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

CHAP. I.] A PUBLIC FUNERAL. 27

native judge in that Zilla—all which appointments he filled with honour to himself and unqualified satisfaction to the Government of Bombay. These services were well requited by the authorities of the Presidency, who, in the person of the Governor, the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, accorded him the honour of a public darbar, at which, in addition to the gift of a costly dress, he was presented with a substantial “jachir,” consisting of half a dozen villages, producing a gross annual income of Rs.12,000. He continued to discharge his duties as a judicial functionary until his death in June 1843, when public respect unanimously conceded to him the tribute of a funeral demonstration such as has not fallen to the lot of any native in this country. The annals of the Parsi race record nothing more touching or impressive than the universal reeret with which the sad event was received by every section of the local community, or than the eagerness with which all classes vied with each other in rendering due homage to the memory of one who had been so beloved. From the prince to the peasant, from the highest Government official to the smallest shopkeeper,—all ranks united in accompanying the remains of the departed to their last resting-place, while the pomp and solemnity of the display were enhanced by the general adoption of mourning tokens and the vast proportions of the melancholy cortege. Immediately behind the bier, says a local chronicler of