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

28 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. I.

the scene, came a numerous assemblage of Zoroastrians, consisting of the whole of the laity, the “dasturs,” “davars,” and spiritual heads, of the community, numbering in all upwards of fifteen thousand persons. Then followed an array of court officials, including judicial functionaries of every grade—“ kazis,” ‘‘ muftars,” “nazirs,” “amins,” “vakils,’ agents, and writers. These were succeeded by an imposing body of horsemen, headed by the Rana of Dharampor and his staff or personal attendants. Next followed a detachment of the nawab’s horse, under the command of the “diwan,” Mirza Mahomed Ali Bee Khan; then an immense throng of Hindu residents, comprising bankers, moneylenders, tradesmen, and shopkeepers; nor was there absent a representative muster of Mussulmans, of the upper and lower ranks of Armenians, of Moguls, Jews, and other races, making up in all some three thousand persons. Lastly came a miscellaneous crowd of “kolis,”

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or people of the fishermen caste, and “kunbis,” or cultivators, with the latter of whom the deceased had been a great favourite. All this motley crowd, diversified by race and speech, costume and complexion, accompanied the bier from the private residence of the deceased at Salavat Por to the limits of the tower of silence, where the non-Zoroastrians, debarred by Parsi custom from nearer approach, awaited the completion of the ceremonies, at the close of which they fell into

the procession again, and marched back in the same