India's Parsi community: Its history and prominent personalities

A Parsi or Parsee is a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in the Indian subcontinent, a member of the other being an Irani. When the Parsi followers of Zoroastrianism fled to India from religious persecution in Iran, they approached the Hindu king, Jaddi Rana, for shelter. The king provided them with land for building the first fire temple at Sanjan (in Gujarat) and placed them and their successors under an everlasting debt. By contributing to the progress of the land of their adoption, the Parsis may be said to have repaid that debt in ample measure. The history of the Parsi Community is around 3000 years old. This community has been consolidated by some eminent Parsis. Their names have been immortalized in its history. The many sided and characteristic philanthropy of the Parsis has established, through their panchayat system, a remarkable social security system for the community. Its members make their contributions to the local anjuman fund or community chest, which constitutes the base of the system. At the apex is the Parsi panchayat of Bombay which attends, as far as possible, to the community's needs in the relief of poverty, assistance in education, provision for medical relief and others. The community has many trusts and foundations, benefiting non-Parsis as well. The Parsis have laid claim to no territory and to no special rights for themselves. Their sense of fair play and their philosophy of life to live and let live, which they have always practised, make them look at human relationships with a dispassionate eye. The qualities of the community that are significant are its vitality, its adaptability to changing circumstances, its industry and civic sense and its philanthropy, qualities which have been inducted by its religion, which is very much a part of its life.Prominent ParsisPherozeshah MehtaPherozeshah Mehta was a Parsi Indian political leader, activist, and a leading lawyer of Bombay (now Mumbai), who was knighted by the British Government in India for his service to the law. His political ideology was, as was the case with most of the Indian leaders of his time, moderate. Hence, he was not directly opposed to the British Crown's sovereignty, but only demanded more autonomy for Indians to self-rule. He became the Municipal commissioner of Bombay Municipality in 1873 and its President four times - 1884, 1885, 1905 and 1911. He was chosen the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890. Dadabhai NaorojiDadabhai Naoroji was one of the key members behind the formation of the Indian National Congress. Known as the Grand Old Man of India, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political and social leader. His book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India brought attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom House of Commons between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP. He is also credited with the founding of the Indian National Congress, along with A.O. Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha. Bhikaji CamaBhikaji Rustom Cama was a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement. She was born on 24 September 1861 in Bombay (now Mumbai) into a large, well-off Parsi family. Her parents, Sorabji Framji Patel and Jaijibai Sorabji Patel, were well known in the city, where her father Sorabji—a lawyer by training and a merchant by profession—was an influential member of the Parsi community. On 3 August 1885, she married Rustom Cama, a wealthy, pro-British lawyer who aspired to enter politics. It was not a happy marriage, and Bhikhaiji spent most of her time and energy in philanthropic activities and social work. Homi J. BhabhaHomi Jehangir Bhabha was an Indian nuclear physicist, founding director, and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Colloquially known as "father of Indian nuclear programme", Bhabha was the founding director of two well-known research institutions, namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the Trombay Atomic Energy Establishment (now named after him); both sites were the cornerstone of Indian development of nuclear weapons which Bhabha also supervised as its director. He was awarded Padma Bhushan by Government of India in 1954. He later served as the member of the Indian Cabinet's Scientific Advisory Committee and provided the pivotal role to Vikram Sarabhai to set up the Indian National Committee for Space Research. In January 1966, Bhabha died in a plane crash near Mont Blanc, while heading to Vienna, Austria to attend a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Scientific Advisory Committee. Jamsetji TataJamsetji Nusserwanji Tata was an Indian industrialist, who founded the Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company. He was born to a Parsi family in Navsari, Gujarat, India. He founded what would later become the Tata Group of companies. Jamsetji Tata is regarded as the "father of Indian industry".Ratan TataRatan Naval Tata, born 28 December 1937, is an Indian businessman who became chairman of the Tata Group, a Mumbai-based conglomerate.He is a member of a prominent Tata family of Indian industrialists and philanthropists.Among many other honours accorded him during his career, Tata received the Padma Bhushan, one of India's most distinguished civilian awards, in 2000 and Padma Vibhushan in 2008 and Lifetime Achievement Award awarded by prestigious Rockefeller Foundation in 2012.He has also been ranked as India's most powerful CEO.Cyrus MistryCyrus Pallonji Mistry, born 4 July 1968, is the youngest son of Irish construction magnate Pallonji Mistry. He has been appointed deputy chairman and chairman-designate of Tata Group and its holding company Tata Sons, which will make him the first non-Indian national to head the Indian conglomerate.Mistry will work with the current chairman Ratan Tata for one year and begin serving as chairman in December 2012.Mistry will be the sixth chairman of the group and the second not named Tata after Sir Nowroji Saklatvala.Apart from the Tata Group, he also serves as a director on the board of several other companies, including Shapoorji Pallonji & Co., Forbes Gokak, Afcons Infrastructure and United Motors (India).Muhammad Ali JinnahMuhammad Ali Jinnah was a lawyer, politician and statesman, who is known as the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947, and as Pakistan's first Governor-General from independence until his death. He is revered in Pakistan as Quaid-i-Azam and Baba-i-Qaum [c] (Father of the Nation) and his birthday is observed as a national holiday. Born in Karachi and trained as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London, Jinnah rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress in the first two decades of the 20th century. Jinnah became a key leader in the All India Home Rule League, and proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims should a united British India become independent.