An Ethnography of the Parsees of India 1886–1936

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.