BOMBAY -The Parsis

Gujarat ...

Some Zoroastrian Persians migrated to India after the fall of the Sassanian Empire, and gave rise to the modern Indian Parsi community. According to a chronicle written in the 17th century, the Kissah-i-Sanjan, the Parsis first came to India in the 8th century. They landed in Diu, and were later given refuge in Sanjan (Gujarat) by the local king, Jadi Rana. Five years after this they built the first fire temple, Atash Behram, to shelter the holy fire rescued from Iran.

Over the years this community accultured to the new land. Gujarati became the native language of the community and the sari the garment of the women. However the Parsis preserved their separate cultural and religious identity.

Towards the end of the 10th century, the Parsis began to settle in other parts of Gujarat. This gave rise to difficulties in defining the limits of priestly jurisdiction, which were resolved in 1290 AD by the establishment of five panthaks or districts--

Sanjan,

The main cave at Bahrot

The Dakhma Mound at Sanjan

Structures and Ringwells at Sanjan

The Bahrot Fort wall

Nausari,

Godareh-Ankleswar, Broach and Cambay.

Late in the 15th century Sanjan was attacked by a Muslim army, probably a war of conquest by the sixth Sultan of Gujarat. The Parsis supported the local Hindu king with 1400 men, and were annihilated. The survivors fled with the holy fire, which was installed in Nausari in 1516. Later, due to disputes between priests, it was transferred and came to its present location in

Udvada in 1742.

BHUJ AGIARY

... Bombay

Parparsisi Fire Temple, Bombay.

Parsi fire temple Bombay

From the 16th century, Surat became a major centre of trade, and more and more Parsis migrated to this town. The newly arrived European traders preferred to conduct business through this community, since their status as a minority gave them the necessary flexibility in their new role as brokers. The first record of a Parsi, Dorabji Nanabhai, 

settling in Bombay dates from 1640.

After 1661, when Bombay passed to the British, there was a concerted effort to bring artisans and traders to settle in the new town. Aungier wrote a letter to the Factor in Surat on November 21, 1647

to invite as many weavers as possible, ... whereinto you will promise them such priviledges, immunities, and exemptions from publique duties as they shall reasonably desire from you..

{PLEASE NOTE:-PEOPLE WERE ASKED TO COME AND SETTLE IN BOMBAY COMPARED TO TODAYS NARROW POLITICS OF ATTACKING SO CALLED OUTSIDERS}

A large part of the Parsi migrants to Bombay in these years was constituted of weavers and other artisans. In 1673, the British handed over a piece of land in Malabar Hill to the Parsi community for the establishment of their first Dakhma, 

Tower of Silence.

In 1735 Lowjee Nusserwanji, a master shipbuilder, was granted land in Bombay by the East India Company. He took the name of his trade, Wadia, and moved into the developing town

{Lowji Nusserwanji Wadia – the shipbuilder from Surat

It has been said that it was not the British merchant but the Parsi shipbuilder who was the real creator of Bombay. In 1736, East India Company officials, very impressed with the work of a young Parsi foreman in their Surat dockyard, invited him to Bombay, with ten of his carpenters, to build the Bombay shipyard. Lowji Nusserwanji Wadia came to Bombay and put in fifty years of service, at a salary of forty rupees a month, handing down his skills to his sons and grandsons. For many decades, it was the success of the shipyards alone that persuaded the East India Company to keep this otherwise expensive settlement going.

The Wadias made ships of Malabar teak for an international clientele. Their Bombay Frigates were ordered by the British Admiralty and used in the Battle of Trafalgar. One of their ships sailed the world for years with the following message carved on her kelson by the chief shipwright, Jamshetji Wadia, "This ship was built by a d----d Black Fellow AD 1800." The Wadias weren't the only stars in the Parsi firmament. Parsi entrepreneurs began springing up in every direction, attempting new professions and being enormously successful. It is said that the Bombay of those days was a level playing field where there were fortunes to be made, caste, colour, creed, no bar; though in the colour-conscious world of British India, it could not have hurt to be light-skinned like some Parsis.}

 Incidentally, the Wadias built the ship Minden, on board which Francis Scott Key composed the US national anthem "Star Spangled Banner".

In 1780, 9.2% of the population of Bombay were Parsis. A first wave of migration followed a famine in Gujarat in 1790. By 1812 the number of Parsis in Bombay had quadrupled. In 1837, a second large wave of migrations to Bombay followed a huge fire in Surat. Today, more than 70% of all Parsis live in Bombay.

he Parsis are intimately connected with the history of Bombay. The cotton boom was largely fuelled by Parsi entrepreneurs. The oldest newspaper in Bombay, "Bombay Samachar", was run by Parsis.Congress stalwarts like

Dadabhai Naoroji, 

 To educate the British public and to fight for Indian rights, in 1892 he stood for elections to the British House of Commons as a liberal from Central Finsbury. He won by three votes and his constituents nicknamed him 'Mr Narrow Majority'. He was the first Indian to beat the British at their own game. The conservative press did their best to stir up racial prejudice against him.
Central Finsbury should be ashamed of itself at having publicly confessed that there was not in the whole of the Division an Englishman, a Scotsman, a Welshman, or an Irishman as worthy of their votes as this fire-worshipper from BombaY

Pherozeshah Mehta 

Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, KCIE (August 4, 1845 - November 5, 1915) was an Parsi Indian political leader, activist, and a leading lawyer, who was knighted by then British Government in India for his service to the law. His political ideology was, as was the case with most of the Indian leaders of his time, moderate and was hence not directly opposed to the crown's sovereignty but only demanded more autonomy for Indians to self-rule.

He became the Municipal commissioner of Bombay Municipality in 1873 and its President four times - 1884, 1885, 1905 and 1911.

Madame Bhikaiji Cama (1861-1936) our radical firebrand, was exiled from India and Britain and lived in France. Bhikaiji was a tireless propagandist for Indian Independence. Russian comrades used to call her India's Joan of Arc. Lenin reportedly invited her to reside in Russia but she did not accept the invitation.44

          In 1907, she addressed an audience of 1,000 Germans at the Stuttgart Conference. After her impassioned speech she unfurled a flag, a tricolour, which became, with some changes, India's national flag forty years later. As her activities grew more radical the British requested the French to extradite her. The French refused. In 1936, alone and seriously ill, wishing to die in her own country she petitioned the British government to be allowed to return home. Her request was granted, provided she sign what she had refused to all her life; a statement promising she would take no part in politics. She returned to Bombay and after an illness of eight months, died lonely, forgotten and unsung in the Parsi General Hospital.
ame Bhikaiji Cama (1861-1936) our radical firebrand, was exiled from India and Britain and lived in France. Bhikaiji was a tireless propagandist for Indian Independence. Russian comrades used to call her India's Joan of Arc. Lenin reportedly invited her to reside in Russia but she did not accept the invitation.44
          In 1907, she addressed an audience of 1,000 Germans at the Stuttgart Conference. After her impassioned speech she unfurled a flag, a tricolour, which became, with some changes, India's national flag forty years later. As her activities grew more radical the British requested the French to extradite her. The French refused. In 1936, alone and seriously ill, wishing to die in her own country she petitioned the British government to be allowed to return home. Her request was granted, provided she sign what she had refused to all her life; a statement promising she would take no part in politics. She returned to Bombay and after an illness of eight months, died lonely, forgotten and unsung in the Parsi General Hospital.

 Dinshaw Wacha

Sir Dinshaw Edulji Wacha (1844-1936) was a Parsi Indian politician from Bombay. He was one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, and its President in 1901.

He was President of the Indian Merchants' Chamber in 1915.

TATA 

 Even the physical shape of Bombay was determined by donations to build causeways, roads and buildings by members of theJeejeebhoy his first voyage to China (1800)to trade in cotton and opium.

Sir JJ as he was
known , was one of India's greatest philanthropists

Sketch of Jejeebhoy, 1857

An essentially self-made man, having experienced the miseries of poverty in early life, Jejeebhoy developed great sympathy for his poorer countrymen, and in his later life was occupied with alleviating human distress in all its forms. Parsi and Christian, Hindu and Muslim, were alike the objects of his beneficence. Hospitals, schools, homes of charity and pension funds throughout India (particularly in Mumbai,

Sir J. J. Hospital

Jejeebhoy donated to at least 126 notable public charities, including the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art, the Sir J. J. College of Architecture, the Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art and the Seth R.J.J. High School. He also endowed charities dedicated to helping his fellow Parsis and created the "Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy Parsi Benevolent Fund".

Mahim Causeway: the British Government had refused to build a causeway to connect the island of Salsette to Mumbai. Jejeebhoy's wife Avabai Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy spent 1,55,800 rupees to finance its construction, naming it after his wife Avabai. The work began in the year 1841 and is believed to have been completed 4 years late

The Illustrated London News print of Jejeebhoy's residence, 1858

The fifth Baronet, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy at home. The first Baronet, Sir JJ as he was
known , was one of India's greatest philanthropists. Schools, colleges, hospitals, still
bear his name. Bombay 1984.

and Readymoney families.

Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, CSI (1812–1878)

Fountain erected by Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney in Regent's Park, London

SIR COWASJI JEHANGIR READYMONEY (1812-1878), "the Peabody of Bombay."  Readymoney (first to loan money to the British).Early in the 18th century three Parsee brothers moved from Nowsari, near Surat, in Gujarat, to Bombay, and became the pioneers of a lucrative trade with China. They gained the sobriquet of "Readymoney," which they adopted as a surname. Only Hirji Jewanji Readymoney left issue, two daughters, the elder of whom married a Banaji, and the younger a Dady Sett. The son of the former, Jehangir Hirji, married Mirbae, the daughter of the latter, and was made the heir not only of his grandfather, but of his two granduncles. The younger of their two sons was Cowasji Jehangir. His only English education was at the then well-known school kept by Serjeant Sykes in the Fort of Bombay. At the age of 15 he entered the firm of Duncan, Gibb & Co. as "godown keeper," or warehouse clerk. In 1837 he was promoted to the responsible and lucrative appointment of "guarantee broker" to two of the leading European firms of Bombay. In 1846 he was able to begin trading on his own account. He was made a J.P. for the town and island of Bombay, and a member of the board of conservancy; and in 1866 was appointed a commissioner of income tax, his tactful management being largely responsible for the fact that this tax, then new to Bombay and unpopular, was levied with unexpected financial success. He was made C.S.I. in 1871; and in 1872 he was created a Knight Bachelor of the United Kingdom, and his statue, by T. Woolner, R. A., was erected in the town hall. His donations to the institutions of Bombay amounted to close on £ 200,000. His health broke down in 1871, and he died in 1878, being succeeded by his son, Sir J. Cowasji Jehangir [Readymoney],


 who was created a Knight Bachelor in 1895, and a Baronet in 1908.