The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-07-29
AN ENGLISH PARSEE CEMETERY
Dedication of an "Agiary" in Memory
of an Indian Gentleman.

Dedication of an "Agiary" in Memory
| of an Indian Gentleman.
| 1t was a striking little ceremony
which Sir George Birdwood performed
| the conservation of the new 'agiary,"
or chapel, and the mausoleum erected
! in memory of the late Mr.. Nowrosjee
Wadia, in the cemetery at Brookwood
a few miles beyond Working. In the
| presence of many Parse gentlemen
and guests, who had Travelled down
from London by special train, the pro-
ceedings commenced with brief con-
secration prayer before what, for want
Of better word, must be termed the
altar in the "aigiary," upon which q
| fire was burning brightly. This chap
al, a plan white building of square
| form, unadorned inside or outside, is on
| the plan of some similar structures,
found in the palace of Darius at Per-
sepolis. 1t serves, with the handsome
and distinctly Oriental gateway of pol
ished porcelain tiles, to mark the chief
of several entrances, three of which
have still to be arranged, into the
pleasant, pine surrounded knoll of the
Parsee burial ground. The center of
this Is the fine new mausoleum al
ready mentioned, and after the conse-
Grafton service Sir George Birdwood
mounted the steps and read a charm
ing address, in which he briefly
sketched the history Of the Parsee peo-
pie and faith. The latter, he pointed
out, has been preserved in almost it's
pristine purity through nearly three
thousand years. The ZoroastrIans ex-
PEELED from their national home in Per
STA, suffered ceaseless prosecutions,
hut through everything contrived to
keep their religious zeal alight The
belief expressed in the gateway chapel
was essentially the same as that origi-
nally formulated in Media and after
ward established by Cyrus as the ma
tional religion of Persia. las substance
was ito shun evil and wickedness; to
seek good and ensue it; to pray five
times day with the face turned to
some bright and glorious object-the
sun, fire or the sea"
The new agiary and the ground
around 1t were consecrated to the Par
see dead in Europe by the generosity of
the widow of the late Mr. Wadia. The
garden, Sir George proceeded to point
out. by a happy thought had been
planted with those flowers and shrubs
which claim Persia as their original
home; the gravestones, dating back as
far as 1862, of members of the commu-
nifty already buried here, had been
cared for, and when the place was
completed he felt 1t would be one to
which all members of an ancient belief
would look with pleasure, Sir M
Bhowanggree, M. p, who followed
showed that the three structures they
had come to dedicate stood in the heart
of the greatest empire of modern times,
and were copied from similar struc-
lures in the equally, mighty ancient |
empire from which the Parsees orig
inally came
After one or two other gentlemen
had spoken the informal ceremonies
were complete, and the guests separa
ted to inspect at their leisure the 4
quaint and beautiful mausoleum, whose /
roof of turquoise blue tiles is plainly |
visible among the dark green fir trees |
to the travellers in the trains. whose |
sound is the only thing that breaks the |
stiffness of this bit Of ancient Parthia |
to an English hillside
London Telegraph.