certainly, he was persuasive and energetic; and he helped to establish the Homeopathic Charitable Dispensary and Bombay Veterinary College and Hospital, working with Tukaram Tatya. Shroff testified in support of HPB in the Vega incident. In 1883 he become editor of the Jam-e-Jamshed daily newspaper published in Gujarati and English.

Sorabji J. Padshah (1856-1927) was another Parsi who joined the Society in 1880. He traveled with the Founders on their first trip to Ceylon, and served as Assistant Recording Secretary and on the General Council. In 1881 he received an encouraging letter from Master K.H., but after a few years he lost interest in Theosophy. His younger brother Burjorji J. Padshah (1864-1941) was a mathematics professor trained at Cambridge. He exerted great influence on the development of India’s largest conglomerate, the Tata Group, and on establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. He practiced Theosophical principles his whole life, abstaining from meat, leather, alcohol, and tobacco and advocating for animal welfare.

B. P. Wadia (1881-1958) was an important figure in the Theosophical Movement in the twentieth century. After joining the Theosophical Society in Bombay in 1904, he worked in the publishing house of the Society. He was interned by the British in 1917 with Annie Besant and George S. Arundale. In 1922, he resigned very publicly from the Adyar-based Society to embrace the United Lodge of Theosophists and its strict focus on the original writings of H. P. Blavatsky. He was a prolific and influential writer and editor.

A later Zoroastrian was Dinshah P. Ghadiali (1873-1966), who was born in India but became a naturalized American citizen. His interests in medicine and electrical engineering led to patenting the Spectro-Chrome device for light therapy. He was a member of the Theosophical Society from 1891 to 1966, and published at least 16 books.

Adyar headquarters

The residence of international Theosophical Society president Radha Burnier in the headquarters estate was called Parsi House. That campus also has a Zoroastrian Temple. Zarathustra, the founder of Zoroastrianism, is carved in relief on a wall of the Great Hall of the Headquarters building.

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  Burjorji J. Padshah
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  Dinshah P. Ghadiali
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  B. P. Wadia