Parsis of Ancient India (Classic Reprint)

Retired.) This book consists of a number of papers on various subjects, all bearing on the connection of Iranians with India from the most ancient times upto about the sixteenth century after Christ. It is evidently the result of extensive study, patient compilation and thought. The author Mr. Hodivala has written as a scholar for scholars, in most cases fully quoting his authorities. But his book will also be interesting to the general reader, especially Parsi, with a taste for history or antiquities. The author has done me the honour of asking me to write the preface, and I have accepted the task after some hesitation, as I have doubts about my fitness for it. I have set down below my views about some of the many subjects dealt with by the author likely to be of interest to the reader. As some of the subjects are of a controversial nature, views are likely to differ, and the author has very fairly told me to express mine even though they may not coincide with his. But my main object has been to supplement, not criticise. The A ryans. From the very great similarity in the ancient languages, thoughts, traditions, rituals, and ways of life of the Iranians and A ryan Indians it has been inferred that their ancestors must have formed a common nation at one time, and there is such a mass of evidence to support this inference, that it is commonly accepted by scholars. On the other hand, the theory that the Zoroastrians were a colony from northern I ndia, that a schism took place there, and the Zoroastrians migrated westwards is one not commonly accepted. The belief commonly accepted and based on a large amount of evidence is that after the ancestors of the Indians came to I ndia, the Iranian and Indian branches, although in some contact, developed independently, that the separation took place long before the time of Zoroaster, that Zoroaster was an Iranian and di
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)