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Parsi legal culture produced clear benefits for Zoroastrians in the late colonial era. It also played an underacknowledged role in the constitutional life of modern India, helping nationalists pivot from extra-legal resistance to the business of running a state. Independent India could re-activate constitutionalism and the rule of law as ideals because these values were well established among nationalists, albeit in a tradition that had been relegated to the back burner in the run-up to independence. This tradition, exemplified by early Congress figures like Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, and Dinsha Wacha, was heavily influenced by Parsi legal culture. This article also suggests that rule-oflaw values were not inescapably colonial. As an ideal, the rule of law caused division within the colonial state, powered anti-colonial critique, and reinforced constitutionalism. Because the rule-of-law agenda was distinct from colonialism, there was no inherent contradiction between Parsi legal culture and the rejection of colonial rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We have first time generated complete mitogenome of 19 ancient samples of the first Parsi settlers excavated from the archaeological site of Sanjan. • One of the promising samples belonged to haplogroup M3a1 + 204, which is prevalent among medieval swat valley population and also in two Roopkund individuals. • In phylognalysis and haplotype network Parsi sample with M3a1 + 204 share clade with both Middle Eastern and South Asian samples. The rich cultural and genetic diversity of South Asia emerged from multiple migrations and cultural assimilation of multiple waves of migrants. The Parsi community of North-western India were one of those who migrated from West Eurasia in the aftermath of 7th century CE and assimilated into the local cultural framework. Earlier genetic studies further strengthened this notion with the finding that they harbour both Middle Eastern and South Asian genetic components. Although these studies covered both autosomal and uniparental markers, still maternal ancestry was not covered in depth and with good resolution of mitochondrial markers. Hence in our current study, we have first time generated a complete mitogenome of 19 ancient samples of the first Parsi settlers excavated from the archaeological site of Sanjan and performed detailed phylogenetic analysis to infer their maternal genetic affinity. In our analysis, we found that the Parsi mitogenome with mtDNA haplogroup M3a1 + 204 shares clade with both Middle Eastern and South Asian modern individuals in both the Maximum Likelihood tree and Bayesian phylogenetic tree. This haplogroup was also prevalent among the medieval Swat valley population of present-day Northern Pakistan and was also observed in two Roopkund A individuals. In the phylogenetic network this sample share haplotype with both South Asian and Middle Eastern samples. So conclusively, the first Parsi settlers' maternal ancestry encompasses both South Asian and Middle Eastern genetic composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the study of the history of print culture in India is still at an early stage, languages moribund in India, like Persian, have been all but ignored in this narrative. Persian newspapers of the nineteenth century, especially from its first half, played an important role in the development of the Indian public sphere. To a certain extent, they continued in the vein of the pre-British akhbār s, while on the other hand, they took on gradually the character of a modern newspaper. Bombay (Mumbai), for historical and geographical reasons, emerged as a center of Persian language activity during this period and its rapidly burgeoning printing infrastructure facilitated the development of Persian, as a language for books and newspapers. Using a range of contemporary government records and newspapers, an attempt is made here to reconstruct the history of these early Persian newspapers. Over a dozen Persian newspapers are identified, most of them for the first time; a preliminary attempt is made to understand the impact of these newspapers and the motivations of their Parsi, Hindu, and Muslim editors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Persianate world, a mukhtār-nāma (deed of representation or a power of attorney) was a legal instrument that enabled people to transact business through a representative or agent (mukhtār or wakīl). This is a study of one such document written in Surat in 1821. It analyses the document for its socio-cultural, legal, and commercial significance as well as to explore the transition in the adjudication of commercial disputes and civil cases from Mughal to East India Company courts. It shows that there was a strong tradition of documenting business transactions in early modern South Asia and that such practices have continued into the colonial and postcolonial periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The following is a review of the monograph Exile and the Nation, by Afshin Marashi, which examines ideological developments reflective of the early-twentieth century encounter between Iranian intellectuals and India’s Parsi (Zoroastrian) community, such as informed the formulation of a neoclassical Iranian national identity rooted in Iran’s pre-Islamic history.

As a social humanist, Rohinton Mistry is outraged by the ongoing atrocities against the poor and oppressed. In his novel A Fine Balance, Mistry makes a concerted effort to alter society by revealing numerous issues. Mistry wants peace to reign in society through recognising and understanding the numerous challenges that people face. The topic of condemnation of fight for identity and survival is an unmistakable characteristic of Mistry's humanism. His protagonists' ambitions and goals are intertwined with hope and sadness over the current world's life. Through his works, Mistry portrays the basic ambivalence of ordinary people as both a realist and a humanist. His revolutionary thoughts can be seen in his humanistic values and arts concept. All types of feudal exploitation and oppression, particularly the wicked social practises of casteism and untouchability, benefit the oppressed and suffering. As a result, Mistry has emerged as a spokesperson for the revolution. The major goal of this paper is to depict the problems that the characters encounter in today's world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two prominent themes of the novel Such a Long Journey. Parsis in India are a demographically and socially declining community. They once enjoyed a higher social status, however, with passing time they are reduced to second class citizens. This fact remains a major dissatisfaction for them. They, at the same time, take immense pride in their cultural identity. The various rituals related to their day to day chores and even during death are very different from the others’. This gives them a separate ethnic identity, which they cherish. A depiction of the lives, customs and displeasure of the Parsis living in India is highlighted in this write up. Politics too remains another noteworthy theme which is discussed here. The political setback centrally and locally, as perceived by the common mass, has a direct impact on their wellbeing. The scheming government at the center shudders the lives of the protagonist and his close ones. At the same time its incapability to handle situations of war or performing the duties towards the citizens, leave them in contempt. The inertness of the municipality too in doing its important duties leave the residents disgusted. Both these masterfully intertwined themes are studied in this research paper.

Tamil musical theatre (isai natakam) became a thriving form of public entertainment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this formative period, Parsi theatre companies from Bombay frequented Madras and staged Urdu-language spectacles before heterogeneous audiences. The legacy of historical contact between Tamil drama and Parsi theatre is visible at multiple levels: nomenclature, tale types, song genres, orchestration, troupe organization, use of the proscenium stage. The positive reception of Parsi theatre in Madras, however, was not a foregone conclusion, given the linguistic, social, and cultural boundaries to be crossed. Through an analysis of Parsi company performances, this essay shows the process of creating a multilingual theatrical public at the crossroads of urban Madras. It brings to light the patronage of an unsung sector, the community of Urdu-speaking Muslims clustered around the titular nawabs of Arcot. The sponsorship of the Begum of the Carnatic for a local troupe, the Madras Mahomedan Operatic Company, helped to disseminate the imported art, carrying it into wider networks of circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article is elucidation of Parsi’s and their personal laws to make it a less confused and more comprehensible study matter. The title “Fons et origo of Zoroastrianism” means the source or the origin of Zoroastrianism. Those who believed that there’s only one Supreme God namely “Ahura Mazda” are known as Zoroastrians. The researcher has discussed the status of Parsis from its inception till date. This piece of work starts with a detailed study of their origin, simplifying their upbringing and tracing their movements and further stressing on the enactment & application of their laws in India. This piece of literature, emphasizing on the origin of the Zoroastrians further focuses on the legal provisions relating to Parsi marriages, divorce and maintenance as well. In Toto it’s a compilation of the most needed information and majorly required provisos relating to Parsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The Parsis are one of the smallest religious communities in the world. To understand the population structure and demographic history of this group in detail, we analyzed Indian and Pakistani Parsi populations using high-resolution genetic variation data on autosomal and uniparental loci (Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA). Additionally, we also assayed mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms among ancient Parsi DNA samples excavated from Sanjan, in present day Gujarat, the place of their original settlement in India. Results Among present-day populations, the Parsis are genetically closest to Iranian and the Caucasus populations rather than their South Asian neighbors. They also share the highest number of haplotypes with present-day Iranians and we estimate that the admixture of the Parsis with Indian populations occurred ~1,200 years ago. Enriched homozygosity in the Parsi reflects their recent isolation and inbreeding. We also observed 48% South-Asian-specific mitochondrial lineages among the ancient samples, which might have resulted from the assimilation of local females during the initial settlement. Finally, we show that Parsis are genetically closer to Neolithic Iranians than to modern Iranians, who have witnessed a more recent wave of admixture from the Near East. Conclusions Our results are consistent with the historically-recorded migration of the Parsi populations to South Asia in the 7th century and in agreement with their assimilation into the Indian sub-continent's population and cultural milieu "like sugar in milk". Moreover, in a wider context our results support a major demographic transition in West Asia due to the Islamic conquest.

The paper figures out the concerns of the Parsis-the dwindling community living in a secular country. By centralizing the minority Parsi community, Mistry depicts the consciousness of the community, its anxieties and aspirations, perils and problems of existence at the individual and community level and the complex issues a minority ethnic community has to negotiate in a secular country. The volatile political situation which strangulated the country, highlighting the famous Nagerwala case, during the regime of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi forms the backdrop. Gustad Nobel who challenges the hegemony of the state stands for the marginalized in the narrative. His life showcases how the rights of an individual are violated in the form of corruption that is widespread in the society and how the characters are denied their basic rights more so because they belong to an ethnic community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zoroastrianism is rather a scientific and rational explanation of existence, of reality as a whole, of man's place in it, his duties while in this life and the high destiny which he can achieve by establishing his conduct in accordance with the eternal and immutable law of Nature which Zarathustra called the Law of Asha. Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest extant religions, "combining a cosmogonist dualism and eschatological monotheism in a manner unique among the major religions of the world". In this paper Zoroastrianism with special reference to Parsis in India is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at showing the relevance of family biographies to a social history of transnational identities. It focuses on individuals from four generations of an extended family of South Asian descent – all of them outstanding in their chosen fields. The path of an Indian psychiatrist working in early twentieth-century colonial India crosses with that of an eminent Indian philologist and language instructor based in Berlin when he marries the latter’s daughter. The life trajectories of these individuals were shaped by broader political circumstances such as colonialism, two world wars, decolonization and the partition of India. They were also Parsis, belonging to a minority community known for its cosmopolitan outlook, western education and economic success. The psychiatrist’s two daughters went their own different ways – one, settling in Pakistan married to a Muslim and becoming a renowned postcolonial poet and professor of English literature in Karachi. The other, travelling the world, spent most of her professional career in Germany and gained repute as a documentary film-maker and director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The paths of the Parsi poet based in Pakistan, Maki Kureishi, and of her nephew Hanif, of Pakistani descent and domiciled in Britain, do not cross.The sources used include poems, novels, newspapers, official correspondence, government proceedings and personal communications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Khulafa' al-Rashidin era is among the “golden age” of Islamic governance and civilization. This is because, albeit being a new power in the eyes of the world, this new competitor swiftly dominated two-thirds of the world by witnessing the downfall of the Rome and Persian empires, the two major powers that had long dominated the conquest activity of new areas of that time. This article will discuss the futuhat excellence of each khalifah during their respective terms which has contributed towards escalating the glory of Islam. This study approaches the primary and secondary sources through content analysis and historically analyses the past events. The result shows that the futuhat excellence during the Khulafa' al-Rashidin era is evident through the Muslim armies' takeover of the majority of the Empire Rome's territory in the Middle East, Egypt and Northern Africa. At the same time, the Muslim power overturned the Persian Empire who had to surrender their territory in the East to the Muslim military. The futuhat excellence became more meaningful when the Muslims further expanded their power to non-Arab territories such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Tabaristan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bapsi Sidhwa, a Pakistani novelist, is an important voice in the world of common wealth fiction. Sidhwa's fiction deals with both the pre and post-colonial period of the Indian-subcontinent. Her fiction not only brings to life the horror of the partition but also vividly portrays the complexities of life in the sub-continent violence after independence. Bapsi Sidwa's novel Ice-Candy-Man reveals how the violence of partition has serrated the roots of people of different communities, irrespective of ideology, friendship and rational ideas. The novel represents the historical violence of Partition from the perspective of the eight-year old polio-stricken girl Lenny, who belongs to a Parsi family. Her closest companion is her Ayah (nanny) Shanti. The novel weaves together multiple narratives of betrayal, events and conditions engendered by the Partition of the Sub-continent. The story is an actual fact based on the novelist, Bapsi Sidhwa's child hood experiences. Bapsi Sidhwa's Ice-Candy-Man thus portrays the political pre-occupation --the violence and the fragmentation caused by the partition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship has problematised the ‘impact-response’ theory that ideas such as Aryanism, eugenics and militarism were merely imported from a European context into a South Asian one. This paper delineates a longer trajectory of the relationship between corporeal language and communal identity through a focus on the Parsi community of western India. As early as 1853, reformist Parsis enacted modes of ancient Kayānī virility in the gymnasium and theatre to redefine notions of communal identity that drew simultaneously from Enlightenment precepts and a mythic Aryan heritage discovered by Orientalists. Subsequently, the confluence of a loss of numerical, financial and political strength, and the popularisation of the ideas of Darwin and Mendel, prompted a shift in ethnic and semantic thinking, whereby the language of corporeality was co-opted by the orthodox faction to justify the bifurcation of religion and race. Consequently, Parsis, in the midst of a rising Hindu nationalist movement, called not only for the revival of Persian epic theatre, a Parsi militia, the exclusion of ‘half-castes’ from the community and the castration of ‘mentally defective’ community members, but also for a renewal of ties to Iran and a separate state of Parsistan. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rohinton Mistry is an Indian Parsi writer settled in Canada. His works portray the cultural space of the minority Parsi community in Bombay. His works also propose to look at the Parsi way of life, their customs, and rituals, their history and also the anxieties felt by the community. Rohinton Mistry as a minority writer in Canada tries to bring his ethnic community closer to the mainstream to fight marginalization. He positions himself as a Bombay born Parsi Indian in Canada, who like, every diasporic writer is conscious of his self, his cultural identity and the ethnic community to which he belongs. In a de-territorialised world his Parsi culture has given him a cultural identity in a borderless world and is apprehensive of the future of the Parsi community which is dwindling in number. Through his works he tries to preserve his history and culture. He has celebrated the Parsi idiom in his writings. Mistry writes from the cultural space of an ethnic community. Most of his novels are set in the city of Bombay. Postcolonial writers locate their community firmly within their multicultural spaces. Community lives are located within the space of the land. It also gives us a sense of our place in the world. The reality of a community lies in it's members perception of the vitality of it's culture. People construct a community making it a repository of meaning and a referent of their identity. Rohinton Mistry writes from the stand point of an ethnic, Parsi, Indian in a multicultural space like Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & objectives: Indian population is characterized by the presence of various castes and tribal groups. Various genetic polymorphisms have been used to differentiate among these groups. Amongst these, the ABO blood group system has been extensively studied. There is no information on molecular genotyping of ABO blood groups from India. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to characterize the common A, B and O alleles by molecular analysis in some Indian population groups. Methods: One hundred samples from the mixed population from Mumbai, 101 samples from the Dhodia tribe and 100 samples from the Parsi community were included in this study. Initially, the samples were phenotyped by standard serologic techniques. PCR followed by single strand conformational polymorphsim (SSCP) was used for molecular ABO genotyping. Samples showing atypical SSCP patterns were further analysed by DNA sequencing to characterize rare alleles. Results: Seven common ABO alleles with 19 different genotypes were found in the mixed population. The Dhodias showed 12 different ABO genotypes and the Parsis revealed 15 different ABO genotypes with six common ABO alleles identified in each of them. Two rare alleles were also identified. Interpretation & conclusions: This study reports the distribution of molecular genotypes of ABO alleles among some population groups from India. Considering the extremely heterogeneous nature of the Indian population, in terms of various genotype markers like blood groups, red cell enzymes, etc., many more ABO alleles are likely to be encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 19th century, Parsi women started wearing elaborately embroidered saris known as garas. What is not generally known is that these beautiful textiles were imported from China. Their arrival in India forms a little known sub-plot in the wider saga of British imperialism and the unique Parsi response to the imperatives of foreign rule. When new marketing opportunities opened up in China for the East India Company in the second half of the 18th century, the Parsis were well-positioned to take advantage of them. By the 1830s, the Parsis had become leading players in the China trade.Clothing, that very visible marker of social status, was part of the wider process through which the Parsis came to identify themselves with the ruling elite. While Parsi women continued to wear saris, they achieved a modern and sophisticated look by adding elements of Western fashion to their clothing.It is reasonable to conjecture that the appeal of Chinese embroidery was a reflection of prevailing fashion trends in Britain. Parsi clients selected designs for their garas from the same generic pattern books used as sources for other Chinese export embroideries, including those that went to Europe and America. Workshops producing ‘Chinese’ embroidery sprang up in Surat and, in time, Parsi housewives, especially in smaller towns, also took up the craft, their embroidery skills providing a welcome source of income.This article traces the history of the gara and its association with imperialism as well as trade with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anders als die weitgehend in der Geschichtsschreibung belegte psychiatrische Anstalt für Europäer und Europäerinnen mit ihrem englischen Leiter Owen Berkeley-Hill ist die weitaus größere Institution für indische Patienten und Patientinnen im nordindischen Ranchi bisher nicht untersucht worden. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Beitrags steht die Karriere des Leiters dieser Institution, Jal E. Dhunjibhoy, zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts als von der britischen Kolonialregierung eine Indianisierung der medizinischen Einrichtungen angestrebt wurde. Im Gegensatz zu bisherigen Studien über intermediaries und middles konzentriert sich dieser Aufsatz auf einen hochrangigen einheimischen Mitarbeiter. Die verbreitete Annahme zwangsläufiger historischer Prozesse wird dabei differenziert, eine regionale Kontextualisierung vorgenommen und die Kontinuität offener und versteckter Diskriminierung indischer Mediziner in Bezug auf Entlohnung, gesellschaftliche Stellung, fachliche Anerkennung, posthume Würdigung und historiographischer Berücksichtigung herausgearbeitet. Es wird verdeutlicht, in welcher Weise koloniale Akteure in bestehende gesellschaftliche Disparitäten und soziopolitische Prozessen verstrickt waren und wie die Karriere eines leitenden Mediziners von einer Vielzahl von außermedizinischen Zusammenhängen bestimmt wurde. Gleichzeitig wird hervorgehoben, dass ihre strukturelle Positionierung als inbetweens, Kollaborateure oder Repräsentanten einer erfolgreichen Dekolonisierung für ein nuancierteres Verständnis ihrer beruflichen und persönlichen Identitätsformierung nicht ausreicht. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces a religious group based in present-day Mumbai and led by two Indian (Parsi) Zoroastrians. The group can be characterized as transreligious, as it appeals to followers with varied religious affiliations, without claiming to establish a new religion. After looking at the two leaders' biographies and tracing some of the important stages in their development from middle-class Parsi laypeople to their present status of “divine lights,” the essay examines their main mythological, theological, and iconographic features. A description and analysis of an important ritual event (a birthday darshan) is followed by devotees' testimonies of “divine miracles” resulting from their encounter with the “divine lights.” After some glimpses at the followers' day-to-day life, the essay ends with reflections on terminology, typology, and context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on Parsis, India's most Anglicized community. It is said that the Anglicization of the Parsis can be seen as negotiation of national and cultural identity and space. The perspective was based on Homi Bhabha's theories of hybridity, and on fiction by Parsi authors. It is mentioned that Anglicization was a perfomative identity that manifested itself in public and in private space. It is suggested that totalizing national identity from which one group or another strays, rather than to recognize the nature of what Bhabha terms nationess.

I started my writing career as a journalist and then moved to short stories before writing my first novel. As a Parsi writer in India, not just I, but publishers and readers who had certain expectations, demanded that I write a "Parsi novel" such as those being written by Bapsi Sidhwa, Boman Desai and Rohinton Mistry. This is one of the first resistances I decided to offer. Then the fact that I had been involved in feminist issues as a journalist brought about the resistance to patriarchy. My experiences during the Babri Mosque demolition riots in Bombay in 1992-93 exposed me to complicated issues of religious fundamentalisms. My novels and stories have come from these experiences and not centrally from my Parsi birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Parsis of Pakistan are descendants of Zoroastrians from Iran who fled to Gujarat in India after the Arab invasion in 900 AD. A small group eventually migrated from India to Karachi in Pakistan. In this study, the Parsis from Pakistan were analyzed at the HLA-B, -C, -DRB1 and -DQB1 loci using the polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). The most common alleles at the HLA loci were HLA-B*35 (15.9%), HLA-Cw*0602 (21.4%), HLA-DRB1*11 (23.0%), and HLA-DQB1*02 (24.7%). Data analysis suggests that the Parsis of Pakistan and India descended from the same stock and may have the closest ancestry with Jewish and Italian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monoclonal antibodies were raised against the prosomal proteins p27K, p29K and the prosome-like protein p21K (PLP) from normal breast glandular cells and from benign and malignant tumors. They were used to clarify the involvement of prosomes in tumorigenesis of human breast cells. Immunostaining showed the distribution of prosomes in the cytoplasm and nuclei of cells from European normal women (EN) and Parsi (P) and non-Parsi (NP) benign (B) and malignant (M) tissues. The flow-cytometry studies showed an increased mean percentage of labeled cells, particularly with anti-p27K prosomal protein mAb, in malignant tissue from NP compared to EN. The p21K data indicated an increase in the number of cells labeled by flow-cytometry studies in all groups compared to EN, while p29K-expressing cells were more abundand in NPN, PB, PM and NPM. Intergroup comparison showed that the mean percentage of cells labeled with anti-p27K and anti-p29K was significantly higher in PB than in NPB, as seen by flow cytometry, whereas there was a higher production or accumulation of the p21K (PLP) prosomal protein in NPM than in PM, as seen by immunostaining. By comparison with EN, there were also significantly more normal cells containing the three antigens in the apparently normal tissue in the neighborhood of the tumor in NPM, and more cells containing p21K in PM patients than in EN. As prosomes are involved in the cell differentiation and in the cell cycle control, the changes observed in breast tissues may be related to oncogenic processes. Furthermore, the modified subunit pattern of prosomes in cancer and, possibly, pre-cancer tissue may be of interest for diagnosis purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]