Parsiana, one of India’s oldest and most prominent magazines serving the Parsi community, will cease publication in October after 60 years, its editors said, citing dwindling subscribers, lack of funds and no successor to carry on the title.
The closure was announced in an editorial in August and has prompted tributes from readers across India and the diaspora. Founded in 1964 by Pestonji Warden to chronicle Parsi life in Mumbai, the magazine was acquired in 1973 by Jehangir Patel for one rupee; Patel, now 80, transformed it from a modest monthly into a fortnightly known for reported stories, opinion columns and illustrated features.
Under Patel’s stewardship, Parsiana moved from black-and-white pages to a colour format and set up a subscription model that expanded its reach beyond Mumbai. The magazine built a reputation for covering sensitive topics within the community with candour and humour. Patel said he had always wanted Parsiana to be "a journalistic endeavour."
Early on after he took charge, Patel published a probing piece on the high divorce rate within the community — a story that surprised many readers, he recalled. In 1987 the magazine published interfaith matrimonial notices, a move that sparked controversy in a community known for strict endogamy; the practice drew complaints but continued.
Over six decades Parsiana documented Parsi achievements, social and religious life, and institutional developments, while also drawing attention to community challenges such as its shrinking population and the decline of traditional burial practices at the Towers of Silence. In May the journal reported on the opening of the Alpaiwalla Museum in Mumbai, the only Parsi museum in the world.
The magazine’s editorial team of about 15 people, many of whom joined under Patel in the 1970s and 1980s and are now in their 60s and 70s, are preparing to end both the publication and their journalism careers. Their office, housed in an old neo-Gothic building in Mumbai’s Fort district that was once a Parsi hospital, is stacked with back issues and shows visible signs of age: peeling paint and crumbling ceilings.
Patel said there would be no grand celebration for the final issue. "There's a sense of tiredness mixed with the sadness," he said. "We've been doing this for a long time. I don't think we'll feel like celebrating." Staff said they might have a simple lunch in the office on the magazine’s last day.
Readers and community members have responded with reminiscences and praise. In the magazine’s September edition, a Mumbai reader wrote that Parsiana had chronicled the small community’s life "with such diligence and passion." A reader in Pakistan called it "more than a publication; it has been a companion and bridge connecting Zoroastrians across the world." A Washington-based subscriber commended the title for keeping the community informed while "bringing a touch of realism on contentious issues."
Parsi and Zoroastrian organizations say the community has shrunk and dispersed over decades, increasing the cultural value of institutions that connect members globally. Parsiana’s editors and many subscribers saw the magazine as a unifying forum: a place to announce events, report on ceremonies and institutions, and debate internal issues. The loss of the magazine removes a long-standing record of community life and conversation.
The magazine’s editors plan to devote upcoming issues to commemorating Parsiana’s six-decade run and reflecting on its legacy. With no clear buyer or successor, the October edition is expected to be the last. The announcement marks the end of a publication many readers described as a defining presence in Parsi cultural life.