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

CHAP. I11.] NO PARST SOLDIERS. IOI

land in the Panch Mahals, from the chief of Rajpipla, and has brought it under cultivation. He has already reaped the fruit of his industry and enterprise, as the land, which five years ago was barren, is now a fertile tract yielding cotton, wheat, and other products. It is to be hoped that Mr. Rastamji’s example will be followed by other Parsis.

Not a single Parsi appears in the census returns as a soldier. It may perhaps strike the reader as curious that the Parsis, whose ancestors were remarkable for their martial spirit, have not embraced the profession of arms. The matter can be easily explained. We must, in the first place, observe that there is no objection whatever to a Parsi embracing the profession of a soldier on religious grounds, as has been erroneously supposed by some European writers. The veneration the Parsis have for fire has been the sroundwork of this supposition, and in this belief it has been assumed that they would not fire a gun ora pistol. This representation is almost ridiculous. The Parsis hold fire in veneration, but only in a certain sense, as will be explained in the chapters on religion; but a legitimate reverence offers no impediment to their . employing firearms as offensive or defensive weapons. When they were apprehensive on a recent occasion of disturbance in Bombay, the shops were promptly emptied of revolvers by Parsi purchasers. On the first volunteer movement taking form in Bombay, nearly