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

286 AUISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. VI.

and grant the sincere and heartfelt prayers of all His children on earth! We thank Thee, O God, for Thy goodness and Thy mercy in delivering to us again our beloved Prince.”

On the day set apart as a day of thanksgiving for the restoration to health of His Royal Highness the hall of the chief fire-temple was filled to suffocation. By the appointed hour three thousand Parsis had assembled together, each taking with him pieces of sandal-wood to feed the sacred fire. Handbills containing a special prayer composed for the occasion by Dastur Peshotanji, the learned chief priest of the Parsis, were distributed to all present, and as the “ dastur” repeated the prayer all stood up and joined in it. We give here the substance of that prayer which, we venture to think, a Christian bishop might without any impropriety have adopted.

“O Almighty Ahura Mazda, Lord of Immortality, etc., Thou hast declared in the Avesta, through our holy prophet the pious Zarthosht, that there is one specific remedy for illness which the most learned doctors failed to cure, and that remedy is prayer. Thou, Lord of Truth, hast shown us an instance of the promise by rescuing Albert Edward the Prince of Wales from his late serious illness, and hast gladdened our hearts by restoring to him his usual health. We, the Mazdayasnans (believers in one God), therefore

humbly and sincerely thank Thee.”