DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22901#0259
chap, vi.j THE SHRE WD BANT A.
243
adverse circumstances forced upon them a life of
inactivity for more than a thousand years. The old
fire of their ancestors continued to burn, however
faintly, in their breasts, and it only required the least
encouragement to revive. Situated as they were in
the midst of alien races, following different faiths
and constantly at war with each other for territorial
supremacy, it was not possible for the Parsis to lift up
their heads. They had perforce to be content with the
occupation of agriculture, in which their ancestors were
famous for their skill. It was under the peaceful rule
of Akbar that their pent-up energies at last found
opportunities of development, and from that wise
monarch the Parsis first received some encourage-
ment and assistance to improve their condition. But
it is to the British power in India that the Parsis are
chiefly indebted for their present position.
The arrival of Europeans and the establishment of
trading factories in Western India, and especially at
Surat, opened up an unexpected field for the energy,
industry, and enterprise of the Parsis ; and from that
time the commercial activity by which they have
made a name may be said to take its date. No doubt
the shrewd "bania" of Surat, of whom European
travellers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
speak, possessed all the commercial instincts of his
race; but he seldom sought any scope for them beyond
the walls of the town where he carried on business.
243
adverse circumstances forced upon them a life of
inactivity for more than a thousand years. The old
fire of their ancestors continued to burn, however
faintly, in their breasts, and it only required the least
encouragement to revive. Situated as they were in
the midst of alien races, following different faiths
and constantly at war with each other for territorial
supremacy, it was not possible for the Parsis to lift up
their heads. They had perforce to be content with the
occupation of agriculture, in which their ancestors were
famous for their skill. It was under the peaceful rule
of Akbar that their pent-up energies at last found
opportunities of development, and from that wise
monarch the Parsis first received some encourage-
ment and assistance to improve their condition. But
it is to the British power in India that the Parsis are
chiefly indebted for their present position.
The arrival of Europeans and the establishment of
trading factories in Western India, and especially at
Surat, opened up an unexpected field for the energy,
industry, and enterprise of the Parsis ; and from that
time the commercial activity by which they have
made a name may be said to take its date. No doubt
the shrewd "bania" of Surat, of whom European
travellers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
speak, possessed all the commercial instincts of his
race; but he seldom sought any scope for them beyond
the walls of the town where he carried on business.