From Cyrus, Gandhi To MLK: The Zoroastrian Inspiration That Has Shaped Modern Polity

Photo: Wikipedia

By Capt. Sam Billimoria

Modest in scale yet monumental in meaning, the Cyrus Cylinder-a small baked clay artifact from the sixth century BCE-is widely regarded as one of the most important objects in world history. Buried as a foundation deposit after Cyrus the Great’s conquest of Babylon, the cylinder bears an inscription in Babylonian cuneiform that celebrates his victory over Nabonidus, the last Babylonian ruler. More importantly, it proclaims what historians consider the world’s first declaration of human rights: the freedom to practice one’s religion, the abolition of slavery, and the right to maintain cultural traditions. Dating back to October 28, 539 BCE, this extraordinary document reflects the enlightened rule of Cyrus, who consolidated the great Persian Achaemenian Empire founded on Zoroastrian values of justice, truth, and compassion. Remarkably, women were treated as equals and served in high offices, even receiving one year of paid maternity leave, an astonishing concept for its time.

Cyrus was described as “the shepherd of God and His anointed one” in the Old Testament (Isaiah 45:1), divinely chosen to free the enslaved Jews from Babylon and to rebuild the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Though the Cylinder was only discovered in 1879, Cyrus’s model of religious tolerance and human dignity has inspired generations, from Greek philosophers to American Founding Fathers. The Greek historian and student of Socrates, Xenophon, chronicled Cyrus’s leadership in his seminal work Cyropaedia, a political and moral treatise that profoundly influenced Western thought.

Scholars such as the late Dr. Richard Frye of Harvard and Afshin Zand have shown that Cyropaedia served as a blueprint for America’s Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, who considered Cyrus his hero and a kindred spirit. Jefferson not only recommended Cyropaedia to his peers but required students at the University of Virginia and federal employees to read it. This Zoroastrian legacy of tolerance and equality found echoes in the American Constitution and its enduring ideals of liberty and justice for all. As Dr. Frye and Zand observed, “Cyrus embodied Zoroastrian teachings,” inspiring governance grounded in moral responsibility rather than conquest.

Yet while Western democracies looked to Cyrus as a model, many paradoxically imposed colonial rule across Asia and Africa, exploiting nations in direct contradiction to his ideals. Among the earliest critics of this hypocrisy was Dadabhoy Naoroji, a pioneering Indian Parsi economist and parliamentarian, who exposed Britain’s economic exploitation of India through his “Drain Theory.” He was the first Asian elected to the British Parliament in 1892, the first to articulate the evils of colonial/imperial rule and speak of Swaraj (Indian self-rule) as the ultimate goal of the Indian National Congress in 1906. Naoroji’s ideas profoundly influenced Mahatma Gandhi, who met him as a law student in England. Gandhi maintained correspondence with Naoroji during his years in South Africa,

where he led campaigns against apartheid and racial injustice with support from Rustomjee Ghorkhodu (Kakaji), a Parsi businessman and Gandhi’s mentor and benefactor. A portrait of Naoroji hung in Gandhi’s chambers as a symbol of enduring guidance. Upon returning to India in 1914, Gandhi transformed civil disobedience into a global philosophy of non-violence. It was to  later also inspire Martin Luther King Jr., whose movement led to the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Both President Barack Obama and Dr. King have cited Gandhi as their hero and moral compass. Obama, during his state visit to India, paid tribute at Rajghat, stating: “I might not be here today as President of the United States had it not been for Gandhi and the message he shared with America and the world.”

Five Nobel Peace laureates—King, Obama, Chief Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, and the Dalai Lama—have all cited Gandhi as an inspiration. Ironically, Gandhi himself was nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize but never awarded it, a decision later regretted by the 1948 committee.

From Cyrus the Great to Gandhi, from the Cyropaedia to the U.S. Constitution, the thread of Zoroastrian philosophy continues to remind humanity that true leadership is not measured by conquest or wealth but by the courage, execution, and commitment to ASHA . ASHA, is a collective divine order that anchors the foundation of Zoroastrian principles with its various aspects  to uphold righteousness, law, order, justice, equality, and freedom.

(Billimoria, a Zoroastrian, lives in Southern California.)