Museum exhibits objets d’art from collections of prominent Parsis

MUMBAI's FD Alpaiwalla Museum, the world's only Parsi and Zoroastrian museum, showcases the community's rich cultural history and artifacts.

MUMBAI The only museum in the world dedicated to Parsis and Iranian Zoroastrians – the FD Alpaiwalla Museum – was thrown open to public on Thursday at Khareghat Colony, Babulnath. A space housing archeological and ethnographic collections, it reflects the community’s rich cultural, religious and sartorial history.

Mumbai, India - March 27, 2025: The Framji Dadabhoy Alpaiwalla Museum at Khareghat Colony, Hughes Road (N S Patkar Road), the only centre in Mumbai that showcases Parsi-Zoroastrian history, was reopened on Thursday after extensive restoration and upgradation, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

The Parsis (Zoroastrian Iranians) who fled their homeland fearing religious persecution between the eight and tenth centuries, arrived at the western shores of India; over time more people from the community followed. “We adapted to living in Surat, Navsari and Valsad, and learnt to speak the language. The women were educated,” said Dr Pheroza Godrej, art historian, explaining that there were essentially two groups of Parsis — those who came from Khorasan in the north east of Iran, and others from the central province of Yazd and the south eastern province of Kerman.

Starting out with chai khanehs (Irani cafes), they took to farm work and eventually became traders. “Today, the Parsis are a small but mighty community, having had a deep impact, especially on Bombay (as the city was called in the past),” she added.

The museum was inaugurated by chief guest Cyrus Guzder, chairman and managing director of AFL Pvt Ltd, while its honorary advisors Firoza Punthakey Mistree, researcher and curator; and Dr Pheroza Godrej guided Guzder through a walkthrough, following which two films were screened: ‘Eternal Flame — Journey of Zoroastrians from Iran to India’ and ‘Gift of Parsi Merchants to Timeless India.’ A book – ‘FD Alpaiwalla Museum’ – was also released.

As the museum is named after collector and bullion trader Framji Dadabhoy Alpaiwalla, portraits, porcelain and glassware collected by him, have found a place of pride here. In his time, as the collection grew and he ran out of space for them in his home, he donated it to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), the apex administrative body of India’s Parsi Irani Zoroastrian community. “He donated all his artefacts with the caveat that the BPP would build a museum for it,” said Mistree.

The museum’s foundation stone was laid in 1951, and was opened the next year, by which time Alpaiwalla has passed on.

Initially, to embark on the project, BPP invited scholar and archaeologist Jamshed Maneck Unvala, who had worked at an excavation at Susa, an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers of Iran, from 1927 to 1939. He also excavated a Tower of Silence in Iran’s Yazd. Several of these artefacts were gifted to the museum, as also terracotta pottery, mother goddess figurines, clay toys and glazed bricks. “The museum remained somewhat like a collector’s paradise, but it was not well curated,” said Mistree.

It was resuscitated in 1984, following which it was inaugurated by the first Muslim chief justice of India, Mohammad Hidayatullah. At the time, curator Nivedita Mehta, was the museum’s director. “Just one curator was not enough. The museum also needed more security and staff. However, it continued to run like that for more than 20 years, although Mehta has been the real custodian,” said Godrej.

It was only in 2013 that the BPP sought to build an enduring legacy and invited Mistree and Godrej as honorary advisors to restore and refurbish the museum. The two applied for a grant from the ministry of culture; and once the grant was released, they put their mind to the museum’s upgrade. “It has taken us five years (discounting the Covid years), to bring it to fruition,” said Mistree.

It is now packed with objects of cultural and historical significance. One section consists of items dating back to the pre-Zoroastrian period, curated largely with Unvala’s contributions. The artefacts speak of a world between the 4th and 1st millennium BCE. “This required a lot of thought; we had to educate ourselves with the help of scholars like Dr John Curtis of the British Museum,” said Godrej.

One of the sections displays a reconstructed sanctum of a Zoroastrian Fire Temple, modelled on the Manekji Sett Fire Temple at Fort’s Parsi Bazar Gate Street. Another section focuses on Parsi textile and traditional garbs. There is also a space dedicated to chinaware, signalling trade with China. The Qing Emperors (1636-1912) allowed trade with Parsi merchants. Parsi merchants traded in cotton, opium and textiles in exchange of chinaware.

Besides this, the museum also has manuscripts, important relics, photographs and postcards, and furniture owned by early Parsis; alongside a reference library with 1900 books (with more being added to the collection).

While the museum stands on the ground floor, the first floor of the building will be used to host activities and events related to the museum – a workshop on the legacy of Parsi women, will soon be held soon, in collaboration with the British Institute of Persian Studies, the Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies at SOAS, UK, and the BPP.