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

124 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. II.

memory for what they enjoy. Kharshedji Kavasji, like his brother Framji, gave a lakh of rupees towards building an Atash-Behram, or chief fire-temple, in memory of his father. The mantle of this branch of the family has fallen on his grandson, Mr. Mancherji Naorozji Banaji, who has been for several years a member of the Municipal Corporation and Town Council of Bombay.

Another Parsi family in which some of the best traits of character that have distinguished our race in the past generation—such as commercial enterprise, industry, integrity, benevolence, and public spiritwere most conspicuously shown forth was that of the Vikajis. This family came originally from the small seaport town of Tarapur in the Thana district, where several of its members still own considerable property. In the beginning of this century it was represented by the brothers Vikaji Merji and Pestanji Merji, and by their cousins Beramji Bhimji and Hirji Bhimji, of whom the eldest and most enterprising was Vikaji. For several generations previously the chief occupation of the family had been agriculture; but these men departed from the traditional groove and added to their old pursuit a new career of usefulness for themselves, in which they attained, in an incredibly short time, an extraordinary degree of success. They began by farming the revenues of a small

“mahal,” named “ Aseri,” in the Bassein district, under