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

CHAP. Il.] THE AMELIORATION FUND. 73

taking was quickened by the pathetic details received from Persia regarding the deplorable state into which the victims of Mussulman misrule had fallen, and an influential meeting was held in Bombay on the 11th of January 1855, under the presidency of the late Mr. Manakji Nasarvanji Petit, for the consideration of Mr. Manakji Antaria’s report. It dwelt im great detail on the impoverished condition of the Iranis, which chiefly arose from the levying of the oppressive poll-tax, called the “jazia”; on the varied forms of individual tyranny ; and on their utterly defenceless position in the midst of a fanatical population. These circumstances, the recital of which aroused heartfelt sympathy at the meeting, led to the unanimous adoption of the chairman’s proposal to establish a distinct fund, having for its object the general amelioration of the condition of the Persian Zoroastrians. Other resolutions were passed at the meeting relating to the nomination of a managing committee for preparing memorials to the various authorities concerned, and to the collection of subscriptions for carrying out the various purposes of the fund, such as the completion of a tower of silence at Yezd, the procuring of a partial or total remission of the “jazia,” the affording of pecuniary relief to the aged and destitute, the creating of facilities for the education of the young, and the repairing and preservation of dilapidated places of wor-

ship in the parent-country. Of these resolutions none