Melbourne, Dec.27: Young Parsis from India, and Zoroastrians from Iran, England, Pakistan, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, the United States, New Zealand and around Australia will attend a week-long World Zoroastrian Congress in Ballarat from tomorrow.

This will be the fourth World Youth Zoroastrian Congress, and will be titled “Back to the Future”.

Zarathushtra's call to look after the environment 3200 years ago makes him the world's first ecologically conscious prophet, Zoroastrians say.

According to Bombay-based teacher Khojeste Mistree, Zoroastrians believe they are on earth to maximise general happiness and minimise pain by spreading harmony in the environment.

The Age quoted an organiser Shirin Mistry, as saying that the weeklong congress will bring Zoroastrian Diaspora together to learn about their faith and community, have fun and see a slice of Australia.

The last Congress was held in Pune, Maharashtra.

This year’s Congress has been partly funded by wealthy donors.

Today there are only 125,000 Zoroastrians worldwide, with about 3000 in Australia. Zoroastrianism dominated the area around Iran and Iraq for nearly 1000 years before being displaced by Muslim invaders.

Some followers fled to India, now its second stronghold, about 936 A.D., and are known as Parsis. (ANI)