Parsis who arrived in India between the 8th and 10th centuries to escape persecution after the Arab-Islamic invasion of their land, Persia, settled in Diu before striking roots in Sanjan, Navsari, and Udvada in Gujarat. It was an existential crisis in every sense of the word.

The first generation of migrants found their mojo in Bombay, as the British developed it into a port and trade city. Later generations did business as well as philanthropy remembered even today.

As centuries passed, they adopted Gujarati as their mother tongue but lived in cohesive settlements or baugs, kept their traditions, and remained ethnically whole by disallowing marriages outside the community and not admitting children of mixed marriages into their fold. This has,........

© Free Press Journal