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

284 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. VI.

Prince of Wales, every Parsi family in the land showed as much concern and anxiety as the most loyal of English families in the very heart of the United Kingdom. In their private as well as public prayers they began and continued to pray for the restoration to health of His Royal Highness, long before the day specially set apart by Government for offering prayers to the Almighty. On this officially-appointed day they performed in their fire-temples grand and solemn ceremonies, such as their ancestors were in the habit of observing under their own kings. In the firetemple of Kavasji Beramji two thousand Parsis assembled, and, when the regular prayers had been offered, the whole congregation marched along the Queen’s Road in Bombay to a large open spot near the sea-shore, about half a mile distant from the fire-temple. There again they offered up prayers to God for the recovery of His Royal Highness, The procession was most solemn and imposing. The priests and the laymen repeated prayers as they proceeded towards the sea-shore. The Europeans who happened to pass by on the occasion were much struck with this impressive proof of Parsi loyalty.

At the same hour another large concourse of Parsis gathered at the fire-temple of Hormasji Bamanji Wadia. Dastur Peshotanji Beramji Sanjana and

about three hundred priests joined in a united