Category: History

At its height, around 620 CE, the Sasanian empire ruled over a territory stretching from Jerusalem in the west to Samarkand in the east. The royal court at the ancient city of Ctesiphon, near present-day Baghdad, was the political heart of this vast realm, and its official religion was the ancient Iranian faith, Zoroastrianism. In royal… Continue reading This is not the end. Apocalyptic comfort from ancient Iran

He was the first Zoroastrian to sail to England from India; not to mention the first Indian who sued the British and won! He sailed back in victory with his cause vindica­ted and putting his entrepreneur skills upfront, he was received with great respect. Article by Ashleshaa Khurana Naoroji Rustomji Manek Seth (1662-1732) was the… Continue reading Naoroji Rustomji Manek: This Surat Man Sued East India Co. & Won

I was born in 1937 in The Lady Hardinge Hospital, New Delhi and spent the first two years at my maternal uncle’s house in Kasmeri Gate, Old Delhi, as it was known those days. Kashmere Gate or Kashmiri Gate is a gate located in Delhi; it is the Northern gateway to the historic walled city… Continue reading Memories of Living in Kashmere Gate: The Old Parsee Hub of Delhi

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 writes… The Woodlawn Cemetery has cuneiform inscription on the tomb of the then well-known Phirozshah Saklatvalla, whose… Continue reading Saklatvala Mausoleum in New York

How was an Indian elected to the British Parliament in 1892? What relevance could this historical event have for us today? Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) is an unfamiliar name these days. Yet, aside from being the first Asian to sit in the House of Commons, he was also the most important leader in India before Mahatma… Continue reading The Grand Old Man of India who became Britain’s first Asian MP

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 life story of a Parsi lawyer who survived the Japanese occupation of Burma in WWII. Thanks to to Zareer… Continue reading P. D. Patel: My Fifty Years in Burma

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 sethias, who fronted the golden age of Parsis in Aden Article by Meher Marfatia | Mid-Day Aden House, the Cowasjee Dinshaw & Bros. building They were the… Continue reading The Benevolent Businessmen From Aden