On 31 May, a workshop took place at SOAS on Zoroastrianism, Esotericism and Race. Convened by Mariano Errichiello (SOAS) and Afshin Marashi (Oklahoma), this closed-door workshop aimed to explore ideas around esotericism in modernity, which remains an understudied topic within Zoroastrianism.
Six papers, arranged across three panels, addressed themes spanning the 19th to the 21st century in Iran, India and the diaspora. Modern-day gurus, eugenics, conversion, innovation, and priesthood were among the subjects discussed. The workshop concluded with a paper presenting an insider perspective, an innovative and welcome approach seeking to widen the scope of academic inquiry.
All papers engaged with fascinating topics, bearing various degrees of relevance to my own research on late antique Zoroastrianism. Although the workshop primarily focused on modernity, what emerged for me was a perspective on the religion in the longue durée. I have remained interested in esotericism in Zoroastrianism ever since I wrote The king in the mirror of the Zand: Secrecy in Sasanian Iran, which was my first engagement with the subject inspired by Shaked’s pioneering 1969 study, Esoteric Trends in Zoroastrianism.
I continue to explore esotericism in late antique Zoroastrianism, with a partial outcome discussed in a forthcoming article on frahang. Both the workshop and my own investigations suggest that a theoretical framework for what might constitute esotericism in Zoroastrianism, whether modern or ancient, remains a desideratum.
Reference
Shaked, Shaul. 1969. Esoteric trends in Zoroastrianism. In Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 3(7). 175-221.
Zeini, Arash. 2018. The king in the mirror of the Zand: Secrecy in Sasanian Iran. In Touraj Daryaee (ed.), Sasanian Iran in the context of late antiquity: The Bahari lecture series at the University of Oxford (Ancient Iran Series 6), 149–162. Jordan Center for Persian Studies.