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

CHAP. VI.] LHE SHRE WD BANTIA. 243

adverse circumstances forced upon them a life of inactivity for more than a thousand years. The old fire of their ancestors continued to burn, however faintly, in their breasts, and it only required the least encouragement to revive. Situated as they were in the midst of alien races, following different faiths and constantly at war with each other for territorial supremacy, it was not possible for the Parsis to lift up their heads. They had perforce to be content with the occupation of agriculture, in which their ancestors were famous for their skill. It was under the peaceful rule of Akbar that their pent-up energies at last found opportunities of development, and from that wise monarch the Parsis first received some encouragement and assistance to improve their condition. But it is to the British power in India that the Parsis are chiefly indebted for their present position.

The arrival of Europeans and the establishment of trading factories in Western India, and especially at Surat, opened up an unexpected field for the energy, industry, and enterprise of the Parsis; and from that time the commercial activity by which they have made a name may be said to take its date. No doubt the shrewd “bania” of Surat, of whom European travellers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries speak, possessed all the commercial instincts of his race; but he seldom sought any scope for them beyond the walls of the town where he carried on business.