Parsi Times presents a 5-part series on the entry, settlement and rise of the Parsi community in India, by Adil J. Govadia The Parsis, having migrated to the hospitable shores of India in search of a peaceful existence and freedom to practice their own religion, adapted to the Indian ways and proved themselves no less […]
Tag: Adil Govadia
Parsi Footprints Of Courage And Valour
Adil J. Govadia During the two World Wars, British India had callously sacrificed thousands of Indian soldiers – with nearly 75,000 native Indian soldiers martyred in WW I and over 1.2 lakh in WW II. Despite India’s prodigious contribution in terms of men, material, money and rations, their heroic stories of valour and self-sacrifice sadly […]
Eminence And Ascendancy Of Parsis In Early India – III
Parsi Times presents a 5-part series on the entry, settlement and rise of the Parsi community in India, by Adil J. Govadia The Parsis from Navsari held several prestigious public offices. In 1886 Seth Dinshaw Mullan was appointed public prosecutor in Navsari. Dastur Edulji N. JamaspAsa, in addition to being the Vada Dastur (High Priest) […]
Eminence And Ascendancy Of Parsis In Early India – II
Parsi Times presents a 5-part series on the entry, settlement and rise of the Parsi community in India, by Adil J. Govadia. In the 16th century, the shipping industry began to flourish in Surat as mostly all trade was done by sea. Surat being an important sea port, the Portuguese, French and the British maintained […]
Eminence And Ascendancy Of Parsis In Early India – I
Parsi Times presents a 5-part series on the entry, settlement and rise of the Parsi community in India, by Adil J. Govadia. Undoubtedly, no country in the world embraces such an extraordinary assortment of religions, ethnic groups, cultural practices and an extensive spectrum of incomprehensible dialects and vernaculars as India! Indeed, India is a unique […]
Consecration Of The World’s Last Dokhma
Adil J. Govadia As per a report published in 1939, titled, ‘Bangalore-nu Dakhmu Ijwani Aaje Thaili Pavitra Kriya’, the entire fifteen acres Dokhma property located at Hebbal Village, in Bangalore, was originally purchased by Seth Ratanshah Nasserwanji Toddywalla and his siblings, and donated to the Bangalore Anjuman, in the memory of their late parents – […]
Parsi Philanthropy In Karachi
Adil J. Govadia According to archaeological excavations, the Persian Empire that extended from Central Asia to the present-day Afghanistan / Pakistan region, may have developed significantly in the 6th century BC, during Persia’s Achaemenid Dynasty. A prehistoric Parthian Zoroastrian fire-temple called Jandial, in Taxila (Takshashila) is reminiscent of the Persian Zoroastrian footprint dating back to 1st century […]
Historic Parsi Settlements In Burma And Singapore
Adil J. Govadia Rangoon: Trade between British India and Burma (Myanmar) began soon after the second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852. In addition to the territory that the British gained on the Arakan coast, during the first war of 1824-26, they also occupied what came to be known as Lower Burma and its strategic ports, situated […]
Calicut: Parsi Gateway To Peninsular India
Calicut (or Kozhikode), a famous Indian city situated along the Malabar Coast in Kerala, dubbed as the ‘City of Spices’, was once a famous cotton-weaving center that gave its name to the ‘Calico cloth’. Before the 16th century, the origins of spices were either unknown or unaffordable, mainly because of its mysterious rarity! Hence, spice […]
Parsis: Pioneers Of Cricket In India
In India, though cricket was first played back in the 1720s by English Mariners at Cambay (Khambat), it was only later that a more organized version was developed in Calcutta and Bombay, played between English residents and visiting soldiers /sailors, heralding the arrival of the sport in India. Historically, Parsis of India were the first […]
The Antiquity Of Goti Adarian
Second Only To Iranshah And Navsari’s Vadi Dar-e-Mihr Courtesy: Er. Adil J. Govadia Indeed, the history of Surat’s Goti Adarian remains a mystery. There is no record available as to its exact date of consecration or names of priests who consecrated the Adarian Saheb. Very limited details are available regarding its antiquity which […]