Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-22
PARsEEs OF INDIA.
Have Retained Individuality as Peo-
pie for Twelve Centuries.

From the National Geographic Magazine
When the Persian empire OF Sassanldes
was destroyed by the Saracens In 65i A. ID.
the great mass OF the nation was forced to
adopt the faith OF Islamism, the religion or
their Mohammedan coneuerors; but a small
number chung to the old Zoroastrian faith
and took refuge in the wilderness OF the
Persian province of Khorasan. After much
wandering and enduring great persecution
and hardship. they, in the eighth century,
emisrated to India and made a settlement
at Sanjan, in the neighborhood Of Surat.
Here they lived in the Sanjan country for
some seven hundred years In tranquility
and In the full enjoyment of their religious
rites, under the government OF the Hindoo
rajahs of Sansan, Guzerat.
They chiefly occupied themselves In agri-
cultural and industrial pursuits. 1t is said
that they not only turned the face of the
territory they occupied from dreary jungle
into fruitful garden and made 1t blossom
as the rose. but they also enjoyed consider
able prosperity.
About the time of the discovery of Amer
lea the Hindoo rajah's government under
which they lived was overthrow by Mo-
hammedan-Afghan conqueror. The Par
sees, with high character for fidelity, We're
loyal to the Indian kings. who had given
them and their ancestors welcome when
they had been driven from their own Per-
sian homes by the same foe. They gathered
their forces to the standard of the rajahs,
and proved themselves of great valor. The
result of the campaign was. however, one
of disaster. They were finally dispersed
from the Sanjan country and compelled to
seek new homes in other parts of Guzerat.
1t was probably some time after this
event, though there does not seem to exist
any authoritative record of the exact date
when the Parsees arrived in Bombay. 1t
hn ha ofaIxy sal 1,af thsir eaf-
Element In that island was some time be-
fore Bombay was coded to the British, in
1863. by the King of Portugal, as a dowry
of Catherine, Princess of Braganza, who be-
came the wife of Charles the Second of
England.
AS a sect in Persia they have disap-
peared under religious prosecutions and
have sunk into ignorance and poverty
though still preserving reputation for
honesty industry and obedience to law SUI
perior to that of other Persians.
Ihere seems to be no authoritative inforr
nation as to the number composing the first
exodus to India, IL the Parsee colony
was ever materially increased by early adj
ditions from Persia. Some traditions have
that there was a paucity of females
among them and that they intermarried
with Hindoo women on their first coming
to India. This traditional intimation of
racial mixture is not well received by the
Parsee people Of today. However it may
have been. there is one thing certain, that
If ever the practice did occur 1t surely was
shortl1ved as no custom of today is more
religiously observed than that of intermar-
rage among their own people.
For some 1900 years they have lived
among the all-absorbent Hindoos, yet this
mere handful of people have not been alb
sorbed During the last 800 years the trans
m1ssiye influence of an Anglo-Saxon civili-
cation has been reflected upon them yet
they remain Parsees still. India has In
turn been conquered and reconquered by
al the great nations Of history, from Greek
In
shaped the affairs of half of the earth,
The possession of the Indian peninsula
seems an indispensable requirement for SOW
ereignty in the east. Internecine wars ra-
clai strlfes and caste prejudices have robbed
her of her own; pestilence and famine have
blfghted her fairest flower; yet during all
these centuries. amid all the vicissitudes of
oriental life, have lived the worthy de-
scendants OF the ancient Persian people,
true to their faith. and have substantially
preserved and transmitted the main char
acteristics of their ancestral race The
Parsee stands unique in the history of man
kind.
The Parsees of India have been exceed
insly prosperous and have steadily increased
In number, now being variously estimated
at about 10000 souls They are most num-
China and remote places In India for the
purpose of trade. but these outlying settle
ments do not contain more than perhaps
1000 people. 1t is calculated that about
the Bombay presidency. which was found
by the census taken by the government of
India In 1901 to be 1852 or these AZ, 231
reside In the city of Bombay
On the spread Of Mohammedanism to In
Ola they became again the subject of perse-
cution. Since the occupation OF India by
the British they have Jared better, and now
form q peaceful. intelligent. wealthy and
influential community
Physically they are tall and erect, hav-
Ing remarkably small hands and feet, with
facial features resembling the Europeans
They have quickness of action bordering
on nervousness. Their hair is Jet black
ana their eyes are dark. In their manners
they are exceedingly polite, kind and hos
pitable, often putting themselves to great
inconvenience to accommodate a stranger
In the habit of diet they are religiously alb
stemfous, and are exceedingly temperate
In the use of tobacco and Intoxicating
liquors.
Excepting. perhaps, fish, fowl and NUT
tom they are not 'tmeat-eating people"
Like most oriental nations. principal food
among them Is rice, served In currles ana
In a hundred different ways