Sanjan is a place of religious and historic importance to Parsis. Contrary to popular belief, this was not the place where the Parsis first landed after leaving Iran. However, this is indeed the place where the very first Atash Behram (Iranshah) was consecrated.
It is believed that several families, men and women, took off in a number of boats, and arrived on the island of Diu in Saurashtra in 917 A.C., where they lived for 19 years. Later, in 936 A.C., when they sailed towards the mainland of India, there was a hurricane in the sea, and the group prayed to Ahura Mazda for deliverance and promised to build an Atash Behram if they reached land safely. They arrived at the town of Nav-teri-nagri (town admeasuring an area of 9 x 13 kos), which was later renamed as Sanjan after a town in Khorasan in Iran.
Iranshah was consecrated in Sanjan, and according to tradition on the ninth day of the ninth month of Samvat 777. However, the Aalaat or the sacred ritual requisites including the holy ash of the Atash Bahram in Khorasan, was brought from Iran. Hence, the first Atash Behram consecrated by the Parsis in India at Sanjan is named Iranshah as it has a spiritual and ritual link with Iran.
Very little is known or documented about the advent of the early Parsis to India. The earliest record is the Qissa-e-Sanjan written in 1599 A.C. In other words, the earliest so called history of the Parsis was documented several centuries after their arrival in India.
The Qissa-e-Sanjan refers to five conditions laid down by Jadi Rana, a local chieftain, before the Parsis:
- That we would adopt the local language (Gujarati),
- That we would disarm yourselves of all weapons,
- That all our women would wear the saree and bangles,
- That we would tie the thread in the marriage ceremony and
- That we would explain the Zoroastrian religion.
As stated earlier, very little is known or documented about the advent of the early Parsis to India. Even the exact date of the arrival of the Parsis in India is shrouded in mystery, let alone any knowledge about the size of the diaspora. Old manuscripts state that it was the month of Shravan and the year Samvat772. Scholars like S. H. Hodivala have argued that it was Samvat 992 or 936 A.C.
It is believed that the first lot that came to India from Iran arrived in seven sail boats. It is probable that several other groups came in later on. India and Iran had strong trade relationships from very ancient times and migrating to India in the wake of Arab persecution was most likely a planned and systematic move on the part of our ancestors.
The ‘Kissah-i-Sanjan’ or the Story of Sanjan was originally written in Persian at the close of the 16th century (1599) by Mobed Bahman Kaikobad, the grandson of Dastur Hormazdyar Sanjana, and the granduncle of Darab Hormuzdyar, the compiler of the well-known collection of ‘Revayets’ made in the 17th century.
Its importance arises from the fact that it is the only literary record of the advent and settlement of the Parsis in Western India. Composed more than six centuries after the Parsis settled in Sanjan, the historical accuracy of this work is a matter of debate amongst historians and scholars. The Parsi community, however, is beholden to the author for having committed to writing the tradition that he found current in his time about the early history of the Parsis in India.
R.P. Karkaria, in his introduction to the English translation of the ‘Kissah-i-Sanjan’ by Lt. E.B. Eastwick writes, “If there was no written history, there certainly was historical tradition about those early days handed down by word of mouth throughout all those centuries. And it is from this old tradition that was current in his own times, that Bahman compiled this story.”
Bahman Kaikobad writes in the ‘Quissa’ that he had heard the wondrous tale of the arrival of the Parsis in India from “a wise Dastur, ever famed for goodness and who had so read the Zend Avasta that he could repel the followers of Ahriman”. (Translation by E.B. Eastwick).
It is unfortunate that the tale narrated by Bahman is short. The author himself says that what he had heard from the wise Dastur was voluminous, “Should I speak, the relation would be impossible; should I write it, no paper would contain it, yet will I endeavour to repeat somewhat thereof. If the words of it be a hundred, I will utter at least one.” One wishes, while reading Bahman’s words, that he had repeated much more of that truly wondrous tale.
The famous Sixteen Sanskrit Shlokas are inseparably associated with the arrival of the Parsis in India and though they are not directly given in the ‘Kissah’ as such, their substance is plainly alluded to. Together with the ‘Qissa’, the Shlokas form the oldest document extant relating to the Parsis in India. Dr. Wilson had translated them in his work on the Parsi religion, but the translation was not very accurate.
These famous shlokas are traditionally ascribed to Dasturan Dastur Neryosang who led the Parsis from Khorasan, in Iran, to India and consecrated the first Atash Behram in Sanjan in Samvat 777 (720 AC). However, here, once again, scholars are in disagreement. They believe Neryosang, the Sanskrit scholar of the 12th century was different from Dastur Neryosang who consecrated the first Atash Behram in Sanjan.
The shlokas are also ascribed to one Akko-Adhyaru or Mobed Aga. In the first 15 shlokas, the Dastur explains the principles and practices of the Zoroastrian religion to the Raja of Sanjan. The last shloka contains the reply of the Raja.
The Sanjan Stambh or the Sanjan Memorial Column was constructed in the year 1920 to commemorate the arrival of the Parsis at Sanjan and the column inscribes the date of arrival as 936 AC. Every year hundreds of Parsis congregate at this column to pay homage to their sagacious ancestors who left their spiritual homeland, Iran, in pursuit of religious freedom.
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