DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22900#0280
chap, v.] SUPERSTITIOUS PRACTICES.
233
claimed on the 4th of November 1819 that no
one should make vows or give offerings to Hindu
temples or Mahomedan mosques, or wear charms
or amulets or threads, and that if any one was
found to break these orders he or she would be
" seized and publicly disgraced." This threat had
a good effect upon erring Zoroastrians, but only for
a time, and through fear of public disgrace. In after
years, when the power of the Panchayet was again on
the wane, the objectionable practices were revived,
but happily the greater enlightenment of the present
day has resulted in their almost entire discontinuance.
The Panchayet also directed its efforts towards
correcting the evils arising from many injurious
customs which prevailed about this time among the
Parsis, and passed some very salutary rules for that
purpose at a public meeting held at the fire-temple of
Dadi Nasarvanji Seth on the 15th of December 1823.1
1 In ;i letter published in the Bombay Times of 9th December
1844, Mr. Manakji Kharshedji Shroff gave an abstract of these rules
which we quote below, as they are not only interesting in them-
selves, but also show the nature of the social evils from which the
Parsis were then suffering :—
"It was usual previously to the passing of the above-mentioned
regulations for Parsi priests (who form a begging fraternity, and they
are some hundreds in number) to flock uninvited to the houses of any
Parsi who might have any ceremony to perform, for the purpose of
obtaining, as if by right, their share of the asodad (gift in money),
and not unfrequently were they riotous on such occasions. Independ-
ently of this, how exceedingly hard upon individuals having very
limited means was it to be compelled to distribute asodad to all !
However, such was the influence exercised at that time by the priests,
233
claimed on the 4th of November 1819 that no
one should make vows or give offerings to Hindu
temples or Mahomedan mosques, or wear charms
or amulets or threads, and that if any one was
found to break these orders he or she would be
" seized and publicly disgraced." This threat had
a good effect upon erring Zoroastrians, but only for
a time, and through fear of public disgrace. In after
years, when the power of the Panchayet was again on
the wane, the objectionable practices were revived,
but happily the greater enlightenment of the present
day has resulted in their almost entire discontinuance.
The Panchayet also directed its efforts towards
correcting the evils arising from many injurious
customs which prevailed about this time among the
Parsis, and passed some very salutary rules for that
purpose at a public meeting held at the fire-temple of
Dadi Nasarvanji Seth on the 15th of December 1823.1
1 In ;i letter published in the Bombay Times of 9th December
1844, Mr. Manakji Kharshedji Shroff gave an abstract of these rules
which we quote below, as they are not only interesting in them-
selves, but also show the nature of the social evils from which the
Parsis were then suffering :—
"It was usual previously to the passing of the above-mentioned
regulations for Parsi priests (who form a begging fraternity, and they
are some hundreds in number) to flock uninvited to the houses of any
Parsi who might have any ceremony to perform, for the purpose of
obtaining, as if by right, their share of the asodad (gift in money),
and not unfrequently were they riotous on such occasions. Independ-
ently of this, how exceedingly hard upon individuals having very
limited means was it to be compelled to distribute asodad to all !
However, such was the influence exercised at that time by the priests,