India and Persia

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Farzana Cooper
-- ''Closer connection between India and Persia dates from the restoration of the Persian power under the Sassanide dynasty (226-650 A.D.). 

 

In the fifth century the visit of the Persian prince Behram (436), who had come, doubtless, to implore aid against the White Huns (Wilson, Ariana Antiqua, 383), his marriage witha Hindoo princess, and, according to indigenous accounts, his founding the dynasty of the hardabin kings, made this intimacy closer (Wilford, As. Res. ix. 219; Masoudi, Prairies d'or, ii. 191 ; Reinaud, Mdmoire sur rinde, 112 ; Elliot, Hist. ii. 159). Later on Noshirwan the Just (53 1-579) and his grandson Parviz(591-628) allied themselves, by treaties and by the exchange of rich presents, to the rulers of India and Sindh (Masoudi, Prairies dor, ii. 201). As to these treaties, it is interesting to notice that the subject of one of the paintings in the Caves of Ajanta is believed to represent the embassy of Noshirwan to Pulikesi, king of Badami, in the country south of that of the Mahrattas, whilst another is supposed to be a copy made after the portraits of Parviz and the beautiful ^Shirin (Fergusson, in Burgess' Ajanta Notes, 92). According to certain narratives, a body of Persians landed, at the commencement of the seventh century, in Western India, and it is supposed that to one of these chiefs, regarded by Wilford as a son of Khosroo Parvis, is to be traced the origin of the Udeipore dynasty (Gladwin, Ain-i-Akbari, ii. 81 ; Dr. Hunter, As. Res. vi. 8 ; Wilford, As. Res. ix. 233 ; Prinsep, Jour. Ben. As. Soc. iv. 684). Wilford considered the Konkanasth Brahmins as belonging to the same race ; but, although their origin is doubtful, the Konkanasths had settled in India long before the Parsis. Moreover, India and Persia had been connected by commercial treaties. Cosmas Indicopleustes (545) found some Persians amongst the principal traders settled along the coasts of the Indian Ocean (Migne, Patrologicz Cursus, Ixxxviii. 446 ; Yule, Cathay, i, clxxvii.-clxxix.), and his assertion as to the existence of a Persian bishop at the head of the Christian communities of Kalyan (Yule, Cathay, i, clxxi.), discloses close relations between Thana and the Persian Gulf.

Shortly after the time of Cosmas, the empire of the seas passed from the Romans to the Persians, and the fleets of India and China visited the Persian Gulf (Reinaud, Aboulfe'da, i-n, ccclxxxiii.-iv.). It was this connection between Western India and Persia which urged, in 638 (H. 16) Caliph Omar (634-643) to foundthe city of Bussorah, partly for the needs of commerce and partly to prevent the Indian princes from coming to the help of the Persians (Troyer, Rajatarangini, ii. 449; Chronique de Tabari, iii. 401), and, in the same year (638-639), prompted him to send a fleet to ravage the coasts of Thana (Elliot, Hist. i. 415). Tabari (838-921) and Masoudi (900-950) both prove that the district round Bussorah and the country under the subjection of King of Oman were regarded by the Arabs as forming part of India(Chronique de Tabari, iii. 401 ; Prairies dor, iv. 225).

In the seventh century it has been noticed that several Indians had settled in the principal cities of Persia, where they enjoyed the free exer-cise of their religion (Reinaud, Aboulftda> i-n, ccclxxxiv.). It should also be noticed that from the sixth century, when the Persians commenced taking a leading part in the commerce and trade of the East, they visited not only India, but China also (Reinaud, Aboulfeda, i-n, ccclxxxiii.).

Towards the period of their arrival in India, the Parsis were settled in China as missionaries or merchants. Anquetil du Perron (Zend-Avesta, i, cccxxxvi.) speaks of Persians going to China, in the seventh century, with a son of Yezdezard. According to Wilford (As. Res. ix. 235), another band of emigrants joined them in 750, towards the beginning of the reign of the Abbassides. In 758 the Arabs and the Persians were so strong in Canton that they stirred up several riots and plundered the town (Reinaud, Aboulfe'da, i-n, ccclxxxv.), In 846 there is a mention made of Muhapas or Mobeds in Canton (Yule, Cathay, i, xcvi.), and sixty yearslater Masoudi affirms that there were many fire- temples in China (Prairies d'or, iv. 86)."

It is scarcely probable that there could have been only one migration of the Persians. There must have been many such, at different periods, according as the spirit of persecution was more or less strong amongst the conquerors. The traditions concerning this subject are vague. We are in absolute ignorance as to the mode of their departure, and the number of those who, in despair, had to quit the Persian Gulf. The only information that we can get at concerning this subject is that contained in a book entitled Kissah-i-
Sanjan, 1 written towards the year 1600 by a Mazdien priest called Behram Kaikobad Sanjana, who dwelt n Naosari. According to this author, Diu, 2 a small town on the Gulf of

See Translation from the Persian of Kissah-i-Sanjan, or History of the Arrival and Settlement of the Parsees in India, by E. B. Eastwick, in the Journal of the Bombay Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 167. As for us, we have followed the order of events, such as it is presented by Mr. B. B. Patell in his admirable work, the Parsee Prakash, and the interesting resume of Mr. Dosabhai Framji Karaka. See.
Bomanji Byramji Patell, Parsee Prakash, being a record of important events in the growth of the Parsee community in Western India, chronologically arranged from the date of their immigration into India to the year 1860 A.D., vol. in 4to, Bombay, 1878-1888, 1,053 pages (in Gujerati),
and Dosabhai Framji Karaka, History of the Parsis, 2 vols.
in 8vo, London, 1884.