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

2 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. 1.

drop in the ocean. A full moiety of their total number reside in Bombay; the rest are scattered throughout the different cities of India. Insignificant as they may thus seem to be in point of numbers, they occupy, none the less, one of the foremost places among Indian nationalities. Their peculiar position and foreign designation are apt to strike strangers on their first visit to India, and interest and curiosity alike prompt the not uncommon inquiry, Who are these people, the Parsis ?

The answer to this inquiry involves the relation of by no means an unromantic tale. The Parsis pride themselves on being the progeny of a mighty race of people who occupied Persia centuries before the Christian era. They declare, and can produce some evidence in support of the statement, that their grandeur, magnificence, and glory were unsurpassed by any other nation of ancient times; that their kines were at once the most powerful of monarchs and the wisest and most beneficent of rulers; that their armies were renowned for courage and military prowess ; and, in short, that they were the foremost Asiatic nation of their time. These people, the ancestors of the Parsis, were well trained in all the arts of civilised life, and were remarkable for their valour and energy, bringing up thew youth “to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth.” They could boast of heroes as famous for their courage and