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

234 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. Vv.

points in the life of that great prophet which could be collected from the Avesta, it is a book that very few authors who write on Zoroastrian subjects can afford to dispense with. To this learned gentleman the previously-named young and educated Ervads and many others who are now prosecuting their studies owe a debt of gratitude, for he has ever been ready with his purse, mind, and body to promote the cause of religious education among the Parsis. He is, so to speak, the founder in Bombay of the present school of the philological way of studying Oriental lancuages. Having laid the foundation of his philological studies in the ancient language of Iran under that learned German scholar, Professor Oppert of Paris, and having continued it under the distinguished Iranist Professor Spiegel of Erlangen, he introduced that system into Bombay by personally imparting knowledge to a class of young “mobeds.” His zeal for the propagation of religious knowledge was displayed in his starting a periodical called Zarthoshti Abhyas (Zoroastrian Studies), in publishing translations from known German authors on Oriental subjects, and in delivering valuable and interesting lectures on similar questions.

We will now say a few words about the condition of the Parsi priesthood. At one time it demanded improvement. Very few of them understood their liturgical works, although able to recite in parrot