THE ZOROASTRIANS IN PERSIA
Let us now turn to the Zoroastrians who had remained behind in
their fatherland. Although it is only by the way that we have to
treat of this subject, it is nevertheless proper not to leave out
of notice this nucleus of the Mazdien community who have remained
so faithful to the religion of their ancestors, and who have been so
tried in their long residence in the midst of powerful and pitiless
conquerors. We shall have occasion, besides, in the course of this
work, to look back upon these far-off regions, to note the frequent
relations between the Parsis of Persia and their brethren of India,
and the inestimable benefits secured by the wealthy Parsis of Bombay
for the unfortunate Guebres of Yezd and Kirman.
Two hundred years after the Mahomedan conquest the condition of Persia
had entirely changed. The national spirit was dead, and the entire
population had embraced Islamism. It is in the presence of changes
so sudden and so complete that one feels justified in raising the
disquieting question of the influence of race and surroundings on the
history of a nation. We do not need to address ourselves to modern
thinkers to find it clearly formulated.
According to Renan, as far back as the second century, Bardesane
had wondered that "If man is the creature of his surroundings and
of circumstances, how is it that the same country is seen to produce
human developments entirely different? If man is governed by the laws
of race, how is it that a nation which has changed its religion, for
example, become Christian, comes to be quite different from what it
used to be?" [35] We have only to substitute the epithet Mahomedan for
the epithet Christian to bring the question to the point. How, in fact,
could such a radical change be effected, and to what degree of despair
must the Zoroastrians have reached, to submit to the levelling laws of
Islam? If we attempted to explain this we should have to go back to
the history of the internal agitations and the policy of the Persian
Court, and their study would draw us away too far. We have noticed
only the chief events of its history, without stopping to gather any
instruction from facts. Let it suffice to say that the same causes
made the Arabs victorious over the Byzantine emperor and the Persian
Shah-in-Shah, and that these causes were the weakness and exhaustion
of the national dynasties in the presence of the vital elements of the
conquerors. The people suffered from the carelessness of their kings;
individual energy was powerless against the invasion of disciplined
and fanatical tribes, commanded by generals like Omar and his officers.
The Persian nation was singularly maltreated. [36] The national unity
was broken. Each province accommodated itself in the best way it could
to the regime imposed by circumstances and by the inclinations of
local chiefs. From that time the boundaries of the ancient kingdom
underwent changes from century to century. In the tenth century,
Taher, governor of Khorassan, threw off the heavy yoke of the Caliphs
of Bagdad, and established, in his province, the authority of the
Taherides. After them came the Saffarides, the Samanides and all those
foreign dynasties that divided the sovereignty amongst themselves,
such as the Ghaznevides, the Seldjoukides, &c.; finally there came,
with all its calamities, the torrent of invasions to which succeeded
the reigns of the Sophis, and of those dynasties, cruel and grasping,
which have succeeded each other on the throne of Persia without doing
anything for the true welfare of the people.
As we have seen, the followers of Zoroaster who would not accept
the religion of Islam expatriated themselves. Those who could not
abandon their country, and continued to cling to their old religion,
had to resign themselves to frightful sufferings. These dwelt chiefly
in Fars and Khorassan. European travellers who have visited Persia
at different periods, have all been struck by their miserable and
precarious condition, and have felt interested in their language,
religion, and customs. We quote here some of them:
Pietro della Valle, at the time of his sojourn in Persia, studied
them closely, and this is what he has to say:
"These past few days I have been to see their new town [37] (that
of the Gaures), or, let us say, their separate habitation, which,
like the new Ciolfa inhabited by the Christian Armenians, like the
new Tauris, or Abbas-Abad, where dwell the Mahomedans brought from
Tauris, adjoins Ispahan, just as if it were a suburb; and although,
at present, it is separated from it by some gardens, nevertheless
with time,--for the number of inhabitants greatly increases every
day,--Ispahan and this habitation of the Gaures>, with the two others
aforesaid, will make but one place. I am therefore doubtful whether to
call them separate citadels, or suburbs, or rather considerable parts
of this same town of Ispahan, as is the region beyond the Tiber and
our city of Rome. This habitation of the Gaures has no other name that
I know of except Gauristan; that is to say, according to the Persians,
'the place of the infidels,' just as we call the quarters of the Jews,
Jewry. This place is very well built; the streets are wide and very
straight, and much finer than those of Ciolfa, for it was built later
with more design; but all the houses are low and one-storied, without
any ornament, quite consistent with the poverty of those that occupy
them, and in this respect very different from the houses of Ciolfa,
which are very magnificent and well planned; for the Gaures are
poor and miserable,--at least they show all possible signs of being
such; in fact, they are employed in no traffic; they are simply like
peasants,--people, in short, earning their livelihood with much labour
and difficulty. They are all dressed alike, and in the same colour
which resembles somewhat brick cement." (Voyages, French translation,
Paris, 1661, vol. ii. p. 104.)
About the same time (1618), Figueroa, the ambassador of Philip III. in
Persia, remarks as follows:
"In the most eastern part of Persia, and in the province of Kirman,
which forms its frontier to the east, there have remained some of
those ancient and true Persians, who, although they have mixed with
the others, and by uniting themselves to their conquerors, have become
like one people, all the same retain their primitive mode of living,
their customs and their religion. Thus, at this day, they adore the
sun as did the ancient Persians during the period their empire was
the first in this world, and, following their example, they invariably
keep in their houses a lighted fire, which they keep up unextinguished
with as much care as the Vestal Virgins of Rome did." (The Embassy
of Don Garcias de Silva de Figueroa in Persia. Trans. Wicquefort,
Paris, 1667, in 4to, p. 177.)
Thevenot (1664-67) declares that "there are in Persia, at the present
day, and particularly in Kerman, people who worship the fire like
the Persians of old, and these are the Guebres. They are recognised
by a dark yellow coloured material of which the men and women like
to have their dresses and veils made, these being the only ones who
wear this colour. Moreover, the Guebre women never cover their faces,
and generally speaking, they are very well formed. These Guebres have
a language which with its characters is understood only by them,
and they are also very ignorant." (Continuation of the Travels in
the East, Second Part, p. 116; Paris, 1674.)
With Daulier (1665) we shall enter the quarters of the Guebres assigned
to them by the Persian king. "If you go about a quarter of a mile
from Julpha in the direction of the mountain you will see a fine
village composed of one long street. It is called Guebrabad, and is
the dwelling-place of the Guebres, or the Gauvres, who are said to
be descended from the old Persians who worshipped the fire. The king
has given them this place to live in, having destroyed them in many
other places. They are dressed in a fine tan-coloured woollen stuff,
the dress of the men being of the same form as that of the other
Persians. But the women's dress is entirely different. They keep
their faces uncovered, and wear round their heads a loosely tied
scarf with a veil to cover their shoulders not ill resembling our
gipsies. Their drawers are like the upper part of Swiss hose, reaching
to their heels. Most of their stuffs are manufactured at Kirman,
a large town on the south coast of Persia, where there are several
of this sect. They are so reserved on the subject of their religion
that it is difficult to know anything certain about it. They do not
bury their dead, but leave them in the open air in an enclosure. I
entered some of their houses, where I saw nothing particular except
that the women, far from avoiding us, as the others do, were very
glad to see and speak to us" (The Beauties of Persia, p. 51).
Towards the same time (1665-1671) when Chardin went to Persia he found
the Zoroastrians spread over the Caramanian desert, and chiefly in the
provinces of Yezd and Kirman. He calls them Guebres from the Arabic
word Gaur, infidels or idolaters, pronounced Giaour by the Turks.
"The Persian Fire-Worshippers (vol. ix. pp. 134 et seq.) are not so
well formed, nor so fair, as the Mahomedan Persians, who are the
Persians of this day. Nevertheless the men are robust, having a
fairly good stature, and are well featured. The women are coarse,
with a dark olive complexion, due, I think, more to their poverty
than to nature, for some among them have rather fine features. The men
wear their hair and beards long; they put on a short-fitting vest and
a long woollen cap. They dress in cotton, woollen, or mohair stuff,
and prefer the brown or dead-leaf colour as being perhaps most suited
to their condition.
"The women are very coarsely dressed. I have never seen anything
showing such bad grace, nor anything further removed from
galanterie....
"The dress of the Guebres so greatly resembles the Arab dress that one
would think the Arabs copied it from them when they conquered their
country. They work either as ploughmen or as labourers, or fullers and
workers in wool. They make carpets, caps and very fine woollen stuffs.
"... Their chief occupation is agriculture; ... they regard it,
not only as a fine and innocent employment, but also as a noble and
meritorious one ...
"These Ancient Persians are gentle and simple in manners, and live
very peacefully under the guidance of their elders, who are also their
magistrates, and who are confirmed in their authority by the Persian
Government." Then follow numerous details concerning their manners,
beliefs and temples. The chief temple was then near Yezd, and the
high priest, the Dastoor Dastooran, resided there. (Ed. of Amsterdam,
J. L. Delorme, MDCCXI.)
Ker-Porter (1818-1820) speaks also of the Guebres: "Some of them,"
he says, "poor and faithful to their religion, not having the means of
gaining a distant shelter, remained slaves on their native soil, their
souls raised to Heaven, their eyes bent to the ground, weeping over
their profaned sanctuaries. While the wealthier ones were flying to
the mountainous regions of the frontiers, or to the shores of India,
these few faithful ones ended in finding comparative security in
their extreme poverty, and took refuge in Yezd and Kirman, far from
the eye of the conquerors. Yezd, even now, contains from four to five
thousand of their descendants; and on account of their relatively
large number they are allowed to practise their faith in a more open
manner than in the smaller localities. In general they are excellent
cultivators, gardeners and artisans, &c." (Travels in Georgia, Persia,
&c., vol. ii. p. 46, London, 1821-1822.)
The census of the Guebre population, taken towards the end of this
century, gives an absurd figure. We find no vestige of them anywhere
except in Yezd, and in the neighbourhood of Teheran, in Kaschan, Shiraz
and Bushire. In 1854, according to the information furnished to the
Persian Amelioration Society of Bombay, and quoted by Mr. Dosabhai
Framji Karaka, [38] the total came to 7,200 individuals, viz., 6,658
at Yezd (3,310 men and 3,348 women); 450 in Kirman, 50 in Teheran,
and some at Shiraz. [39]
According to the census of October, 1879, by General Houtum-Schindler,
[40] the Zoroastrian population comprised 8,499 individuals, of
whom 4,367 are men and 4,132 women, they being distributed in the
following manner: In Yezd, 1,242; in the surrounding districts, 5,241;
in Kirman, 1,498; in the surrounding districts, 258; at Bahramabad, 58;
at Teheran, 150; at Kaschan, 15; at Shiraz, 25; at Bushire, 12. The
latest census (1892) shows a sensible increase of the population,
rising to 9,269 individuals.
Yezd and Kirman are the two most important towns, the former being
about two hundred miles south-east of Ispahan, the latter about
three hundred and eighty miles from the sea, in the port of Bunder
Abbas. They are both situated on the confines of two extensive deserts,
the Dasht-i-Kavir and the Dash-i-Lut, which, to the north, cover an
area of over five hundred miles, and which are separated by a chain
of rocky mountains through which the caravans trace their way with
difficulty. This region is feared by travellers, and is hardly known
to Europeans. [41]
Yezd [42] communicates with the rest of Iran only by the caravan
roads. On leaving the argillaceous plateaus, the rocks and the
sandhills, the town and the villages around seem to emerge from a
veritable oasis of mulberry trees; the desert begins at the very
foot of the walls, where the sand driven by the tempests is heaped
up. A line of ruins surrounds it and testifies to its ancient
extent. Yezd is, however, prosperous. It contains a population of
from seventy to eighty thousand inhabitants, composed of the most
diverse elements--amongst others 2,000 Jews, still obliged to wear
on their cloaks the badge of their disgrace, and some Hindoos called
to this place by their business affairs.
There are five reservoirs, abambars, fifty mosques, eight madressas,
and sixty-five public baths; a post office ensures a regular weekly
service with Bander-Abbas and Bushire; the telegraph puts it in
communication with Kirman and Ispahan. Commerce flourishes; about
the middle of this century eighteen hundred manufactories gave work
to nine thousand workmen. Nowadays the number is, however, less.
It is here that we find, grouped together, the scattered remnants of
the Zoroastrian community. The Guebres gave themselves up chiefly
to gardening and the cultivation of mulberry trees, notably of the
species of brown fibre, the wearing of which was formerly incumbent
on them. But a great change has taken place, and such a trader
now possesses a thousand camels. There are schools there, four Fire
Temples, and several Towers of Silence. About twenty kilometres to the
south-west is the town of Taft, where was preserved for a very long
time the permission to keep up openly the sacred fire. The community
has a high priest, and also a lay chief, Ardeshir Meherban. Some of
the Guebres are naturalised Englishmen, and thanks to them, for the
last fifty years the trade of Yezd has grown by their intercourse
with India. Their role is similar to that performed in the open
ports of Japan by the compradores and the Chinese agents into whose
hands nearly all business passes. This activity is due to the efforts
of their co-religionists in India, for in spite of their recognised
probity and practical intelligence, the Guebres have long been exposed
to the most humiliating vexations.
Kirman is the chief city of ancient Caramania [43] and stands in
the centre of four great highways which run from the south and the
west. Its situation makes it a very important centre of commerce
between the Persian Gulf and the markets of Khorassan, Bokhara, and
Balk. Of the twelve thousand Guebres who were formerly resident in this
locality, there only remain, according to the census taken in 1878
by the orders of the Governor, thirteen hundred and forty-one. [44]
At the time of the Arab invasion, Kirman served as a place of refuge
for King Yezdezard, and passed successively into the hands of the
Beni-Buzak, the Seldjoukides Turks, the kings of Kharezm (Khiva), and
a Kara-Kitaienne family which remained in power till the year 1300;
and it was also the See of the Nestorian metropolitan bishopric of
Fars. This city had to suffer much from the invasions, from the east
and west, of Gengis-Khan, Timour, the Afghans and Nadirshah. The
siege it sustained in 1494 is memorable for the massacres ordered
by Aga Mahomed Khan. [45] It was within its walls that the last of
the family of the Zends, Luft Ali-Khan, had taken refuge. Betrayed
by his followers, the young prince contrived, however, to escape
the cruelty of the redoubtable Kadjar eunuch. For three months the
soldiers committed all sorts of excesses, the town was given up to
plunder [46] and finally razed. A little later, having been rebuilt
by Fath-Ali-Shah, it recovered by degrees its ancient prosperity,
thanks to a capable and at the same time avaricious and strict
governor, Vekil-ul-Mulk. The ruins of Kirman occupy a length of
three miles. The modern town contained in 1879, 42 mosques, 53
public baths, 5 madressas, 50 schools, 4 large and small bazaars,
and 9 caravanserais. Its commerce is flourishing, the carpets and
shawls manufactured there being very wonderful.
The physical and moral condition of the Guebres has changed very little
in Persia. Their contact with the Mussalmans has neither relaxed nor
enervated that condition. The women, of whom the majority belong to
poor families, are renowned for their chastity, while the men are so
famous for their morality that they are particularly employed in the
gardens of the Shah. From an ethnographical point of view, this is
what can be said; we follow the resume given by M. Houssay [47]:
"When the Arabs by right of conquest imposed a new religion on the
Persians, the fusion of the Turano-Aryans had been already for the
greater part accomplished in the north and east of the empire. At this
time there was no difference of race, manners, customs or religion
between the ancestors of the Mahomedan Persians and those of the real
Guebres. Separated to-day as surely by their religion as by vast extent
of space, they no longer commingle; but being descended from the same
ancestors, and neither having undergone any modification since that
period, we find them again to-day not unlike each other in the same
region.... The only ethnical element which could have been introduced
among the Persian Mahomedans and not among the Guebres, would be the
Semitic element due to the Arab conquerors. But it was not so. The
soldiers of Islam were indeed sufficiently fanatical and violent to
impose their laws and religion on the people, but not sufficiently
numerous to effect any change in them. It would be practically quite
the truth to say that this invasion has left no traces outside the
families of the Seides. The language alone has felt its effects; all
words connected with religion and government are Arabic. The Guebres
should be all the less regarded as pure descendants of the Aryans, as
they resemble their Mussulman neighbours, and are, on the other hand,
not all of the same type. Those of Yezd have, according to Khanikoff,
Aryan characteristics. It is not because they are Guebres, but because
they dwell in a country adjoining Fars. Those of Teheran resemble the
other inhabitants of Teheran. The Parsis of India, whose ancestors
preferred exile to conversion, are more like the Parsis of Persia,
and differ from their co-religionists of the North. Since their exodus,
they have not at all mixed with the people who received them; they are
such as they were then. Thus at the time of the Arabic conquest there
was no single race. The ethnical distribution, which can be observed
even now, existed already. The Guebres who remained in Persia were
the Turano-Aryans; the emigrants, who had chiefly started from the
south of the kingdom, were Aryans." [48]
The condition of the Zoroastrians who had remained behind in Persia
had been, as we have said, always miserable. In 1511, they wrote to
their co-religionists who had taken refuge at Naosari, that since the
reign of Kaiomar, they had not endured such sufferings, even under
the execrable government of Zohak, Afrasiab, Tur and Alexander! As
a matter of fact, the connection between the two communities, which
had been broken, was happily renewed since the end of the fifteenth
century. At this period Changa Asa, a rich and pious Parsi of Naosari,
had at his own expense sent a learned layman, Nariman Hoshang, with
the view of acquiring from the members of the Iranian clergy certain
information regarding important religious questions. (Parsee Prakash,
pp. 6-7.)
In another letter to their co-religionists in India dated from
Serfabad, September 1, 1486, Nariman Hoshang declared that all the
Iranians had been desiring for centuries to know if any of their
co-religionists still existed on the other side of the world! After
an absence of several years he returned to India, and eight years
later went back to Persia, where he collected the most curious
information. These statements are confirmed by the letters of the
Guebres addressed to the Parsi community of India (1511), in which
it is said that "since their departure from Persia to the arrival
of Nariman Hoshang (in all thirty years) the Mazdiens had not known
that their co-religionists had settled in India, and that it was only
through Nariman Hoshang that they had come to know of it."
From that period the relations between the Guebres and the Parsis
were sufficiently close. As far back as 1527, one Kama Asa, from
Cambay, had gone to Persia and procured a complete copy of the
Arda-Viraf-Nameh. In 1626 the Parsis of Bharooch, Surat, and Naosari
sent to Persia a learned man of Surat, Behman Aspandiar, charged
with numerous questions; he brought back the answers, and also two
religious books, the Vishtasp-Yasht and the Vispered (Parsee Prakash,
p. 11). The information thus obtained by intelligent emissaries for
a long time guided the Parsis in their decisions regarding social and
religious questions, and formed the collection of the Rivayats. At the
same time the members of the community in India were not in a position
to alleviate the miseries of their Persian brethren, and each century
brought to the latter a new increase of sufferings and troubles.
Four revolutions contributed to the destruction of the Zoroastrian
population of Kirman. The Ghilzi-Afghans, who had long groaned under
the yoke of the Persians, rose at last under the command of a brave
and intelligent chief, called Mir Vais, who quickly made himself
master of Khandahar. [49] The Persian monarch Hussein, powerless to
reduce them by arms, tried to bring them back to a sense of duty by
sending emissaries, who were however treated with contempt. The Afghan
chief who succeeded Mir Vais resolved in his turn to be revenged by
invading Persia as soon as an opportunity presented itself. It came
soon. Whilst the north-east frontier of the kingdom was threatened by
the Abdali-Afghans of Herat, and whilst the Arabian Prince of Muscat
was taking possession of the coast of the Persian Gulf, Mahmoud, who
had succeeded his father, Mir Vais, in the government of Khandahar,
made an irruption into Persia. This invasion of the Ghilzi-Afghans
was the greatest catastrophe to the Zoroastrian community, Mahmood
having preferred to pass through Kirman rather than risk the deserts
of Seistan. Massacres and forced conversions drove the faithful band
to despair.
At the time of the second invasion of Mahmood he persuaded the
Zoroastrians of Yezd and Kirman to join his troops, and avenge the
wrongs they had suffered for centuries. [50] It is needless to say
that these unfortunates, too confiding, allowed themselves to be
convinced and enlisted. What do we know of their ultimate fate? What
became of them under the standard of Mahmood after the victory of
Ispahan? (October 21, 1722, H. 1135 [51]). Were they better treated,
and did they receive any recompense? There is reason to believe that
their condition, far from being ameliorated, became worse.
It is said that under the reign of Nadir-Shah and his successors, they
had again to elect between the frightful alternative of conversion
or death. At the time of the siege of Kirman, of which we have spoken
(p. 55), many Zoroastrians were put to the sword, and their quarters
laid waste and destroyed for ever.
This series of vicissitudes and misfortunes accounts for the small
number of the survivors, their precarious life, their difficulties in
the exercise of their religion, and the dispersion of their sacred
books. In the time of Ibn Haukhal each village had its temple,
its priests, and its sacred book. According to Mr. Dosabhai Framji
Karaka, in 1858 there were thirty-five Fire Temples in Yezd and its
environs. At present there are four in Yezd itself, eighteen in the
neighbouring village, and one at Kirman. As for the sacred books there
are only those that are to be found in India. Westergaard, who visited
Persia in 1843, writing to his friend the late Dr. Wilson of Bombay,
to inform him of his disappointment, says, [52] "I have stopped in
Yezd for eleven days, and although I have mixed in their gatherings,
I have seen but sixteen or seventeen books in all; two or three copies
of the Vendidad Sade and of the Izeschne, which they call Yasna, and
six or seven copies of the Khorda-Avesta. I have only been able to
obtain two and a portion of a third, a part of the Bundahish and of
another Pehlvi book. That is all that I have succeeded in obtaining,
in spite of all my efforts to get more--for instance, the fragments
of the Izeschne with a Pehlvi or Pazend translation, of which there
is only one copy in Europe, that at Copenhagen."
The same traveller, speaking of the Zoroastrians who at present reside
in Kirman, expresses himself in these terms: "The Guebres there are
more maltreated than their brethren in Yezd. They have only two copies
of the Vendidad and of the Yasna and a rather large number of the
Khorda-Avesta, with which, however, they will not part. Here nobody
reads Pehlvi. They complain bitterly of Aga Mahomed Khan having given
up the city to plunder, of the destruction of most of their sacred
books, and of the massacre of the faithful."
One of the harshest conditions of the conquest of Persia had been at
all times a tax called "Jazia." The Mahomedans are the only persons
exempted from this tax, all the other infidel inhabitants of the
kingdom, Armenians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, being subject to it. The
Armenians of Tauris and of the villages of Persia situated near the
frontier have been relieved of this tax by the care of the Russian
Government. It is difficult to arrive at an estimate of the tax paid
by the Armenians and the Jews, but this is certain--and the fact has
been verified--that the annual tax imposed upon the Zoroastrians
rose to 660 tomans. The governors and collectors having gone on
increasing its amount in order to profit by the surplus, the sum
rose to nearly 2,000 tomans, or L1,000 sterling, about 25,000 francs
of our money. According to statistics, a thousand Zoroastrians were
compelled to pay. Of these two hundred could pay it without difficulty,
four hundred with much trouble; the rest could not do so even under
threats of death. Lamentable scenes have ensued at the time of the
collection of this onerous tax. [53] Sometimes these unfortunate
beings turned to their brethren in India in the hope of obtaining a
favourable intervention with the Persian Government, such as some of
the European Powers had effectually attempted in certain cases.
Dishonoured by the appellation of Guebres or "Infidels," they endured
at the hands of the Mussulmans sufferings similar to those endured
in India by the members of the Mahar caste at the hands of the
well-born Hindoos. [54] All relations, all intercourse with them
were tainted with pollution; a host of lucrative occupations were
forbidden to them. Moreover, we know the frightful inequality of laws
in Mahomedan countries, where the general rule is to grant aid and
protection to the true believers and to ignore these rights in the
case of the infidels. Instances of this are too numerous to be quoted;
we will content ourselves with pointing out this inequality without
any further comment. [55]
In the presence of this painful state of affairs the Parsis in India
could not remain indifferent. Mr. Dosabhai Framji Karaka wrote,
a quarter of a century back: [56] "Can we then do nothing for our
unfortunate brethren in Persia? Our community has considerable funds
and possesses men known throughout the world for their benevolence
and their noble efforts towards the amelioration of the condition of
their co-religionists.... It seems to us that a deputation from us
to the Court of Persia, presented and duly supported by the English
Ambassador at Teheran, might successfully attempt some negotiations
with a view to put an end to the cruelty practised every day. The
amount raised by the Capitation Tax with such useless violence must
be to the Imperial treasury insignificant in the extreme, and there
is no doubt that a representation from the Parsis of India has all
chances of being favourably received. Persian princes seldom know
the true state of their subjects, and we hope our countrymen will
comprehend the honour that will be reflected on them by their efforts
to relieve the miseries of our brethren in Iran."
It was in 1854 that the first emissary from Bombay to the Zoroastrians
in Persia was sent; and from that time, thanks to the Persian
Zoroastrian Amelioration Fund, they seriously began to consider
the means of aiding them. The trustees delegated Mr. Maneckji Limji
Antaria, who was to utilise his great experience and his devotion
in the accomplishment of the task he had accepted. He started (March
31st) with instructions from the committee to open an inquiry and to
send in a report. Very soon the most pathetic details came to excite
the charitable zeal of the Parsis of Bombay. A meeting was called on
January 11, 1855, under the presidency of the late Maneckji Nasarwanji
Petit (Parsee Prakash, pp. 654 et seq.) to consider the resolutions
to be adopted on the report of Mr. M. L. Antaria. [57]
Before taking in hand all the evils set forth it appeared specially
important to direct all their efforts towards the abolition of
the "Jazia," the chief cause of the complaints and miseries of
the tax-payers. These efforts relaxed neither with time nor with
obstacles, and after a campaign which lasted from 1857 to 1882 [58]
the desired abolition was finally obtained. During this period of
twenty-five long years all suitable means were taken to secure the
success of the object aimed at. Thus Mr. M. L. Antaria profited by
the kindly disposition of Sir Henry Rawlinson, the English Ambassador
at the Court of Teheran, to get himself presented to the Shah and
to lay before him a touching picture of the miseries suffered by
his Zoroastrian subjects of Kirman. At the end of the audience he
succeeded in obtaining a reduction of 100 tomans from the amount of
the contribution annually raised (920 tomans) in Yezd and in Kirman.
Another audience was granted by the Shah in Buckingham Palace at the
time of his voyage to England (June 24, 1873). A memorandum, drawn up
in the most flowery and courteous style, such as Oriental politeness
demands, was presented by several members of the Bombay Committee. [59]
Sir Henry Rawlinson and Mr. E. B. Eastwick supported it. In his reply
His Majesty thought fit to say that he had heard of the complaints of
his subjects, and that he would consider the means of ameliorating the
position of the Zoroastrians of Persia. But we know, alas! that in
the East abuses take long in disappearing. In spite of the friendly
promises of the Shah there was no change made in the collection of
this tax. A pressing appeal through the English Ambassador at Teheran
did not even reach the monarch. It was only in 1882 that Sir Dinshaw
Maneckji Petit, the president of the Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration
Fund, received through the medium of Mr. Thomson, of the English
Embassy, the communication of the royal firman decreeing the immediate
abolition of the tax (Parsee Prakash, p. 662). This long struggle has
cost the Persian Amelioration Fund of Bombay nearly 109,564 rupees,
or about 257,475 francs! It is needless to say with what transports of
joy and gratitude this boon was received by the unfortunate victims,
who for centuries had groaned under the exactions of subordinate
officials, and whom the enlightened kindness of the sovereign placed
at once on a footing of equality with his other subjects. [60] As to
the friends of the Mazdien communities of Iran, they may hope to see
them prosper and their numbers increase under the influence of the
same qualities and virtues which have contributed to the greatness
and prosperity of the Zoroastrians of India. [61]
The relations between Bombay and Persia were not confined to this
single benevolent initiative of the Bombay Committee. [62] We should
also notice the establishing of schools in the towns of Yezd and
Kirman (1857) due to the munificence of the Parsee notabilities, and
the pecuniary gifts given for the purpose of settling in life young
girls exposed on account of their poverty to terrible dangers in a
Mahomedan country. Between 1856 and 1865 nearly a hundred Mazdien
women were thus got married by the care of the agent of a charitable
association. We may also mention the establishment of dispensaries
and houses of refuge, and should not omit to include in this brief
list the founding of two monuments, which throws a very interesting
light on the direction of the religious ideas of the modern Parsis.
Two localities, situated not far from Yezd and held sacred by
tradition, Koh-i-Chakmaku and Akda, preserved the memory of their
ancient glorious days through a legend concerning the two daughters of
Yezdezard, Khatun Banu and Hyat Banu, who had at one time disappeared
without leaving any trace behind them. After the fall of the king,
his family, finding no protection in Madain, had taken refuge in the
citadel of Haft Ajar; but they were soon obliged to disperse. Meher
Banu shut herself up in the fortress of Gorab; Khatun Banu directed her
steps to more secret places. In her hasty march the princess, exhausted
and dying of thirst, met a burzigar (farmer) busy cultivating the soil,
and asked of him a little water to drink. There being no stream or tank
near, the peasant offered her his cow's milk, and commenced milking
the animal; but the moment the vessel overflowed with the fresh and
foaming liquid, the cow with a kick upset it. The unfortunate girl,
thus deprived of this last comfort, feverishly continued her way, and
reaching the mountain in an agony of despair, threw herself upon the
ground, praying to the Almighty to protect her, either by stopping the
pursuit of her enemies or by screening her from mortal sight. Hardly
had she finished her prayer when she disappeared in a cleft of the
rocks, which opened before her and closed upon her immediately. At
the same moment the burzigar, who had discovered the retreat of the
princess, arrived with a refreshing drink, only to find her little
band of mourning followers. On hearing of her strange disappearance he
ran to his stable and sacrificed the cow in the very place where the
king's daughter had disappeared. Soon the faithful ones came to offer,
in their turn, similar sacrifices, and the place was called Dari-Din,
"the Gate of Faith." Hosts of pilgrims repaired to this place every
year, but these sacrifices of blood were repugnant to the feelings of
the Parsis of Bombay. However, as it was right and seemly to honour
a place marked out by ancient tradition, Mr. Maneckji Limji Antaria
substituted in the place of this barbarous custom ceremonies more in
accordance with modern Zoroastrian practices. The sacrifice of the
cow was suppressed, and an influential member of the Bombay community
furnished means to raise a beautiful monument with spacious quarters
to lodge the pilgrims.
Hyat Banu, the other princess, disappeared in an equally mysterious
manner. On the spot consecrated by legend a grand reservoir, fed from
neighbouring springs, has been erected. The walls of this reservoir
having gradually fallen into ruins, they were repaired by the generous
care of Mr. Merwanji Framji Panday, the same gentleman who erected
the monument at Akda. [63]