Reconciling Persianate and Western forms of knowledge

Research on esotericism and the Zoroastrians of India, also known as Parsis, can significantly further our understanding of modern Zoroastrian society. By analysing primary and secondary sources, I reflect on the engagement of Parsis with the Theosophical Society and the emergence of Ilme Kṣnum (‘Science of Bliss’) at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A scrutiny of the relations of Parsis with the Persianate world and with the West offers a new reading of historical entanglements that shaped the modern Zoroastrian society. This chapter shows that religious interpretations drawing upon esotericism emerged beyond the orthodox-reformist paradigm. Esotericism is thus examined as an interpretive method that reconciled Persianate and Western forms of knowledge.