History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

CHAP. VI.] THE SIR JAMSHED/I FUND. 287

“To commemorate this auspicious event we request your permission to apply a sum of money which we have subscribed in forming a fund to be designated ‘Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai Translation Fund, and to be vested in trustees for the purpose of being appropriated in defraying the expenses of translating into the Gujarati language such books from the European and Asiatic languages, whether ancient or modern, as may be approved of by the committee, to be by them published and distributed gratis or at a low price among the Parsi community, in furtherance of the education of our people, of which you have ever been a warm friend and zealous patron.”

Sir Jamshedji’s reply to this address will clearly explain the origin of the institution which now bears his illustrious name. He said :—

“Nothing could please me more than the purposes to which you propose to devote the funds that have been subscribed. I shall ever wish my name to be connected with every endeavour to diffuse knowledge amongst our people ; and the surest way to incite them to elevate and improve themselves, to fit them to appreciate the blessings of the Government under which they live, and to deserve those honours which have now, for the first time, been extended to India, is to spread far and wide amongst them, gratuitously or in a cheap form, translations into our own language of the works of the most approved authors. Connected with this subject is a scheme that I have long contemplated for relieving the distresses of the Parsi poor of Bombay, Surat, and its neighbourhood. You know full well the state of misery in which many of our people are living, and hopeless ignorance in which their children are permitted to grow up. My object is to create a fund, the interest of which shall be applied towards relieving the indigent of our people, and the education of their children ; and I propose to invest the sum of three hundred thousand rupees in the public securities, and to place it at the disposal of trustees, who with the interest shall carry out the object I have mentioned; and this trust I hope you will take under your care.”