On the eve of 16^th February, 2020, a number of Ahmedabad’s Parsi community members gathered at the Parsi Sanatorium for the Sheri Bhojan Program, sponsored by Dr. Armaity Davar, Managing Trustee of Late Sunamai and Firoze Davar Charitable Trust (SFDCT), which she manages in memory of her late parents.

Daraysas Hoshangji Kavina, the grand-nephew of Prof. Davar and the keynote speaker, delivered a talk on the simple and spiritual life led by Prof. Firoze Cavasji Davar, the English Literature professor at Ahmedabad’s Gujarat College. Popularly referred to as ‘Vidyaguru’ or ‘The Moving Library’ amongst his students, Prof. Davar devoted fifty-two years of his life to education.

Kavina highlighted the honour bestowed upon Prof. Davar by the Iran’s leader, His Highness Mohammad Reza Shah Pehelvi, in 1956 when he had invited the Professor to Iran’s Tehran University, where he stayed for fifty days, giving lectures on the history and civilization of ancient Iran. He was yet again invited, as the only Indian, to Iran for the ‘Congress of the Iranologists’ in 1966.

A great literary enthusiast regarded as a scholar of the Zoroastrian religion and the Shahnameh, Prof. Davar was a staunch believer of Zoroastrianism and possessed comprehensive insights of other faiths. He was an exceptional person as familiar with the Parsi Community’s literary treasures as he was with keats, words worth, Shelley, Byron and William Shakespeare. He contributed to India’s Freedom struggle at the cost of his own career advancement in the Gujarat University.

Darayas Kavina, who travels across India to deliver lectures on the subject of Shahnameh, offered valuable insight into Prof. Firoze Davar’s life and teachings. He concluded his speech, giving thanks to Dr. Armaity Firoze Davar for her selfless service to the community via the Charitable Trust and by cherishing the memories of her late parents.

Next, Trustee Merzban Lahewala thanked Darayas Kavina and commended his fiery speech which had the audience rapt. The function concluded with dinner for the attendees catered by Malcum Bastawala of Mek Caterers.

Submitted By Kersy H. Kavina, Trustee SFDT