ZOROASTRIANISM AND THE

PARSIS

AMONG the numerous divisions and subdivisions of Indian castes, there is a foreign ethnical group, which, in spite of its alien environments and utter isolation, has been able for centuries to preserve the purity of its race and faith and most of its traditional customs. We mean the adepts of the prophet of Iran, Zoroaster, successively called by the European travellers who have met them on the Indian coast, "Parseos," "Parses," "Parsees," "Parsis "; they are the descendants of the fugitives who fled from Persia after the Mohammedan conquest, and settled at Sanjan in the eighth century of the Christian era. What was their exact number? Probably a very small Was this exodus from Persia the only one? It appears that several others took place, traces of which can be found in upper India; but the colony of Guzarat alone resisted the influence of their surroundings, and did not merge into the native populations. Nevertheless, they werethey are still-a mere drop in the vast ocean of

one.

Indian communities, and at first they would seem to be a negligible quantity, except for the scholars who see in them the last representatives of one of the oldest creeds of the world and the depositaries of the sacred books of the Avesta and Persian lore. They are, in fact, the most active agents of progress and reform in British India, and have to be considered from a double standpoint, both religious and social. They occupy such a conspicuous position that an excellent critic affirms that "it is scarcely possible to conceive of the public life of western India without them." This judgment will meet with no contradiction from any quarter. However, we would not have the conclusion drawn from this that the Parsis are the only workers in the vast field of civic usefulness. There are among the other communities deserving men, bent on promoting the welfare of India; but, beyond any doubt, at the dawn of the twentieth century, the Parsis are enjoying a welldeserved reputation for enlightened patriotism.

"By their natural ability and position in the country, they were well fitted thus to be the mediators between the rulers and the ruled, and they are now playing this part to a considerable extent. In political and literary matters, the Parsis have led the Hindus and the Mohammedans. At the head of most political associations, at any rate in Bombay, and in the vanguard of those who fight, rightly or wrongly, for the political advancement of educated Indians, are to be found men of this race. It is a Parsi for whom has been reserved the unique position of being the first Oriental to take a seat in the British House of Commons. In

social matters, they easily take the lead of their Hindu countrymen, as they are singularly free from those narrow views of caste which hamper the latter. . . It is a Parsi who has taken up the cause of Social Reform among the Hindu population, and tried to better the lot of millions of women, mute victims of unequal laws and customs manufactured during the dark ages of Indian history."

Through their association with Europeans, the Parsis have undergone a complete change and have taken their place in our modern society. It has even been suggested that they are so thoroughly Anglicized that they are lacking in interest. Quite the reverse is the case. It is their very readiness to accept the improvements of life and to assimilate our methods, their unprejudiced and broad-minded intellect, combined with a passionate attachment to their ancestral creed, which make them so sympathetic. We hope that in this short sketch we shall be able to show that Western civilization will not destroy Zoroastrianism, and that the future of the small Parsi community is not to be looked to either with concern or apprehension on the sole pretence that they are gradually discarding purely Hindu customs. What has garb to do with inner life and faith? A Parsi can tread the whole earth, wear any sort of dress, embrace any career, provided he keep pure in his heart the tenets of his religion, and make them sensible to his fellow-men by putting into practice his immortal precepts of good thoughts, good words, good deeds.

*Karkara, Forty Years of Progress and Reform, p. 50.

Such is our own opinion, and it is likely to be shared by any one who will study the transformation of the social status of the Parsis.

I

In 716 A.D., after a succession of hardships, a small troop of Persians, warriors and priests, fled from their own native land and disembarked at Sanjan, which is situated twenty-five miles south of Damaun (Guzarat), in quest of a permanent abode where they could freely practise their religious rites. At that time, Sanjan was a flourishing emporium, and a favorable welcome was given to the exiles. The Hindu prince, the wise Tadi Rana, greeted the dasturs (or priests), and asked them several questions about their creeds and habits. The answers of the learned priests were so satisfactory that a sort of compact was passed between the immigrants and the Rana, who gave them permission to settle in his territory, and granted them the privilege of building a temple of the sacred fire. In their turn, the Persians submitted to certain obligations, as, for example, to wear no arms, to dress according to the Hindu fashion, to adopt some of the local customs; and they so strictly adhered to the clauses that, up to the present time, some of them are still observed. It is most important to note the starting-point of the friendly intercourse of the Parsis with the native populations.

For years and years the Parsis lived in perfect peace and harmony; they increased in number and dispersed in small knots over the whole of Guzarat. The Mohammedan conquest at first did them harm. They had sided with the Rana against the Sultan of Ahmedabad; after the storming of Sanjan they had much to suffer from their' new rulers, and the sacred fire was removed from place to place. However, by degrees, the Parsis grew accustomed to the Mohammedans and had no persecution to suffer.

It seems that, during that time, the community was wholly engaged in agricultural pursuits and absorbed in the practice of their religion. The European travellers, Friar Jordanus, to begin with, mention them in their narratives and relate some of their customs-for instance, fire worship and funeral rites. At the close of the fifteenth century occurred a most solemn hour in the history of the refugees, viz., the renewal of the intercourse with the persecuted Zoroastrians, or Ghebers, who had persisted in dwelling in Persia. A wealthy and influential Parsi, a resident of Nausari, named Changa Asa, at his own expense, deputed a talented beh-din (layman), Nariman Floshang, to Yezd and Kirman, in order to obtain answers to a certain number of questions relating to religion. The Ghebers were overjoyed to see their co-religionist; they did not know that any of their brethren had settled in India. From that time, the relations between the