Hintze, Almut

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128In memory of Mitha & Sorab Hommie MehtaWIn recent years the Zoroastrian willingness togive charitably has benefited the academicstudy of the religion at various universities,including the School of Oriental and AfricanStudies in the University of London (SOAS),Claremont Graduate University and Stanford.Moreover, Zoroastrians have endowedlecture series at Oxford (Ratanbai Katraklectures), Paris (Katrak lectures, which havenow lapsed) and SOAS (Dastur Dr SohrabHormasji Kutar Memorial Lecture; the fundswere raised through the good offices of theWorld Zoroastrian Organisation). Suchcontributions from within the community havebeen warmly welcomed and supported byboth academic institutions and individualscholars.1. SOASSOAS has a long-standing history ofbenefactions by Iranian and IndianZoroastrians as well as non-Zoroastrians forthe study of Zoroastrianism.1.1. The Parsee Community’s lectureship at SOASFrom 1929 to 1947 the Bombay Zoroastriancommunity funded a post named the“Parsee Community’s Lectureship in IranianStudies” at SOAS. Sir Harold Walter Baileywas the first postholder and, after taking upthe Chair of Sanskrit at Cambridge, he wasThe Study of Zoroastrianism in Europe and North AmericaWith at present only an estimated 120,000 Zoroastrians world wide, one might betempted to think that Zoroastrianism is taught and studied at only a handful ofuniversities around the world. When looking more closely, however, one discoversthat there is a substantial number of academic institutions which cover at leastsome aspects of the religion. Many scholars working on the topic hold universitypositions in departments such as Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Indo-European philology and the Comparative Study of Religions. However, when theyleave or retire, the new postholder would not necessarily have an interest inZoroastrianism. Thus, while there have been generations of scholars working onZoroastrianism, until recently there has been no university post exclusivelydedicated to this religion.by almut hintzesucceeded by Walter Bruno Henning. Thepost seems to have lapsed in 1947 whenHenning was promoted to a Readership atSOAS. Since the background of this post isnot widely known, details, based on theAnnual Reports and the minutes of theGoverning Body and Academic Board ofSOAS, are provided in what follows.1The Annual Report for the year ending 31July 1929, p.6 states that:Thanks to the initiative of the veteran scholar,Dr Modi, funds for a lectureship in Iranian Studieshave been provided for a period of five years bythe Parsee Community in Bombay. Its title willbe “The Parsee Community’s Lectureship inIranian Studies. The Governing Body welcomesthe establishment in the School of this importantbranch of Oriental Studies, for which provisionis made nowhere else in this country.The minutes confirm that Dr J J Modi “wasinstrumental in procuring a number of thesubscriptions promised” and that it was athis suggestion that the title of thelectureship should be “The ParseeCommunity’s Lectureship in IranianStudies.”2 The lectureship was firstinstituted for the academic session 1929–30at a minimum salary of £440 per annum for129HAMAZOR - ISSUE 2  2010five years and the following benefactors hadpromised contributions for the teaching ofAvesta and Pahlavi:Sir Dorabji Jamsetji Tata (17/11/28) 5 years at£100Per Dr Modi:Ratan Tata Charities                 £100Bai Ratanbai Edulji Bamji (conditional on theclass working well)                 £  80Marwanji Muncherji Cama (if he lives for 5years)                                                 £100Nowroji Maneckji Wadia Charities  £100Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji                 £100Total:                               £5803An Advisory Committee, responsible for theappointment, was formed, and its memberswere The Director (Sir E Denison Ross), DrL D Barnett, Sir Wolseley Haig andProfessor R L Turner, and the post wasadvertised.  Minute 117 of the GovernmentBody meeting of 11 July 1929 states:(1) That in accordance with G(overning)B(ody)M(inute) 68 of 31 May, an Advisory Committeeof the Academic Board had been appointed toconsider and report on applications for thelectureship in Iranian Studies for the session1929–30 and to report to the Committee ofManagement; (2) that the Committee ofManagement had decided that the title of thelectureship should be:  – “The Parsee Community’sLectureship in Iranian Studies;” and (3) thatapplications could be received up to 1st October,one having already been received from a verydistinguished scholar.4The minutes of the Government Bodymeeting held on 24 October 1929 record that:the Academic Board had considered the Reportof the Advisory Committee on the appointmentto the Parsee Community’s Lectureship in IranianStudies and they resolved that the appointmentof Mr H W Bailey, MA (Western Australia), BA(Oxon.), as Lecturer in Iranian Studies for theSession 1929–30 provisionally, be approved at asalary of £450, the duties to begin at the earliestpossible date.5In the subsequent year1930–1934 H WBailey was re-appointed annually to thepost, the account tables in each of theAnnual Reports showing the income fromdonations for the Lectureship as being£580.  In the Annual Reports for the yearsending 31 July 1935 and 1936 the incomefor the Lectureship was £400. Moreover, thecomposition of the group of donors haschanged. The Annual Report for the yearending 31 July 1935, p.13 states:The contributions for the Parsee Community’sLectureship in Iranian Studies are to be continuedfor a further period. The School is much pleasedthat the important work of Dr. H.W. Bailey isthereby enabled to continue, and the School isgrateful to the Trustees of the N.M. WadiaCharities, the Trustees of the Sir Dorabji TataTrust, the Trustees of the Sir Ratan Tata Charities,and the Parsi Punchayat Trustees, for theirgenerous contributions towards the Lectureship.In connection with these grants the School muchappreciates the valuable assistance of HisExcellency the Right Honourable BaronBrabourne, Governor of Bombay, Sir PhirozeSethna, and Mr R P Masani.When Bailey left SOAS in 1936 to take upthe Chair of Sanskrit in the University ofCambridge, W B Henning, who was thenworking as an editor of the ManichaeanTurfan fragments at the PreussischeAkademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin,was appointed as his successor. The termsof the appointment were that the salary wasdependent on the “Parsee community inBombay” and was “only guaranteed for oneyear more” with the prospect of another fiveyears of funding.6 Like Bailey, Henning wasre-appointed on an annual basis, but adocument in his personnel file records thatin July 1939 the Secretary of the Schoolwrote to inform him of the following:- The Wadia Trust was to give £100 for the next   session- The Tata Trusts had refused- There had been no contact with the   representatives of the Parsee Punchayat- Lord Horlech was to approach the Parsee  community in general although there was not  much hope for success.Nevertheless at the Heads of Departmentcommittee meeting on 1st May 1940130In memory of Mitha & Sorab Hommie MehtaHenning’s reappointment to the Lectureshipwas confirmed for three more years (1940–1943), although he was interned as an‘enemy alien’ on 12th May 1940 andreleased within a year. Henning was re-appointed again as the Parsee Lecturer inIranian Studies from 1st  October 1943 to30th September 1946, and wassubsequently re-appointed to the post on13th December 1945 for the three sessions1946–49. It appears that Henning’s postwas funded by SOAS to a large extent from1940–41 and entirely after his promotion toa Readership in Central Asian Studies on 1stOctober 1947. There are no furtherindications in the records of what became ofthe Parsee Lectureship and whether fundscontinued until the end of the 1948–49session. Subsequently the ParseeLectureship lapsed. When Henningaccepted the professorship at the Universityof Berkeley in 1961, Mary Boyce, who hadbeen lecturer at SOAS since 1947,succeeded him as Professor of IranianStudies (retired 1982), and with theappointments of Nicholas Sims-Williams in1976, Philip Kreyenbroek (at SOAS 1988–96), John R Hinnells (at SOAS 1993–1998)and A D H Bivar, SOAS continued to have avery strong tradition of teaching andresearch in Iranian Studies andZoroastrianism.1.2. The Zartoshty Chair in Zoroastrianism at SOASIn the 1990s, a group of scholars at SOAS,especially the late Mary Boyce and JohnHinnells, undertook to find ways ofendowing a chair in Zoroastrianism atSOAS in order to protect the study of thisreligion from the vagaries of public fundingand economic pressures and thus ensureits teaching and research in perpetuity.Helped by members of the local Zoroastriancommunity of London, the SOAS scholarsjoined efforts not only with the brothersFaridoon and Mehraban Zartoshty, the well-known Iranian Zoroastrian philanthropists,but also with an anonymous Iranianbenefactor.Mary Boyce and the Iranian benefactorcommitted by legacy sums substantialenough to ensure that in due course therewould be an endowed professorial Chair inthe subject. Meantime the Zartoshtybrothers made a generous donation whichallowed teaching to begin in autumn 1998through a part-time lectureship to whichAlmut Hintze, then Research Fellow atClare Hall College, Cambridge, wasappointed. At the end of the first trial yearthe Zartoshty Brothers made another verysubstantial donation to endow the part-timepost in perpetuity and after a further yearthe School authorities decided to contributeadditional funding to raise the Zartoshtylectureship to being a full time one, so thatfrom October 2000 it became possible totake Zoroastrianism at both undergraduateand postgraduate levels. Subsequently MrMehraban Zartoshty, whose brotherFaridoon had passed away in 2001, madefurther substantial donations towards thepost’s endowment, and after the death ofProfessor Mary Boyce in 2006 the proceedsfrom the sale of her estate went into theendowment of this post, together with thecontribution of the Iranian benefactor. As aresult, SOAS prides itself in having the firstendowed position in any western universityto be permanently dedicated to the study ofZoroastrianism.The endowment of the Chair inZoroastrianism at SOAS is a great examplefor the fruitful collaboration between anacademic institution and members of theZoroastrian community. Moreover, theZartoshty Brothers have gifted money to theZoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe forgrants to be made to Zoroastrians toundertake postgraduate study at SOAS,and several Zoroastrian students havealready benefited from the Zartoshtyscholarships. Excellent relations continue toexist between SOAS and all sectors of thecommunity. At undergraduate levelZoroastrianism can be studied as part of athree-year BA Religions degree or as a“floater” as part of any other undergraduatedegree at SOAS. At postgraduate levelcourses on Zoroastrianism are available tostudents reading for the one-year MAReligions degree as well as to PhDresearch students. Moreover, students of alllevels are encouraged to study at least131HAMAZOR - ISSUE 2  2010some of the languages of the Zoroastriantradition, especially Avestan and Pahlavi,but also New Persian and Gujarati, all ofwhich are taught at SOAS. Some of theother Iranian languages, in particularSogdian, Khotanese, Choresmian, Bactrian,which Professor Nicholas Sims-Williamsused to teach, have been availableoccasionally since his retirement in 2004.His post remaining vacant, an endowedlectureship in Iranian languages wouldideally complement the Zartoshty Chair inZoroastrianism at SOAS and ensure abrilliant future of Iranian Studies which havesuch an illustrious history at SOAS.2. Claremont Graduate UniversityIn recent years a lectureship inZoroastrianism has also been established inperpetuity in the School of Religion atClaremont Graduate University, California.The endowment comes from gifts of variousdonors and was arranged through theZoroastrian Council, one of eight councilsthrough which the School of Religioncultivates its relationships with religiouscommunities in the region. Dr Jenny Rosecurrently holds the post as Adjunct Professorand teaches one class a year on ZoroastrianStudies, there being two separate courses,which alternate year by year.3. Stanford UniversityIn addition, Dr Rose is also a VisitingAssociate Professor at Stanford University,teaching one class on Zoroastrian Studiesto undergraduates through the Departmentof Religious Studies. There is also aStanford University Zoroastrian Group thatsponsors a Zoroastrian Lecture series,consisting of lectures by individual scholarsfrom different universities around the world.4. TorontoA Chair in Zoroastrian History wasestablished in 2006 at the University ofToronto at Mississauga.  The post, which isfully funded by the University of Toronto,was created at a time when ProfessorMohamad Tavakoli-Targhi was Chair of theDepartment of Historical Studies, atransdisciplinary department newly formedin January 2005 by the merging of Classics,Religion and History. With a view todeveloping a cohesive History of Religionsprogramme, Professor Tavakoli-Targhisuccessfully argued that the History ofZoroastrianism provides the “missing link inthe historical understanding of Judaism,Christianity, Islam, and South and CentralAsian Religions.” The post was advertisedin 2006 and during the search process theUniversity worked closely with theZoroastrian community of Toronto,particularly with Ervad Dr Jehan Bagli. Thesuccessful candidate, Dr Enrico Raffaelli,was appointed to take up the post on 1 July2007. He contributes to the undergraduateand doctoral programmes in the History ofReligions and the Graduate Department ofNear and Middle Eastern Civilizations onthe Mississauga Campus and to thedoctoral programme in the GraduateDepartment and Centre for the Study ofReligion at the St.George Campus of theUniversity of Toronto. It is hoped that in duecourse the position in Zoroastrian Historywill be supplemented with an externallyfunded position for the teaching of Avestanand Pahlavi. With a very high concentrationof Zoroastrians in Toronto, ProfessorMohamad Tavakoli-Targhi is confident thatthis remains a realistic goal.5. Other universities whereZoroastrianism can be studiedIn addition, there are several otheruniversities where Zoroastrianism is taughtby virtue of the post holders’ researchinterests. They include in North AmericaBerkeley (Martin Schwartz), the Universityof California, Irvine (history and culture ofAncient Persia, Touraj Daryaee), Harvard(Prods Oktor Skjaervo), ColumbiaUniversity (Center for Iranian Studies),Concordia University, Montreal (RichardFoltz and Mark Hale); in EuropeManchester (Alan Williams), Bergen(Michael Stausberg), Berlin (Maria Macuch),Gottingen (Philip Kreyenbroek), Leiden(Albert de Jong), Paris (Jean Kellens, PhilipHuyse, Frantz Grenet and others), Liege(Eric Pirart), Salamanca (Alberto Cantera),Ravenna/Bologna (Antonio Panaino), Rome132In memory of Mitha & Sorab Hommie Mehta(Carlo Cereti, Mauro Maggi), Jerusalem(Shaul Shaked), and other places.6. The Ancient India and Iran Trust,CambridgeIn 1979 a group of five scholars (Sir HaroldWalter Bailey, Raymond and Bridget Allchin,Jan and Joanna van Lohuizen) put togethertheir own private funds to purchase 23Brooklands Avenue in Cambridge, England,a splendid Victorian residence which becamethe home of the Ancient India and Iran Trust.The Trust, a registered charity, houses alibrary covering all aspects of ancient Indiaand Iran and includes the collections of H WBailey and Mary Boyce. It hosts conferencesand lectures, offers scholarships toresearchers wishing to consult its collections,and is open to anyone interested in thesubject areas it covers.This survey does not lay any claim to beingexhaustive. More places whereZoroastrianism is studied could be added andmuch more could be said about thosementioned above, but I had to be selectivedue to space limitations. However, I hope ithas become clear that Zoroastrianismremains an academic subject that continuesto fascinate a vibrant group of students of thefinest calibre and that has enjoyed vitalfinancial support from both private and public,Zoroastrian and non-Zoroastrian sources.Notes:1. I would like to thank Kate Harvey, ClericalAssistant to the Directorate at SOAS for her help inaccessing and collecting the details provided here.2. SOAS Government Body Minutes vol.XIII, Oct.1928–July 1929, p.120 (11 July 1929).3. SOAS Government Body Minutes vol.XIII, Oct.1928–July 1929, p.53, Minute 68 (Friday, 31 May1919).4. The Governing Body Minutes, vol. XIII,  Oct.1928–July 1929, p.112, Minute 117 (11 July 1929).5. The Governing Body Minutes, vol.XIV, Oct. 1929– July 1930, p.6, Minute 17.6. This is stated in W B Henning’s personnel file. TheGovernment Body Minutes of the year 1936–37record details about the appointment of W B Henningto the Parsee Community’s Lectureship in IranianStudies (pp. 9–10), details of the benefactorsdonating to the Lectureship for that session (p.21),confirmation of continuation of the Lectureship forthree further sessions, 1936–39 (p.98) and a report onthe session’s work including details of income,subjects taught, and numbers of students (p.173).qAlmut Hintze is Zartoshty Reader inZoroastrianism at the School ofOriental  and African Studies,University of London. Holdingdegrees from the universities ofHeidelberg, Oxford, Erlangen andBerlin, her field is Indo-IranianStudies with special emphasis on theZoroastrian Literature. Her majorpublications include commentariesand annotated editions of Zoroastriansacred texts, such as the AvestanZamyad Yast (1994) and the YasnaHaptanghaiti (2007). She has also published a study of the semanticsof words for ‘reward’ in Vedic and Avestan (2000). Her currentprojects are an Introduction to Zoroastrianism and an edition,translation, commentary and dictionary of the Avestan Yasna.Wires were crossed -Apologies are due to Farrokh Vajifdarfor inventing a new version of theAvestan dictionary on his behalf,though unintentionally!I refer to Hamazor Issue 3/2009, p14,“Of Gathalogues and Gathalogistics”.The Yasna 29.4c should have read:hvo vichiro ahuro atha na anhat yatha hvo vasatThank goodness for British humour &Farrokh who has taken this faux pasin his stride! - Ed.

The Study of Zoroastrianism in Europe and North America

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