[History of the Kings of Persia: being A Complete Chronicle of Events of that Ancient Country, from the Prehistoric Times down to the Settlement of Parsis in India.]

£2,750 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Extremely rare: a lovely copy of Palanji Barjorji Desai’s (1851 - 1934) important history of Persia and the experiences of the Parsis (7th century Zoroastrian immigrants to India and their descendants) from ancient times up to the establishment of the Parsis in India. Written in Gujarati, the vernacular of most modern Parsis, the richly detailed two-volume work is complete with three custom lithographed maps. The Parsis (which translates to ‘Persian’) are an ethnic group that adheres to the Zoroastranism. During the Arab-Islamic conquest of Persia during the seventh century, many Zoroastrians fled to India, with most initially establishing themselves in Gujarat. Over the centuries, these Zoroastrian communities, called Parisis, developed a district cultural identity, while most spoke Gujarati as their daily language. They are distinct from the Iranis, Zoroastrians who moved from Persia to India in the 19th century. The Parsis came to prominence under the British Raj and first half of the twentieth century, with several of India’s preeminent businessmen, intellectuals, artists and philanthropists coming from their ranks. The Parsis maintained close relationships with the British colonial hierarchy and their leaders received knighthoods and other forms of official recognition. While the Parsis, who came to mostly live in Bombay, were always small in number (their community counted 114,000 at its peak, in 1941), they had an out-sized influence on greater Indian society. Desai bi

• Binding: Hardcover

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