Irani (India)

The Irani are an ethno-religious community in South Asia; they belong to the Zoroastrians who emigrated from Iran to South Asia in the 19th century. They are culturally, linguistically and socially distinct from the Parsis, who – although also Zoroastrians – emigrated to the Indian subcontinent from Greater Iran many centuries before the Iranis did.

The Parsis and Iranis are considered legally distinct. A 1909 obiter dictum relating to the Indian Zoroastrians, also observed that Iranis (of the now defunct Bombay Presidency) were not obliged to uphold the decisions of the then regulatory Parsi Panchayat.

Although the term 'Irani' is first attested during the Mughal era, most Iranis are descended from immigrants who left Iran and migrated to the Indian subcontinent during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the time, Iran was ruled by the Qajars and religious persecution of Zoroastrians was widespread. The descendants of those immigrants remain culturally and linguistically closer to the Zoroastrians of Iran, in particular to the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman, than to Parsis in India or Pakistan. Consequently, many Iranis still speak the Dari dialect of the Zoroastrians of those provinces.

As is also the case for the Parsis, the Iranis predominately settled the west-coast of India, in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. A concentration of their people live in and around the city of Mumbai.

Irani is the generic surname for the community. Some families have adopted surnames related to their ancestral hometowns in Iran, such as Kermani, Yezdani, Khosravi, Faroodi, and Jafrabadi.

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