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

2 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. I.

in agricultural and industrial pursuits. Not only did they change the face of the territory they occupied from a dreary jungle into a fruitful, refreshing, and life-civing garden, but they enjoyed considerable prosperity more especially if taken in comparison with their neighbours. Unfortunately there is no record of any interesting or important event during this long period of six centuries, but a traveller of the twelfth century speaks of them “as rich, warlike, wandering, and clever,’—qualities seldom associated before or since. The dispersion of the Parsis of Sanjan after the overthrow of the Hindu Government in or about the year 1315 was, as might naturally be expected, followed by a century of national depression. They had again to leave the houses they had built and the lands they had rendered fertile, and, destitute of resources, once more to seek a new life and fresh lands in another part of Gujarat. There they settled, despite their indigent circumstances, with a high character for valour, fidelity, and loyalty to the kings who had given them and their ancestors a kindly welcome when driven from their own home. The Parsis even to this day retain a grateful remembrance of the kind reception they met with at the hands of the Hindu king and his subjects. Though the result of the campaign against the invaders of the Rana of Sanjan’s country was disastrous to the Parsis who took so prominent a

part in it, the reputation they acquired by their gal-