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                               Les Parsis

                                   By

                               D. Menant

                           Translated in part

                              By the late

                      Miss Ratanbai Ardeshir Vakil



                                 London

                    Printed for private circulation

                                  1902







CONTENTS


                                                        Page

              Introduction                                ix
    Chapter
          I.  The Exodus of the Parsis                     1
         II.  The Zoroastrians in Persia                  38
        III.  Population--Costumes--Usages--Festivals     77







INTRODUCTION


A special interest attaches to this translation into English of
D. Menant's monograph entitled "Les Parsis," arising from the
circumstance that it is, in great part, the work of a Parsi lady,
the late Miss Ratanbai Ardeshir Vakil.

I have still a vivid recollection of the morning in the beginning of
the year 1886 on which Mr. Ardeshir F. Vakil, senior partner in one of
the leading firms of solicitors in Bombay, brought his two daughters
Meherbai and Ratanbai to the Wilson College to begin their career
as students of the Bombay University. Although for many years that
University had prefaced its Regulations with the sentence--"In the
following regulations the pronoun 'he' and its derivatives are used
to denote either sex," and had thus opened its doors wide to the women
of India, only one lady student had been enrolled as undergraduate in
Arts before these two sisters entered upon their College career. The
experiment which was then made awakened some anxieties. Would it be
possible for Indian ladies to study in a mixed College class? How would
the men be likely to conduct themselves in the new situation?--these
were questions which naturally presented themselves. The result of
the experiment disappointed from the beginning all such fears. From
the first day the presence of these ladies elevated the tone and
discipline of the College class in a manner most creditable to the
ladies and to the men. The success of this experiment paved the way
for the admission during subsequent years of an increasing number of
lady students to the privileges of a University education, who are
under no small obligation to the courage and character displayed by
these two sister pioneers. They both came to the University under the
impulse of a real love of learning, and their success in the pursuit
of it was assured from the beginning.

In this prefatory note I confine myself to the career of the younger
sister. The elder, after her graduation as Bachelor of Arts in Bombay,
entered upon a course of medical study which led her ultimately to
London and Glasgow. From the Glasgow University she received the
degrees of M.B., C.M., and is now exercising her profession in her
native city.

The younger sister, Ratanbai, never left home. The strength of her
attachment to her home in Bombay was quite remarkable. She found
little enjoyment even in those temporary absences from Bombay during
the hot season vacation which prove so attractive to many. Her life
moved in two spheres--the College and her home, and these two sufficed.

Born in December, 1869, she was a girl of sixteen when she entered upon
her studies for her degree. She passed through the ordinary curriculum
of study, which included English and French Literature, Mathematics,
Elementary Science, History, and Logic. The subjects in which she was
specially interested were English and French Literature. French was
recognised by the University as one of the languages which might be
studied in the course for the degree of Bachelor of Arts when she
entered upon her studies, and she was one of the first to select
this language. She had as her instructor the late Signor Pedraza,
a gentleman whose name will always be associated with the history of
the progress of French studies in Western India. Under his competent
guidance she acquired a great love for French literature, and found
in this side of her studies much mental enjoyment. In 1890 she passed
her examination for the degree with honours, and was immediately
thereafter elected to a Fellowship in the College. This also was a
new and interesting experiment, amply justified by its results.

As a Dakshina Fellow she taught the French classes in the College,
and had as her pupils not only young ladies but also young men. When
the period of her fellowship expired she continued her connection
with the College and remained in charge of the French classes,
performing a highly-valued service on the merely nominal salary of
a Fellow of an Indian College. She maintained her connection with
the College simply from love to the College and the work. During her
College career both she and her sister had given evidence of their
unselfishness by declining, on more than one occasion, scholarships
to which their position in the University examinations would have
entitled them, in order that poorer students less high in the lists
might have the benefit of the aid and rewards which they were willing
to forego. Ratanbai showed the same spirit of generosity during all the
years of her connection with the College, and every student movement
that needed financial aid could always reckon on her liberal help. In
the truest sense her work in the Wilson College was a labour of love.

She continued this work up to the time of that last sad illness
which ended so rapidly in her lamented death. So quickly did she
succumb that I knew of her serious illness only a few hours before
she passed away. I shall not readily forget the grief of her home
when the shadow of death was falling upon it, nor the gloom which
entered when she passed out of it. It was indeed as if all its light
and joy had perished. One could see how the education and culture
of women, instead of creating a cleft in the life of the family,
as is so often erroneously imagined by those who oppose the cause of
female education in India, proves a means of strengthening its unity
and elevating its whole character.

In this respect Ratanbai was exercising an influence greater than
she knew on the prospects of education amongst her countrywomen, by
disarming all such suspicions and by proving in her own person the
essential compatibility of the higher culture with the best domestic
virtues. She never felt tempted by her love of books to neglect her
duties as a daughter and a sister in the home, or, if she did, she
overcame the temptation completely.

Her influence on College students was of the same quiet, unobtrusive
character, and, for that reason, all the more real. When she died, the
students of the College felt themselves bereaved of a true friend. A
spontaneous movement on their part to found a memorial of her in the
College awakened a general response, and the Ratanbai Collection of
French Works placed in the College Library was the result.

Through the efforts of friends outside the College who admired her
character and attainments, a scholarship fund was raised in her memory,
and the College awards every year scholarships to women students on
this foundation.

During a brief career she was enabled to illustrate by a singularly
modest and unassuming life the power and the lasting influence of
unselfish service. The truest mark of her unselfishness was her own
unconsciousness of it; by look and manner she seemed continually
to deprecate all commendation or praise. Unselfish devotion to duty
in the two spheres of life to which she belonged, her home and her
College, was the outstanding feature of the brief but happy career
which closed so suddenly when Ratanbai passed away in 1895, at the
early age of twenty-six; and because of this her memory remains.

The unfinished manuscript now completed and published will be welcomed
by many who knew and esteemed the writer, as well as by all in whom
the perusal of this volume awakens an interest in the ancient race
to which she belonged.


D. Mackichan.

Wilson College, Bombay,

May, 1902.







THE PARSIS



CHAPTER I

THE EXODUS OF THE PARSIS


The Parsis are the descendants of the ancient Persians, whose fame has
survived in the annals of the world. Reduced henceforth to perhaps
the most restricted minority amongst all the nations of the globe,
they are found dispersed all over the Presidency of Bombay, and in some
districts of modern Persia, in Yezd and in Kirman, where they have been
vegetating for centuries. The Bible, [1] the classical historians,
[2] national traditions, [3] and epigraphical documents recently
brought to light by European savants [4] give us some information
concerning their history.

Fars represents in our days the little province of Parsua, which has
given its name to one of the greatest civilisations of antiquity. It
is bounded on the west by Susiana, on the north and on the east
by the Deserts of Khavir and Kirman, with a coast-line along the
Persian Gulf between Bushire and Bunder Abbas. In ancient times the
inhabitants, divided into tribes, led a simple, rustic life, superior
in all respects to their neighbours the Medes, already enervated by
civilisation. Between the ages of five and twenty, says Herodotus,
the young Persians are taught three things: to mount the horse, to
stretch the bow, and to speak the truth (Her., Clio, cxxxi.). It was
amongst them, and amongst the Bactrians, that the principles of the
Zoroastrian religion had been maintained in all their purity.

With Cyrus, the descendant of Achaemenes, the real history of Persia
begins. He founded the dynasty of the Achaemenides, which lasted for
two centuries, and attained by its conquests a degree of splendour
of which we find unmistakable traces everywhere. It was at Arbela [5]
(331) that Alexander overthrew Darius, the last prince of this dynasty,
and, on his death, Persia was numbered amongst the countries that had
passed under the subjection of the Seleucidae. In 225 B.C., Arsace,
of the province of Parthia, revolted against Antiochus Theos, and
laid the foundations of a new empire. The dynasty of the Arsacides
reigned until a Persian prince of somewhat inferior birth, Ardeshir,
founded in his turn a national dynasty, viz., that of the Sassanides
(226 A.D.). The Romans were its constant enemies. However, the
real danger revealed itself only with the advent of the Arabs, who,
approaching nearer and nearer, had already conquered several provinces
when King Yezdezard made preparations for resistance.

The first invasion took place under Khalif Omar (633). [6] Khalud Ben
Walid at the head of ten thousand men, and Mosanna at the head of eight
thousand, had marched against Hormuz, the Persian Governor of Irak,
and had vanquished him. After this victory Khalud had gone forward
and conquered Irak; but he was defeated at the battle of Marwaha
(634). Four thousand Mussulmans were killed, and two thousand returned
to Medina. Unfortunately the Persian general Behman did not follow up
this advantage. The country was at this time divided into two factions,
one under Rustam, the generalissimo of the Persian Empire, the other
under Prince Firoz. Behman, instead of securing the independence of
his country, hastened to support Rustam against Firoz. The Arabs,
emboldened by their rapid successes, established their camp between
Kadesia [7] and Koufah, where by the Caliph's order hordes of Nomads
came to reinforce their troops. The struggle lasted for three days and
three nights; the Persian army was entirely destroyed, and the royal
standard fell into the hands of the Arabs. [8] Yezdezard, informed
of this misfortune, escaped to Holwan. Sa'd, having taken possession
of Madain, pursued the fugitive monarch, who withdrew to Rei.

In the twentieth year of the Hejira, Omar recalled Sa'd, and Yezdezard
took this opportunity to gather together a hundred and fifty thousand
men, all the contingents having been drawn from the province of
Khorassan and from the environs of Rei and Hamadan. Firouzan was
appointed commander. The Caliph, hearing of the preparations of
the Persian king, sent in his turn reinforcements, and placed at
their head his general No'man, with the strictest orders to destroy
the impious religion of the Fire-Worshippers. It was at Nehawend [9]
that, after a delay of two months, the shock of arms decided the fate
of Iran. Thirty thousand Persians fell on the battlefield, and eighty
thousand were drowned in the moats surrounding the camp. Firouzan was
pursued into the mountains and killed by a detachment of Arabs. [10]

From that time Persia passed into the hands of the Caliphs. Yezdezard
escaped at first to Seistan and then to Merv. The governor of this town
offered to deliver up the fugitive prince to the Khan of Turkestan. The
Turks entered the town in spite of the resistance of the inhabitants,
and the king, taking advantage of the confusion, succeeded in hiding
himself in a neighbouring mill. The miller at first gave protection
to the king; but urged by a desire to get possession of his arms and
his clothes, he, like a coward, killed the king. The irate people
massacred the assassin, and the body of Yezdezard, son of Sheheriar,
the last sovereign of the Sassanian dynasty, was sent to Istakhr,
there to be deposited in the tomb of his ancestors (A.D. 650).

The conquest of Persia was accomplished with surprising
rapidity. Shortly after the death of the king, Islamism was imposed
upon all; but certain amongst the Mazdiens offered resistance, and
even succeeded in remaining in their fatherland; others, unwilling
to accept the law of the Koran, abandoned their hearths, and went
and dwelt in the mountainous districts of Khorassan, [11] where,
for a hundred years, they were enabled to live and practise their
religion without being disturbed. They were, however, obliged to quit
this asylum and to take refuge in large numbers in the little island
of Hormuz, [12] at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. Here they made
but a short sojourn, and finally decided to seek the protection of
the Hindoos. They procured vessels and embarked with their wives
and children.

The relations between Persia and India had been rather frequent, and it
was precisely their former intercourse, rendered closer a few centuries
before the Arab invasion, that made this migration possible. This
we can see from an interesting resume given in the Gazetteer of the
Bombay Presidency, p. 247, and which we reproduce here:--

"In legendary times some religious connection had existed between
the great prophet Zoroaster, who flourished about 1000 B.C. (see
Haug, Essays, 299), and the Brahman Tchengreghatchah, who was sent
back to convert his compatriots. (See also in Firdusi the story of
Prince Isphandiar, son of Gustasp, who was such a fervent disciple
of Zoroaster that he persuaded the Emperor of India to adopt the
worship of fire,--Elliot, History, v. 568). The Hindoo tradition of
the introduction of fire-worshipping priests from Persia into Dwarka
in Kathyawar is probably of a much later date (Reinaud, Memoire sur
l'Inde, 391-397). Another link, and this time of an entirely political
nature, is discovered in the mythical conquests of Northern India,
which, according to Persian writers, must have followed from the year
1729 B.C. (Troyer, Rajatarangini, ii. 441). In historical times the
Punjaub formed part of the Persian dominions since its conquest by
Darius Hystaspes (510 B.C.) down to the end of the dynasty of the
Achaemenides (350 B.C.). (Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, iv. 433.)

"Towards the commencement of the Christian era, as is seen from the
fire altars on their coins, the Kanerkis or the Scythians of India,
the rulers of the Punjaub, seem to have adopted the religion of
the Magi (Lassen, in J. B. A. S. ix. 456; Prinsep, Note on Historic
Researches from Bactrian Coins, 106). As far as Southern India is
concerned, the mention of Brahmani Magi in Ptolemy (150) seems to
indicate some relation with Persia, but the Kanarese word mag or
'son' gives a sufficient explanation.

"Closer connection between India and Persia dates from the restoration
of the Persian power under the Sassanide dynasty (226-650 A.D.). In
the fifth century the visit of the Persian prince Behram (436), who
had come, doubtless, to implore aid against the White Huns (Wilson,
Ariana Antiqua, 383), his marriage with a Hindoo princess, and,
according to indigenous accounts, his founding the dynasty of the
Ghardabin kings, made this intimacy closer (Wilford, As. Res. ix. 219;
Masoudi, Prairies d'or, ii. 191; Reinaud, Memoire sur l'Inde, 112;
Elliot, Hist. ii. 159). Later on Noshirwan the Just (531-579) and his
grandson Parviz (591-628) allied themselves, by treaties and by the
exchange of rich presents, to the rulers of India and Sindh (Masoudi,
Prairies d'or, ii. 201). As to these treaties, it is interesting
to notice that the subject of one of the paintings in the Caves of
Ajanta is believed to represent the embassy of Noshirwan to Pulikesi,
king of Badami, in the country south of that of the Mahrattas,
whilst another is supposed to be a copy made after the portraits of
Parviz and the beautiful Shirin (Fergusson, in Burgess' Ajanta Notes,
92). According to certain narratives, a body of Persians landed,
at the commencement of the seventh century