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

CHAP. IL] THE PRESENT BARONET. TeIgt

Rs.50,000 for the purpose of building a high school at Surat. He was a profound Persian scholar and author of three works in the Gujarati language. He died in the year 1881.

The present baronet, Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai, is the eldest son of the second baronet. He is a young man of the most amiable disposition, and, though young in years, has been elected by the whole Parsi community as its leader. His election to this position was an event in the history of the Parsis. About three thousand Parsis assembled at Albless Bag on the day of the meeting, and elected him unanimously and amidst great enthusiasm as the head of the Parsi community, a position which his father and grandfather had held, in their cases not by election but as natural leaders. He bears well and creditably the hereditary honour which our gracious Sovereign has bestowed upon his family, as well as the additional distinctions conferred by his own community and the Government. In all public movements he takes an enlightened lead, and is greatly respected by all classes of the people. He is a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay, and has recently been favoured by Her Majesty the Queen-Empress of India with the honour of a Companionship of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India,

Next in eminence to the first Parsi baronet was the late Framji Kavasji Banaji. He commenced