1st Edition

An Ethnography of the Parsees of India 1886–1936

Edited By A.M. Shah, Lancy Lobo Copyright 2022
    256 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    256 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    256 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge India

    This volume explores a wide spectrum of Parsee culture and society derived through essays from the Journal of Anthropological Society of Bombay (1886–1936). This journal documents intensive scholarship on the Parsee community by eminent anthropologists, Indologists, orientalogists, historians, linguists, and administrators in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Comprising 0.05% of India’s total population today, the Parsees (now spelled “Parsis”) have made significant contributions to modern India.

    Through contributions of Jivanji Jamshedji Modi, Bomanjee Byramjee Patell, and Rustamji Munshi, eminent Parsee scholars, the essays in this book discuss the social and cultural frameworks which constitute various key phases in the Parsee life nearly 100 years ago. They also focus on themes such as birth, childhood and initiation, marriage, and death. The volume also features works on Parsee folklore and oral literature.

    An important contribution to Parsi culture and living, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of sociology, social anthropology, ethnography, cultural studies, history, and South Asia studies.

    Introduction

    A. M. Shah and Lancy Lobo                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

    PART I

     

    Birth and Initiation

    1. Birth customs and ceremonies of the Parsees                                                           

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    2. Parsee life in Parsee songs: cradle songs                                                                   

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

         

    3. The baby language among the Parsees                                                                      

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    4. The initiation ceremonies and customs of the Parsees                                              

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    Marriage

    5. Marriage customs among the Parsees and their comparison with similar customs of other nations                                                                                

    Jivanji Jimshedji Modi

     

    6. Some Parsee marriage customs. How far they are borrowed from the Hindus?                                                       

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi 

     

    7. A few marriage songs of the Parsees at Nargol, Part I                                              

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    8. A  few marriage songs of the Parsees at Nargol, Part II                                           

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    Death

    9. On the funeral ceremonies of the Parsees, their  origin and explanation      

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    10.  Notes on the Towers of Silence in India                                                               

    Bomanjee Byramjee Patell

     

    11. The first year funeral expenses of a Parsee of the  last century (1763)                     

    Bomanji Byramji Patell

     

    12. A vahi or register of the dead of some of the Parsees of Broach and a Parsee martyr mentioned in it                                                              

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    13.  Another Parsee martyr of Broach                                                                              

    K. A. Munshi

     

    PART II

     

    14.  Statistics of births, deaths and marriages among the Parsees of Bombay during the last ten years (1881-1890)                                                       

    Bomanjee Byramjee Patell

     

    15.  Statistics of births, deaths and marriages among the  Parsees of Bombay during the last ten years (1891-1900)                                                          

    Bombanjee Byramjee Patell

     

    16.  A Parsee deed of partition more than 150 years old:  a form of slavery referred to therein                                                                                            

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    Folklore

     

    17. A few Parsee riddles – I                                                                              

    Rustamji Nasarvanji Munshi

     

    18.  A few Parsee riddles – II                                                                                           

    Rustamji Nasarvanji Munshi

     

    19. Omens among the Parsees                                                                             

    Jivanji Jamsedji Modi

     

    20. Charms or amulets for some diseases of the eye                                                       

    Jivanji Jamshedji Modi

     

    Biography

    A. M. Shah was a former professor of sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, and a national fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, India.

    Lancy Lobo has been a professor and the director of the Centre for Social Studies, based in Surat, India. He holds a master’s degree in anthropology and a doctoral degree in sociology from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India. He is the founder-director of the Centre for Culture and Development, at Vadodara.