The migration of the Pārsis to India dates from the Arab conquest of Persia in A.D. 638–641. The refugees at first fled to the hills, and after passing through a period of hardship moved down to the coast and settled in the city of Ormuz. Being again persecuted, a party of them set sail for India and landed in Gujarāt. There were probably two migrations, one immediately after the Arab conquest in 641, and the second from Ormuz as described above in A.D. 750. Their first settlement was at Sanjān in Gujarāt, and from here they spread to various other cities along the coast. During their period of prosperity at Sanjān they would seem to have converted a large section of the Hindu population near Thāna. The first settlers in Gujarāt apparently took to tapping palm trees for toddy, and the Pārsis have ever since been closely connected with the liquor traffic. The Portuguese writer Garcia d’Orta (A.D. 1535) notices a curious class of merchants and shopkeepers, who were called Coaris, that is Gaurs, in Bassein, and Esparis or Pārsis in Cambay. The Portuguese called them Jews; but they were no Jews, for they were uncircumcised and ate pork. Besides they came from Persia and had a curious written character, strange oaths and many foolish superstitions, taking their dead out by a special door and exposing the bodies till they were destroyed. In 1578, at the request of the Emperor Akbar, the Pārsis sent learned priests to explain to him the Zoroastrian faith. They found Akbar a ready listener and taught him their peculiar rites and ceremonies. Akbar issued orders that the sacred fire should be made over to the charge of Abul Fazl, and that after the manner of the kings of Persia, in whose temples blazed perpetual fires, Abul Fazl should take care that the sacred fire was never allowed to go out either by night or day, for that it was one of the signs of god and one light from among the many lights of his creation. Akbar, according to Portuguese accounts, was invested with the sacred shirt and girdle, and in return granted the Gujarāt priest Meherji Rāna an estate near Naosari, where his descendants have ever since been chief priests.[16]
10. Their wealth and prosperity.
The Pārsis had begun to settle in Bombay under the Portuguese (A.D. 1530–1666). One of them, Dorābji Nānābhai, held a high position in the island before its transfer to the British in the latter year, and before the end of the seventeenth century several more families, of whom the Modis, Pāndes, Banājis, Dādiseths and Vādias were among the earliest, settled in the island. To the Gujarāt Pārsis more than to any class of native merchants was due the development of the trade of Bombay, especially with China. Though many Pārsis came to Bombay, almost all continued to consider Surat or Naosāri their home; and after its transfer to the British in 1759 the Surat Pārsis rose greatly in wealth and position. They became the chief merchants of Surat, and their leading men were the English, Portuguese and Dutch brokers. Shortly afterwards, owing to the great development of the opium and cotton trade with China, the Pārsis made large profits in commerce both at Surat and Bombay. After the great fire at Surat in 1857 Bombay became the headquarters of the Parsis, and since then has had as permanent settlers the largest section of the community. The bulk of the native foreign trade fell into their hands, and the very great liberality of some of the leading Pārsis has made their name honourable. They secured a large share of the wealth that was poured into western India by the American War and the making of railways, and have played a leading part in starting and developing the great factory industry of Bombay. Many of the largest and best managed mills belong to Pārsis, and numbers of them find highly paid employment as mechanical engineers, and weaving, carding and spinning masters. Broach ranks next to Bombay in the prosperity of its Pārsis; they deal extensively in cotton, timber, fuel and the manufacture of spirit from the flowers of the mahua tree.[17] From the Bombay Presidency the Pārsis have spread to other parts of India, following the same avocations; they are liquor and timber contractors, own and manage weaving mills and ginning factories, and keep shops for retailing European stores, and are the most prosperous and enterprising section of the native population. Two Pārsis have become members of Parliament, and others have risen to distinction in Government service, business and the professions. The sea-face road in Bombay in the evening, thronged with the carriages and motor-cars of Pārsi men and ladies, is strong testimony to the success which the ability and industry of this race have achieved under the encouragement of peace, the protection of property and the liberty to trade. Though they have a common Aryan ancestry and their religion is so closely connected with Hinduism, the Pārsis feel themselves a race alien to the Hindus and probably have no great sympathy with them. Their wealth and position have been mainly obtained under British rule, and the bulk of them are believed to be its warm adherents. The Pārsis now make no proselytes, and no regular provision exists for admitting outsiders to their religion, though it is believed that, in one or two cases, wives taken from outside the community have been admitted. They object strongly to the adoption of any other religion, such as Christianity, by members of their body. The Pārsis are notable for the fact that their women are very well educated and appear quite freely in society. This is a comparatively recent reform and may be ascribed to the English example, though the credit they deserve for having broken through prejudice and tradition is in no way diminished on that account. The total number of Pārsis in India in 1911 was just 100,000 persons.
11. Marriage customs.
Polygamy among the Pārsis has been forbidden by the Pārsi Marriage and Divorce Act of 1865. The remarriage of widows is allowed but is celebrated at midnight. If a bachelor is to marry a widow, he first goes through a sham rite with the branch of a tree, as among the Hindus. Similarly before the wedding the bride and bridegroom are rubbed with turmeric, and for the ceremony a marriage-shed is erected. At a feast before the wedding one of the women beats a copper dish and asks the ancestral spirits to attend, calling them by name. Another woman comes running in, barking like a dog. The women drive her away, and with fun and laughing eat all the things they can lay their hands on. Prior to the rite the bride and bridegroom are purified in the same manner as when invested with the sacred shirt and cord. The bridegroom wears a long white robe reaching to his ankles and a white sash round his waist; he has a garland of flowers round his neck, a red mark on his forehead, and carries a bunch of flowers and a cocoanut in his right hand. At every street corner on his way to the bride’s home a cocoanut is waved round his head, broken and thrown away. He sets his right foot in the house first, and as he enters rice and water are thrown under his feet and an egg and cocoanut are broken. At the wedding the couple throw rice on each other, and it is supposed that whoever is quickest in throwing the rice will rule the other. They are then seated side by side, and two priests stand before them with a witness on each side, holding brass plates full of rice. The two priests pronounce the marriage blessing in old Persian and Sanskrit, at each sentence throwing rice on the bride’s and bridegroom’s heads. At intervals in the midst of the blessing the bridegroom and bride are asked in Persian, ‘Have you chosen her?’ and ‘Have you chosen him?’ They answer in Persian, or if they are too young their mothers answer for them, ‘I have chosen.’[18]
12. Religion. Worship of fire.
The religious ritual of the Pārsis consists of the worship of fire. The fire temples are of a single storey and contain three rooms. On reaching the outer hall the worshipper washes his face, hands and feet, and recites a prayer. Then, carrying a piece of sandalwood and some money for the officiating priest, he passes to the inner hall, in which a carpet is spread. He takes off his shoes and rings one of four brass bells hanging at the corners of the room. The priest also rings one of these bells at each watch when he performs worship. He then proceeds to the threshold of the central fire-room, kneels there, and again standing begins to recite prayers. None may enter the fire-room except the priests. Here the fire is kept always blazing in a silver or copper urn on a solid stone pedestal, and is fed day and night with sandal and other commoner woods. A priest is always present, dressed in long white robes, his hands covered with white cloths and his face veiled. The worshipper lays down his offering of sandalwood at the entrance, and the priest takes it up with a pair of tongs, and gives him some ashes from the urn in a silver or brass ladle. These the worshipper rubs on his forehead and eyebrows. On concluding his prayers, which are in the Avesta language, he walks backward to where he left his shoes and goes home. A Pārsi man never allows his hearth fire to go out, and if he changes his residence he carries it with him to the next place of abode.
13. The Homa liquor.
Like the Hindus, the Iranian ancestors of the Pārsis revered the sacred liquor made from the Soma or Homa plant. It was considered a panacea for all diseases, and many stories about the miraculous effects obtained from drinking the juice are contained in a hymn of the Zend-Avesta composed in its honour. According to Dr. Mitchell[19] the offering of Homa is still made at Pārsi temples, though apparently some substitute must have been obtained for the original plant, which does not grow in the plains of India. At any rate the offering and sacrificial drinking of the liquor were probably continued so long as the Pārsis remained in Persia. As this is a comparatively cool country, the bad effects of alcohol did not perhaps become apparent to the Pārsis as they did to the Hindus in the plains of India, and hence the sanctity attaching to the liquor underwent no similar decline. From this it perhaps results that the Pārsis have no feeling at all against alcohol, and drink it for pleasure, like Europeans. Both the toddy of the date-palm and mahua spirit are freely consumed at their feasts, while the rich members of the community drink European wines and spirits. As any dealing in alcohol is practically prohibited to high-caste Hindus and also to Muhammadans, and low-caste Hindus have hitherto scarcely ever been literate, the Pārsis on account of this peculiarity have found a profitable opening in the wholesale liquor trade, and until recently have had very little effective competition to face. This is perhaps a reason for their special addiction to it, and also for their engaging in the sale of European stores and wines.