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

268 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. VI.

ally as the Parsis since they became known in Europe —that is, since the commencement of the seventeenth century —have uniformly up to now preserved their high character for benevolence.

All the Parsis whose names we have recorded in chapters i, and ii. of this volume were men who raised themselves to opulence and distinction by their own exertions, and the short notices we have been able to give of them prove that they one and all devoted, from the store with which Providence had blessed them, a large portion for the benefit of their poorer brethren. The Parsi religion enjoins its followers to help the poor and succour the needy. In all ceremonies, religious and social, the Parsis are continually reminded of the duty of the rich to provide for the poor; the latter, therefore, are never absent from the thoughts of the former on all occasions, whether of mourning or rejoicing in their families. Large sums are given in charity on the death of a man or woman for the benefit of the deceased’s soul, as the flourishing funds in charge of the trustees of the Parsi Panchayet testify. On occasions of rejoicing the Parsi invites, as it were, the blessings of Heaven by acts of charity and generosity towards the poor.

Let the traveller look around the city of Bombay, excluding the other places in which the benevolence

of the Parsi character has effected much good and relieved considerable distress, and what will he find 2