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

32 HISTORV OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. I.

horse richly caparisoned with gold and a “jaghir” of four villages in Gujarat, yielding a collective revenue of Rs.3,000 a year.

A gold medal was subsequently presented to him at a public darbar by Mr. Sutherland, the judicial commissioner. It bore the following inscription :—

“This medal is presented to Ardeshir Dhanjisha Bahadur, Kotval of Surat, in token of the high sense entertained by the Bombay Government of the diligence and fidelity with which he

has performed his public duties, both as an officer of police and in other capacities.”

Nor were the public at large, whom Ardeshir served in a truly self-sacrificing spirit, unmindful of the many obligations under which he had placed them. His magnanimous efforts were directed not only to the rescue of their lives and property from fire and flood, and from the violence and depredations of Bhils, Pindaris, and other robber tribes, but also to the eleyation of their intellectual and social condition by the creation and endowment of institutions of public utility. On numerous occasions was this heroic benefactor of Surat presented with public addresses in grateful acknowledgment of his great worth as a public servant and as a personal friend of the thousands of citizens whom he had from time to time benefited. At such times the public enthusiasm always ran very high, and the demonstrations of heartfelt appreciation and goodwill made