Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion that was founded somewhere in 6th century BC in Iran/Persia. There was a time when it had the largest number of followers across the entire globe. After the end of the Persian Sassanid Empire in 651 AD, the popularity of Zoroastrianism started declining. Today two largest sects of Zoroastrians are Parses and Iranis.

India being a democratic and diverse country has many religions residing here. Each of them have their own rites and customs to follow. It also offers them a right to follow any religion they wish. There are Marriage Acts passed for every religion. The Parsi/Irani Marriage and Divorce are governed by the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act that was passed in 1939. There are certain features included in the Parsi Marriage Act. They are as follows.

•    The eligible age for marriage of males is 21 years and for females is 18 years. The consent of parents should be taken if the parties are under aged at the time of marriage.
•    Neither of them should be in a prohibited relation.
•    Both parties must be of sound mind at the time of marriage.
•    Both parties should belong to the same religion.
•    The religion does not entertain polygamy and bigamy.
•    The marriage is not valid if the spouse of either party is alive.
•    Marriages between relative having blood relations is prohibited.
•    The marriage needs to be registered with the marriage registrar and the marriage certificate needs to be signed by the couple, the priest and two witnesses present during the marriage.
•   A Parsi wedding needs to be accomplished as per the “Ashirvad” tradition in the presence of a priest and two witnesses.
•   Parses are not allowed to re marry again in their life. In case they violet this law they are punishable.
•  The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act also cover issues of divorce between Parsi couples.