By Zubeen Mehta
HOUSTON: It is with great pride and no small fanfare that the Zoroastrian Association of Houston celebrated 25 years of its flagship Library on October 10 and 11, 2025. The brainchild of its founder, Aban Rustomji, ZAH Library, as it is lovingly known, started with a fierce determination to create a repository of Zoroastrian writings in its fullest sense and a small collection of books. Twenty-five years on, the Library holds more than 1600 books and other materials and is deemed to be the largest collection of its kind in North America. It’s mission: “to provide a comprehensive collection of material on Zoroastrian literature, history, culture and of course the religion, for the benefit of community members and beyond, for today, tomorrow and always.”
The theme of the two-day anniversary celebrations was: From Scroll to Screen: Archiving Zoroastrian Manuscripts in the Digital World. Day 1 opened with a rousing benediction by Darius Dastur, one of our young Ervads (priest), and speeches of welcome by the current President of ZAH: Aderbad Tamboli and by Kayomarz Sidhwa, President of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America. This was followed by a video montage where committee members offered their thoughts on the significance of the Library to each of them. The evening continued with entertainment and a Gala dinner. Day 2 offered enlightening lectures by two Zoroastrian scholars: Dr. Dan Sheffield of Princeton University and Dr. Afshin Marashi of the University of Oklahoma.
ZAH Library is essentially a family of dedicated committee members, many of whom have been part of the Library since its inception, headed by its visionary Chairperson Aban Rustomji. On October 10, Aban welcomed a large gathering of friends of the Library to the evening’s festivities and thanked the many people, including several generous donors, who made the dream of a library into a splendid reality. As we all know, such projects take a village! Among the dedicated supporters of ZAH Library were Dr. and Mrs. Yazdi Sidhwa whose generous donation spearheaded the construction of the Library in 2000 as part of Phase 2 of the Zarathushti Heritage and Cultural Center located at 8787 W. Airport Boulevard. Sharmeen Mehri, co-Chair of FIRES, then introduced an impressive on-stage presentation, essentially a walk down memory lane, created by ZAH members Vehishta Kaikobad and Edul Chikhliwala, that listed the highlights of all the prestigious events hosted by ZAH Library. These included talks by scholars such as the late Professor Stanley Insler of Yale University, and Professor Almut Hintze of SOAS in London. The presentation also reminded the audience that in 2010 ZAH Library was honored to be chosen as the Home of FIRES (FEZANA Information, Research and Education System), whose mission it is “to serve as a centralized location in North America of books, manuscripts, literature, scholarly materials and collections of artifacts pertaining to the Zarathushti faith, as well as to promote Zarathusthi education and research by disseminating this information to the public.” Vehishta, who is a Docent at the MFAH, also showcased ZAH Library’s close ties to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and to Rice University with whom the Library has a very exciting ongoing Oral History Project. No gathering of Zarathushtis can be without music and good food – both were amply provided to entertain and sustain at this joyous event.
Day 2 started with the obligatory tea and batasas, after which Dr. Dan Sheffield took to the podium with his talk entitled: Testimonies of Tradition: An Introduction to Zoroastrian Manuscripts. In his engaging Socratic style, Dr Sheffield posed a series of questions. What constitutes a Zoroastrian manuscript? How many are there? Is a cookbook a manuscript? What are the different types of manuscripts? What are the myths surrounding manuscripts? In answering these questions Dr. Sheffield provided a fascinating insight into the vital role these ‘manuscripts’ play in the world of Zoroastrian academic research. Looking to the future in the best tradition of ZAH Library, he pondered how best to organize the wealth of material generated by this research. Will Artificial Intelligence perhaps prove a valuable asset in the amalgamation of this metadata? Food for thought …
Following a hearty boxed lunch, the program continued with the second invited speaker,
Dr. Afshin Marashi, who spoke on Parsis and Iranis: Historical Preservation between Print Culture and the Digital Age. In keeping with the Library’s belief in the importance of preserving Zoroastrian cultural heritage and historical memory, Dr. Marashi spoke of how the Parsis in India, Bombay in particular, played a key role in reviving interest in Zoroastrianism and Iran’s classical heritage among Iranians in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This revival was made possible by the technological advances in the age of steam travel and by Parsi philanthropy in its many forms, including “print philanthropy”. It helped to overcome the obstacles to interaction between Parsis and Iranians, and afforded contemporary Iranians the opportunity to “remember, relearn and reconnect with their ancient history.”
The two excellent presentations offered much to pique the audience’s interest as evidenced by the lively question and answer session that followed. The collegial atmosphere, the enthusiasm of the audience and the passion of the speakers made this two-day event a true silver milestone!
Congratulations to ZAH Library and FIRES and here’s to the next 25 years! Long may this venerable institution continue to thrive by building binding bonds with books and bibliophiles as it holds true to its promise “to honor its past, celebrate its present and inspire for the future”.
