History Articles

Alexander the ‘Accursed’ and Zoroastrianism

In his epic the Shahnamah (Book of Kings), the poet Firdawsi (940–1019 or 1025) vividly describes how Alexander (Iskandar/Sikandar) came upon the Persian emperor Darius (Dara) as he fled north after the battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Cradling the...
Imagining Zoroaster’s Domestic Life

Imagining Zoroaster’s Domestic Life

How did medieval Zoroastrians imagine the family of Zoroaster, the founding figure of their religion?Unlike founders of many other religions about whose time and place we can reach a certain degree...

Mithuben Hormusji Petit: Indian Freedom Fighter

Mithuben Hormusji Petit: Indian Freedom Fighter

MITHUBEN PETIT, WHO FOUGHT FOR INDIA’s FREEDOM WITH GANDHIJI, RENOUNCED HER COMFORTS AND LUXURIES Petit surname has its roots in the French word ‘petit’ (meaning physically small). One of the women...

Saklatvala Mausoleum in New York

Saklatvala Mausoleum in New York

An email from my friend Kersi Shroff tipped me off on what turned out to be a great treasure hunt in search of the Saklatvala Mausoleum in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx in New York City. Kersi...

P. D. Patel:  My Fifty Years in Burma

P. D. Patel: My Fifty Years in Burma

Mitra Sharafi, a legal historian writes in… I am very excited to say that P. D. Patel's My Fifty Years in Burma (Rangoon, 1954) is now up on my website. This remarkable out-of-print memoir tells the...

The Benevolent Businessmen From Aden

The Benevolent Businessmen From Aden

Meher Marfatia: The Benevolent Businessmen From Aden The Cowasjee Dinshaw Collection of the Adenwalla Archive reveals rare records of a family of merchant-princes, last of the philanthropic Bombay...

Navsari: Home to the Parsis

Navsari: Home to the Parsis

Live History India present a great visual treat about Navsari. Archeologist Kurush Dalal and historian and author Pheroza Godrej are featured on the video and explain some of the history of the...

Zanzibar’s forgotten religion

Zanzibar’s forgotten religion

A CRUMBLING TEMPLE for an ancient religion lies hidden from the street, just beyond the fields of Mnazi Moja. All but forgotten, its doors are rarely opened; the once prominent Zoroastrians have all...

Manekji Limji Hataria

Manekji Limji Hataria

Tomorrow 15th February is the baj of Manekji Limji Hataria, the Parsi missionary to Iran. A jashan will be performed at Wadiaji Atash Behram 1st floor hall in the morning at 10 a.m.Below is an...

Gandhi & The Tatas

Gandhi & The Tatas

Revisiting the relationship between the Mahatma and the founders of the Tata group, from satyagraha to swaraj October 2019     |   Tata.comThroughout his public service...

Sanjan: Digging Deep into History

Sanjan: Digging Deep into History

On a dark and stormy night, a ship full of Zoroastrian refugees from Persia was lashed by the wind, rain and waves off the west coast of India. The refugees in the ship, fearful for their lives,...

Jubilee Diamond & How it Saved A Tata Company

Jubilee Diamond & How it Saved A Tata Company

In a country obsessed with the legend of the Kohinoor, little public attention is paid to the fact that there were far larger diamonds in India until very recently. In fact many made the Kohinoor,...