The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-31

| charities and almost 100000 in private
aims. She gave Bombay its first hos
pital for native women at a cost of over
s., 100000, and Notwithstanding all this
left big fortune to her descendants.
Parsee MiIIionaires
| These gifts suggest the wealth of the
Parsees. The petits might be called the
Rothschilds of the country, save that
they are by far more generous. One of
the men of the Petit family to which
belonged the girl who has just donated
founded boys orphanage to perpet-
uate the memory of his son, who was
cut off in his prime. These Petits have
made their millions In cotton. One of
them erected the first spinning and
weaving mill for India. This was over
and it's founder added others so that
and its founded added toehsr, SO that
he became the cotton king of the coun-
try. A large part of the Wadia fortune
was made in cotton, as were also those
of the Tatas, and the Jeejeebhoys. 9th
| er rich families control the Parsee
banks in the various cities of India
and in other parts of the far east, and
a big steel industry has just been
started by the Tatas. But of this l
| shall write in the future.
| A Religious Trust
Before mentioning some tenets of the
Parsee faith l want to tell you about
the Punchayat or religious trust which
manages it. This controls more prop
erty than Trinity church of New York.
1t has charge of all the church funds
amounting to more than two million
dollars, and other holdings in real es-
tate of which are of great value. The
Punchayat has recently figured in some
| trials here at Bombay, which have
created great excitement throughout
the Parsee world. The Parsee church is
a close corporation. Its members are
| liberal to a fault and give more to
their faith than any sect 1 know. Al
the same time they are conservative
and want to control what they give
by keeping out of the fold converts
who are not of pure Parsee blood.
| Not long ago one of the Tatas, a
millionaire member of the community
took unto himself a French wife, She
became converted to her husband s
religion, professed the faith of Zoroas-
ter and was taken into the church,
Thereupon the bigots of the faith OBJ
jected, and the trustees OF the Pun
chayat decided that they could not al
|
to go to outside converts, nor would
they permit such converts to, warm
their souls at the holy fires or upon
death to have their flesh torn from
their bodies by the vultures on the
| towers OF silence. The French lady
has insisted upon her rights, and she
has now brought suit to enforce them
before the courts at Bombay. The
Judges have decided in her favor, and
= - 4 - t~~I.k -
| come into the church under certain re-
strictions. However. there was mi
nority decision. One OF the justices
suggested that the aliens might have
separate temples and burial towers, and
another has protested that the verdict
might open the church to undesirable
aliens and ruin the prosperity of ths
Parsee community
The Faith of the Parsees
And this brings me to the faith of the
Parsees. You have often heard then
called worshipers Of fire. In sense they
are SO. They have fire always burning
in their temples, but they worship it, al
one of them told me, only as an emblem
of the sun and as the highest visible type
OF the Creator. 1t is SO with all religion.
supposed to be purely idolatrous. Upor
Investigation one finds that the idols ar
worshiped only as the representative o.
q deity who creates and rules, and no
as sticks and stones endowed with super
natural powers There is no religion
upon earth that does not contain beau
tiful truths Otherwise 1t could not b,
believed by reasoning man nor have 1T
followers from generation to generation
The Parsees believe in one God and II
the resurrection and equality of all beings
before God. They believe that this Coo
created two spirits; one Of evil and tn,
other of good; one of light and the othe
lof darkness These spirits are alwaxl