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

34 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. I.

origin. This device succeeded, for the people found favour in Jadi Rana’s eyes, and permission was given them to reside in his city on the condition that they would adopt the language of the country and cease to speak that of their forefathers. They were also required to dress their females in the Indian fashion, to wear no armour, and to perform the marriage ceremonies of their children at night, in conformity with the practice of the Hindus. The exiles had but two alternatives, either to accept these conditions or to return to their ships; and, as any other race would have done under similar circumstances, they chose the former course rather than again become wanderers on the face of the earth, They rested in the land of the Rana, and occupied a large tract of waste land in the immediate vicinity of Sanjan.

After a long succession of hardships, endured for many years, the exiles had at last found a restingplace, with a reasonable prospect of enjoying repose and happiness. Every one then betook himself to his profession; and the Parsi settlement, which but a short time before had been a sterile desert, became converted, according to early writers, into a “Garden of Heaven.” Neither did the Parsis forget Him who had assisted them in their day of trouble. They remembered the vow which they had made on their voyage

from Diu to Sanjan, to kindle on high the flame sacred