Zoroastrian Studies Seminar Series: Afshin Marashi

Persianate Perennialism: Meher Baba from Zoroastrianism to Universal Religion

The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies in collaboration with the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America, the Ontario Zoroastrian Community Foundation, the Zoroastrian Society of Ontario, and the Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation jointly present "Persianate Perennialism: Meher Baba from Zoroastrianism to Universal Religion" on Friday, December 12 2025, 1 p.m. Eastern Time (Canada & US).

Abstract: 
This talk will situate the life and work of Meher Baba (1894-1969) within the context of new Zoroastrian esoteric traditions emerging in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. As one of the most successful religious figures of the era, Meher Baba drew from renewed access to forgotten or long-marginalized doctrines found within Zoroastrianism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism to advocate for a novel-yet perennial-form of universalist spirituality. While still largely overlooked by scholars of Zoroastrian studies, Iranian studies, South Asian studies, and by historians of religion, Meher Baba's more than four-decade religious career earned him an expansive global following, first in his native India, and eventually across Europe, North America, and elsewhere. THis talk will examine the historical genealogy of Meher Baba's relisious ideas and place his life and work within the context of modernist esoteric trends emerging from within the Persianate religious-cultural system during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 

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