Studio portrait of Khan Bahadur Padanjee Pestonjee, Member of the Legislative Council, Bombay.--Photographer: Unknown Medium: Photographic print Date: 1860-

Three-quarter length seated portrait of Khan Bahadur Padanjee Pestonjee, Member of the Legislative Council, Bombay (Mumbai). This photograph was taken by an unknown photographer in the 1860s, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. The Parsees, or Parsis, are descendants of Persians who fled to India in the seventh and eighth centuries to escape Muslim persecution. The Parsis are Zorastrian, often described as fire-worshippers. However, they do not worship fire, instead they revere many aspects of nature as manifestations of the divinity of Ahura Mazdah. Their communities are concentrated in Maharashtra and Gujarat states, especially in Bombay.