Chapter III: Population--Costumes--Usages--Festivals (2)

[42] Yezd.--"Yezd enjoys a temperate climate. It is surrounded by canals and aqueducts which carry the water into the interior of the town. There are constructed there reservoirs and cisterns, structures as remarkable as those which are seen at Kaschân. Most of the houses and edifices, although built of raw bricks, are of great solidity; besides, the rainfall is very scarce in that country. The town is well built and very clean, because care is taken to have the rubbish removed every day from it, which rubbish is used to manure the fields. Wheat, cotton, and silk are produced there, but the wheat is not abundant enough to suffice for food, and some wheat is therefore imported from Kirman and Schiraz, so that its price is somewhat high. Among the fruits of Yezd are praised figs, called misqali, and pomegranates. The inhabitants, formerly Schaféïtes, belong now to the Schiite sect; they are almost all weavers, and are known for their honesty and by their gentleness, which degenerates even into weakness. Hamd Allah Mustôfi, while doing justice to the loyalty of the merchants, accuses the brokers of that town of intolerable arrogance and pride." (Zinet el-Medjalis). (Cf. Nouzhet, fol. 602.) See B. de Meynard, Dict. geog., hist., &c., p. 611, note 1.

During nearly two centuries the governors (atabegs) of Yezd, like those of Lauristan, maintained their independence; but in the thirteenth century Ghazan Khan supplanted them. As for the modern travellers who have visited those regions, this is what is known of them: Marco Polo traversed Yezd in 1272, the monk Odoric in 1325, and Josafa Barbaro in 1474. It was then a city surrounded with walls nearly five miles in circumference, and well known by its silk trade. Tavernier, in the seventeenth century, stayed there for three days, enough to make him extol the fruits and the beauty of the women of that place; similarly in the nineteenth century the European savants made acquaintance with that region. Christie, having left Pottinger in Baloochistan, traversed it while returning from Herat (1810). (See A. Dupré (1808), Voyage in Persia, vol. ii. ch. xlii.; Dr. A. Petermann (1854), Reisen im Orient, vol. ii. ch. xii. pp. 203 et seq.; N. de Khamkoff (1859), Memoir, pp. 200-204; A. H. Schindler (1879), Zeit. f. Gesell d. Erd. zu Berlin; Curzon (1889), Persia, vol. ii. ch. xxiii. pp. 238-243, London, 1892.)

[43] Kermân--The word is written sometimes Kirman; but the first pronunciation seems more correct. It is a vast and populated country, situate in the third climate; longitude 90 deg., latitude 30 deg. It contains a great number of districts, towns, and boroughs. Its boundaries are: To the east, Mokrân and the desert which extends between Mokrân and the sea, near the country of the Belouth (Beloochees); to the west, Fars; to the north, the deserts of Khorassan and Sedjestân; to the south, the sea of Fars. On the frontier of Sirdjân, Kirman makes an angle and advances into the boundaries of Fars; it has also a bend on its southern sides. Kirman is rich in palm-trees, corn, cattle, and beasts of burden; it offers an analogy to the province of Basrah by the number of its rivers and the fertility of its territory. This is what has been said by Mahomed bin Ahmed el-Beschari: "Kermân participates in the natural qualities of Fars; it resembles by its productions the country of Basrah, and it has also some analogical reference to Khorassan. In fact, its sides are washed by the sea; it unites the advantages of hot and cold climates; it produces the nut-tree and the palm-tree, and yields in abundance the two best species of dates, and produces the most varied trees and fruits. Its principal cities are, Djiraft, Menouqân, Zarend, Bemm, Sirdjân (or Schiradjân), Nermasir, and Berdesir. Tutenag (toutia) is collected there and is imported in large quantities. The inhabitants are virtuous, honest, and much attached to Sunnism and orthodoxy. But a great part of this country is depopulated and ruined, on account of the different masters who possessed it, and the tyrannical domination of its Sultans. For many years, instead of having been governed by a particular dynasty, it has been administered by governors who have had no other occupation than to amass wealth and to make it pass into Khorassan. Now, this emigration of the resources of a country to the profit of another is one of the surest causes of its ruin; besides, the presence of a king and a court contributes much to the prosperity of a State. The epoch of the glory and splendour of Kermân reaches to the reign of the Seldjouqide dynasty, and during that happy period, a great number of foreigners fixed their residence there." See B. de Meynard, Dict. geog., hist., &c., pp. 482 et seq.

Among the modern travellers who have visited Kirman since the commencement of the century, see Sir H. Pottinger (1810), Travels in Beloochistan, cap. x.; N. de Khanikoff (1859), Memoirs, pp. 186-198; Curzon (1889), Persia, vol. ii. ch. xxii. pp. 243-246.

[44] In 1878 the numbers were 39,718 Mussalmans, 1,341 Parsis, 85 Jews, and 26 Hindoos, which gives a total of 41,170 souls. The Hindoos are Mussulmans who have come for the most part from Scind and Shikarpur. Some have established at Bahramabad some great commercial firms.

[45] Malcolm, History of Persia, vol. ii. ch. xxi. p. 271.

[46] It is reported that the conqueror caused to be presented to himself on dishes 35,000 pairs of eyes! Thirty thousand women and children were reduced to slavery.... It is at Bam, a small village 140 miles to the south-east of Kirman, that Luft Ali Khan was made a prisoner and delivered over to his enemy who, with his own hands, tore out his eyes before causing him to perish. Sir H. Pottinger saw, in 1810, a trophy of 600 skulls raised in honour of the victory of Aga Mohammed.

[47] See Dieulafoy, Acropole de Suse, &c. Appendix, The Human Races of Persia, pp. 87 and following. See also Duhousset, The Populations of Persia, pp. 4-7; N. de Khanikoff, Ethnography of Persia, pp. 19, 47, 50, 56, &c.

[48] According to General Houtum-Schindler (see Memoir already cited, pp. 82-84), the hairs of the Zoroastrians are smooth and thick, generally black, or of a dark brown colour; one seldom meets with a clear brown colour, never with the red. In Kirman some beards do assume this colour, but they incline rather to the yellowish. The eyes are black, or of an intense brown, sometimes grey or blue, the eyebrows habitually thick and well furnished among men, delicate and well shaped among women. The complexion is generally tawny; the cheeks are coloured only among some women. The inhabitants of the cities are pale in appearance, and not robust; those of the towns are robust and well proportioned. We regret not to be able to insert certain types sent for us from Yezd, the printing of this work being too far advanced to enable us to make use of them.

[49] Malcolm, History of Persia, vol. i. ch. xv. pp. 607 et seq.

[50] Hanway, vol. ii. p. 153.

[51] Malcolm, History of Persia, vol. i. ch. xv. p. 642.--The chief of one of the corps of Guebres at the siege of Ispahan was called by the Mussulman name of Nasser-ûllah. Hanway considers him as a Parsi or Guebre.

[52] Letter from Prof. W. to the Rev. Dr. Wilson, written in 1843, in Journ. As. of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. viii., 1846, p. 350.

[53] We cannot recount here odious details which a single word will characterise: they were veritable dragonnades.

[54] General Houtum-Schindler ascertained that, before the abolition of the Jazia, the position of the Guebres was good enough, and infinitely better than that of the Jews at Teheran, Kaschan, Shiraz, and Bushire, whilst at Yezd and in Kirman, on the contrary, the position of the Jews was preferable. The hardships endured were very cruel. (See Houtum-Schindler, Memoir already cited, p. 57.) Here are the principal grievances of the Guebres: they were threatened with forced conversion; property belonging to a Zoroastrian family was confiscated for the use and profit of the proselytes, in disregard to the rights of the legitimate heirs; property newly acquired was susceptible of being burdened with taxes for the benefit of the "Mullas" up to a fifth of its value; there was a prohibition against building new houses and repairing old ones; the Guebres could not put on new or white coats, nor could they ride on horseback; the traders had to submit to taxes in addition to the Government duties of the custom house; and finally the murder of a Zoroastrian was not punished, and often sanctuaries were invaded and profaned.

[55] It is well to notice that the Persian Government, very careful to please the ambassadors of the European and Christian courts, accords voluntarily its protection to the natives who are in the neighbourhood of the capital; but this protection ceases in the provinces where there prevails the rule of local governors maintained by the fanaticism of the inhabitants.

[56] The Parsees: their History, Manners, Customs, and Religion, ch. ii. pp. 49 et seq.

[57] The members of the committee were: Messrs. Maneckji Nasarwanji Petit, Rastamji Nusserwanji Wadia, Merwanji Framji Panday, Kavasji Ardesir Sahair.

[58] For the negotiations on the subject of the Jazia, see Parsee Prâkâsh, pp. 659-662.

[59] Messrs. Naorozji Fardunji, Dadabhoy Naorozji, Ardeshir Kharshedji Wadia, Dr. Rastamji Kavasji Bahadurji.

[60] Here is a translation of the text of the firman relieving the Zoroastrians of Persia from the impost of the "Jazia":

"In consideration of the innumerable benedictions which it has pleased the Almighty to accord to us, and as an act of grace towards Him who has given us the Royal Crown of Persia, with the means of promoting the welfare of its inhabitants, has devolved on us the duty of securing tranquillity and happiness for all our subjects, to whatever tribe, community, or religion they belong, so that they may be profited and refreshed by the beneficent waters of our special favour.

"Amongst these are the Zoroastrians of Yezd and Kirman, who are descended from the ancient and noble race of Persia, and it is now our desire to make their peace and well-being more complete than before.

"That is why, by this royal firman, we ordain and command that the taxes and imposts of the Crown, levied previously on our Musulman subjects of Yezd and Kirman, may be recovered in the same way from the Zoroastrians who reside there. In this manner the impost which exacts from this community the sum of eight hundred and forty-five tomans, is abolished, and in the commencement of this propitious year of the Horse, we make an abatement of this sum and free the Zoroastrians from it for ever. We therefore order and command our mustaufis and officers of the debt of the Royal Exchequer to remove it from the revenues which have to be paid in by Yezd and Kirman. The governors now in office, or who will be nominated subsequently at the head of these provinces, ought to consider all right to the payment of this tribute abolished for ever, and, as regards the present year, and the following years, if this sum should happen to be exacted, they will be held responsible and will be punished for it. Moreover, in the tribute of the tithes and imposts on water and land, and for all trade duties, the Zoroastrians must be treated in the same manner as our other subjects.

"Given at Teheran, in the month of Ramzan, 1299 (August, 1882), &c."

[61] The Committee has now a fund of 275,000 Rs. (646,250 francs) made up of subscriptions and of gifts made on the occasion of marriages or after the death of relatives, at the Uthamna ceremony of the third day. Out of these funds are supported twelve schools, opened in 1882 in Teheran, Yezd, and Kirman.

[62] Mr. Maneckji Limji Antaria is dead, but his successor is not less zealous. The present president is Sir Dinsha Maneckji Petit, and the honorary secretary Mr. Bomanji Byramji Patell.

[63] We reserve for a subsequent work certain documents which we have been able to collect on the subject of the Zoroastrian communities of Persia.

[64] Originally the affairs of the three establishments of the East India Company, in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, were administered separately, each with a president and a council formed of agents of the Company. The name of Presidency was applied to the whole territory subject to this authority. This expression has no longer its real signification; however, it is still employed in official acts. British India is no longer divided into presidencies, but into provinces, eight of which are very extensive countries, having separate governments. The presidencies of Bombay and Madras are to-day only the provinces of those names.

[65] Its territory extends from latitude 28° 47' to 13° 53' N., and from latitude 60° 43' to 76° 30' E. British districts, including Sind, contain a total superficial area of 124,465 square miles, and a population, according to the census of 1872, of 16,349,206 souls. The Native States cover a surface of nearly 71,769 square miles, with a population of 8,831,730 inhabitants, which gives, for the surface, a total of 196,234 square miles, and for the population a total of 25,180,936 inhabitants. The State of Baroda is no longer under the direct administration of Bombay, but under that of the Supreme Government; we may, however, consider it from the geographical point of view as forming a part of Bombay. The Portuguese possessions of Goa, Damman, and Diu, with a superficial area of 1,146 square miles and a population of nearly 428,955 souls, are equally comprised in the limits of the Presidency. See Imp. Gazetteer of India, vol. ii. p. 172 (Ed. of 1881).

[66] See for the explanation of this word, Sir John Strachey, India, pref. and trans. of J. Harmand, chap. vi. p. 145, Paris, 1892.

[67] See Sir William Wilson Hunter, K.C.S.I., Bombay 1885 to 1890, a study in Indian Administration. London, 1892.

[68] The whole population of India comes to 287,223,431: Brahmins, 207,731,727; aboriginal tribes, 9,280,467; Sikhs, 190,783; Jains, 1,416,633; Zoroastrians, 89,904; Buddhists, 7,131,361; Jews, 17,194; Christians, 2,284,380; Mussulmans, 58,321,164; diverse races, 42,763. See Statistical Abstract relating to British India from 1883-84 to 1892-93, 28th November, London, 1894. Distribution of Population according to Religion, Sex and Civil Condition, &c., p. 26, No. 14.

[69] Parsis, 76,774; Hindoos, 21,440,957; Mussulmans, 4,390,995; Christians, 170,009; Jains, 555,209; Jews, 13,547; aboriginal tribes, 292,023; Buddhists, 674; Sikhs, 912; Brahmo-Samaj, 34; diverse races, 51. In no part of India are religions and sects so mixed up as in the Presidency of Bombay. See Ethnology of India by Mr. Justice Campbell, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society. Supplementary number, vol. xxxv. pt. ii. pp. 140, &c., &c.

[70] The Zoroastrian Calendar for the year of Yezdezard 1262, 16th September, 1892, to 15th September, 1893; printed and published at the Bombay Vartman Press, by Muncherji Hosunji Jagosh, 1892 (Gujerati). The tables are very carefully done; an inquisitive reader will find there the enumeration of the Parsi population of Bombay according to the different districts, comparisons with the previous census and remarks on the community.

[71] See Zoroastrian Calendar, p. 126.

[72] The disproportion between the two sexes is explained by the general custom, which does not allow the Parsi servants to bring their wives to the cities where they are employed.

[73] Statistics of births, deaths, and marriages amongst the Parsis of Bombay, during the last ten years, in the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, ii., November 1, pp. 55-65.

[74] We refer to the Parsee Prâkâsh, for all those interesting details, those of our readers who can read and understand Gujerati.

[75] "If I have not yet replied to your letter of the 19th November," he writes, "it is because I desired to make special researches concerning the strange rumour which has been spread by the Syed on the subject of a tribe of Parsis established at Khoten, remaining faithful to the Zoroastrian customs, and still governed by its own kings. I can tell you that it is a legend devoid of foundation, and that Major Rawlinson, so learned in these matters, partakes of my view. I suppose that the Syed, seeing the prosperous condition of his co-religionists in Bombay, imagined that in flattering your vanity he would act on your purse. Besides, the country of Khoten is not the terra incognita which he has depicted. I have been in touch with the people who have sojourned there; it is a dependency of China, inhabited by Mussulman subjects of the Empire: the only Chinese who are there form part of the garrison. According to all that has been said to me of Khoten and the adjacent countries, the only difficulty I have had is to define who are the Christian traders who frequent those markets. I think that they are Russians or Nestorian Christians."

[76] See Cabool: being a Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in that City in the years 1836-7-8. By the late Lieut.-Col. Sir Alexander Burnes. London, 1842.

[77] Vivien Saint Martin, New Dictionary of Universal Geography, vol. iii. p. 9. Paris, 1887.

[78] "Returned herself as living on the wages of shame" (see Dosabhai Framji Karaka, Hist. of Parsis, vol. i. chap. iii. p. 99).

[79] The Parsis have never followed certain occupations, as those of a day labourer, palanquin bearer, barber, bleacher, &c., &c.

[80] Let us note the efforts of Sir Richard Temple, Governor of Bombay (1877-80), who, on his way to Naosari, reminded the Parsis of certain verses of the Vendidad relating specially to agricultural or pastoral occupations, and exhorted them to continue such traditions. Since then a rich Parsi of Bharooch, Mr. Rastamji Maneckji, has taken on lease from the chief of Rajpipla, a great stretch of land in the Panch-Mahals, and has cultivated it with success. He has been outstripped by Kavasji Framji Banaji in his beautiful domain of Pawai. Lord Mayo has highly recognised the great importance of agricultural studies, and in 1870 he declared that the progress of India in riches and in civilisation depended on the progress of agriculture. See Strachey, India, trans. Harmand, chap. ix.; Hunter, Bombay, &c., about the question of agricultural education (chap. vi. pp. 158, 159-166), and about the foundation of a Chair of Agriculture at Baroda under the auspices of the Gaekwar, at the suggestion of Lord Reay, (p. 168.)

[81] See for the army in India, Strachey, India, trans. Harmand, chap. iii. pp. 52 et seq.; Hunter, Bombay, &c., chap. xiv. pp. 448 et seq.

[82] Dosabhai Framji Karaka, Hist. of the Parsis, vol. i. pp. 101 et seq.

[83] The enrolment of the Parsis as volunteers, to the exclusion of the other nationalities, has reappeared since the publication of the work of Mr. D. F. Karaka. At Quetta, at Karachi, at Poona the Parsis are admitted freely into the corps of the European Volunteers, and lastly (June, 1894) Mr. Dinsha Dosabhai Khambatta is enrolled as a lieutenant in the "Poona Volunteers"; he is now a lieutenant in the "Quetta Corps."

[84] Padamji Pestanji is the chief of the Parsi community of Poona; since the last riots, he obtained as a reward of his services the title of Khan Bahadur; he is a member of the Legislative Council and has the rank of a Sirdar of the First Class in the Dekkan.

[85] "We have not the slightest hesitation in saying that the Parsis would be found to be as good and brave soldiers as the Anglo-Saxons, while their loyalty and attachment to the Government they are called upon to serve would always be above suspicion" (see Hist. of the Parsis, vol. i. chap. iii. p. 103).

[86] "For if a German or a European of another nationality can secure a commission in the British Army, why should not a Parsee, who is the born subject of the Queen-Empress?" (See Hist. of the Parsis, vol. i. chap. iii. p. 104.)

[87] Opinions are divided amongst the Parsis themselves on the subject of their nationality and position in India. The Hon. Mr. P. M. Mehta considers them as natives to the backbone. Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, M.P., is of the same opinion, whilst a certain number decline to recognise this.

[88] The name of Shahanshahi means "imperial," and that of Kadmi is drawn from qadim, "ancient." The Shahanshahis are also called Rasmis, from Rasm, "custom," that is to say, that which is followed in India.

[89] On this schism, see Anquetil Duperron, Zend-Avesta, Disc. Prel. p. ccccxxvi.; Wilson, The Parsi Religion, pp. 35, 36; Haug, Essays, pp. 57, 58. Aspandiarji Kamdin resumed the controversy of the Kabisa in a book appearing in Surat, in 1826: A Historical Account of the Ancient Leap-Year of the Parsis (Gujerati). Mr. K. R. Kama held, in 1869, a series of conferences on the ancient computation of time, and has published The Era of Yezdezard (Gujerati).

[90] This is how Anquetil Duperron relates the incidents of this memorable struggle: (Disc. Prel. pp. cccxxvi. et seq.) "About forty-six years ago there came from Kirman a very clever Dastoor named Djamasp. He had been sent to re-unite the Parsis divided on the question of the Penom, a double piece of cloth with which the Parsis, on certain occasions, cover a part of the face. Some wished that it should be placed on the dead, others did not like this. Djamasp decided in favour of the latter, according to the custom of Kirman. If this Dastoor had not made the voyage to India, this frivolous contest would have caused streams of blood to flow.

"Djamasp is believed to have examined the Vendidad, which was current in Gujerat. He found the Pehlvi translation of it too long and not correct in several places. Ignorance was the predominating vice of the Parsis of India. In order to remedy it, the Dastoor of Kirman formed some disciples, Darab at Surat, Djamasp at Naosari, and a third at Bharooch, to whom he taught Zend and Pehlvi. Some time after, tired of the contradictions which he had to endure, he returned to Kirman. The books which this Dastoor has left in India are an exact copy of the Zend and Pehlvi Vendidad, the Feroueschi, the translation of the Vadjerguerd, and the Nerenguestan. These two works are in Persian, mixed with Zend, and purely on ceremonials.

"Darab, the first disciple of Djamasp, and a Dastoor Mobed perfect in the knowledge of Zend and Pehlvi, wished to correct the Pehlvi translation of the Vendidad and rectify some portions of the Zend Text, which appeared to him either to have been transposed or to present useless repetitions. He began explaining to young Parsi theologians the works of Zoroaster, which the Mobeds read every day without understanding them. An enslaved people who for a long time practised a thousand ceremonies, the sense and reason of which they were ignorant of, would naturally fall into innumerable abuses. This was what Darab, more learned than the others, observed. The purifications were multiplied; the Zend text was inundated with Pehlvi commentaries, often very inconsistent. Darab at first attempted the way of instruction. But he found a powerful adversary in the person of Manscherdji, the chief of the party who did not like reform, and himself the son of a Mobed.

"Another subject of division animated them again, one against the other. Darab had for his father Kaous, of whom I have spoken before, who had received from Dastoor Djamasp the first smatterings of astronomy, according to the principles of Oulough Beg. This Dastoor Mobed having been perfected since then under another Parsi come from Kirman about thirty-six years ago, showed by the Tables of Oulough Beg that the Nao rouz (the first day of the year) ought to be advanced by a month, and that consequently there had been an error till then. A letter of the Dastoors of Yezd, dated the 22nd of the month Aban, of the year 1111 of Yezdezard (1742, A.D.) and brought by the Parsi Espendiar, confirmed the discovery of Kaous, but did not tend to protect him from the hatred of his compatriots. It went so far that Darab, sixteen or seventeen years ago, was obliged to withdraw to Damann amongst the Portuguese, and Kaous to Cambay among the English. When I arrived at Surat, almost all the Parsis of India followed the party of Manscherdji because he was rich and powerful; Darab, whose knowledge was recognised even by his adversaries, had some disciples who, in the sequel, showed themselves more freely when the authority of Manscherdji had been lowered at Surat with that of the Dutch, whose agent he was."

[91] Mulla Firoz succeeded his father Mulla Kavas as Dastoor of the Kadmis (1802); when hardly eight years old he had accompanied Mulla Kavas to Persia and had learned Persian and Arabic. In 1786 he wrote in Persian a curious recital of his voyage, Derich Kherde Manjumi. In 1830 he published the Avijéh Din to refute the arguments of Dastoor Edalji Dorabji Sanjana. The governor of Bombay, Mr. Jonathan Duncan, engaged him to teach Persian, and to translate the Desatir. Mr. Duncan having died, Mulla Firoz continued his work in concert with Mr. William Erskine, and finished it in 1819. He died in 1830 (Parsee Prâkâsh, p. 229) and bequeathed his collection of books in Zend, Pehlvi, &c., to the Kadmi community; the library which contains them is situate in "Fort," and bears his name. We owe to Mulla Firoz a poem on the conquest of India by the English, the George Namah, which was terminated and published in 1837 by his nephew and successor, Dastoor Rastamji Kaikobadji. On the death of the latter (1854) (Parsee Prâkâsh, p. 635), the Kadmis combined to found a madressa which they called Mulla Firoz (Parsee Prâkâsh, p. 647).

[92] Edalji Dorabji Sanjana was esteemed for his piety and merits. He was in his time one of the first savants in Zend and Pehlvi; he was equally perfect in Sanscrit. We owe to him several works on the Mazdiene religion, amongst others a book entitled Khorehe Vehijak, which brought forth in reply the Avijéh Din of Mulla Firoz. He died in 1847 (Parsee Prâkâsh, p. 495).

[93] Most offensive epithets were interchanged between Kadmis and Shahanshahis, such as that of churigar ("churi," bracelets, bangles; and "gar," workman) a term of contempt carrying with it an idea of weakness; the children of the two sects pursued one another in the streets, insulting one another. This was hardly fifty years ago.

[94] The sect of the Shahanshahis possesses in Bombay two High Priests--Dastoor Jamaspji Minocherji and Shams ul ulma Dastoor Peshotan Behramji Sanjana; at Poona there is only one, Dastoor Hoshangji Jamaspji. The sect of the Kadmis has also High Priests--Dastoor Kharshedji Phirozji Mulla Firoz, elected by the whole community, who is attached to the Dadiseth Atash-Behram, and Dastoor Kharshedji Bezonji, attached to the Framji Kavasji Banaji Atash-Behram.

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