Rajaraja Chola
BANNED
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- Messages
- 9,051
- Reaction score
- -3
- Country
- Location
This is not a political thread about Iranians - Arabs or Shia - Sunni. This is not a political thread about anything. So please do not bring politics here. Thanks Arian for prodding me to start the thread.
in 10th century AD, some Iranians from the province of Khorasan reached the Gujarat coast of India to escape the political turmoil in Iran. They were given refuge by the local King Jadi Rana on certain conditions. These people came to be known as Parsi and they prospered in trade over the millenia. They maintained their own religious and cultural practices at the same time adopting the Indian way of living, including language and dressing. They do not marry outside their community to maintain their identity in a huge country like India. However genetic studies have shown that they have absorbed Indian women in their community in the past.
In the last three centuries, they were joined by Iranians fleeing the rule of Qajars, who came to be known simply as ''Irani''. They form a smaller group who are culturally distinct although of the same ethno-religious background.
Quoted from Wikipedia
Today Parsis in India number only about 60,000 due to falling birth rates and move to western countries. But their small numbers only highlight their achievements. There is a Parsi monument of achievement in every corner of Mumbai - the financial capital of India. They are the most prosperous minority in India and are the pride of this nation.
Parsis have held some very important posts in India and have been instrumental in making todays India.
some important Parsis
Dadabhai Nauroji - founding member of Indian National Congress
Jamshedji Tata - father of Indian Industry. Founder of Tata group which is still Parsi run and the largest industrial group in India and the most reputed and well known with revenue of 83 Billion USD in 2010-11.
Homi Jehangir Bhabha - father of Indias nuclear programme
Sam Manekshaw - Former Indian Army chief and the Second Indian Field Marshal. India's greatest war hero - led the Indian Army in the 1971 Bangladesh war.
Aspy Engineer - Former Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force
Fali Homi Major - Former Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force
Jal Cursetji - Former Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy
Ardeshir and Pirojshah Godrej - co founders of the Godrej group - one of the most prestigeous Industrial families in India (revenue of 3.3 Billion USD in 2011)
Zubin Mehta - musician; Musical Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, former director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and Bavarian State Opera and presently (--2011)the Israel Philharmonic.
Bhikaji Cama - political activist, co-creator of the Indian nationalist flag
S H Kapadia - current Chief Justice of India
Sam Piroj Bharucha - Former Chief Justice of India
Pallonji Mistry - Industrial Tycoon and now (after marrying an Irish passport holder) the Richest man in Ireland with personal wealth of 9.7 Billion USD.
Soli Sorabjee - Former Attorney General of India
Freddie Mercury - (Farroakh Bulsara) - probably the most famous of them all - rock icon and lead singer for Queen
An incomplete list of famous Parsees and Iranis (with some overlap) can be found here
List of Parsis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Irani (India) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Parsi Cuisine
Parsi cuisine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Parsis are very prominent in Law, Audit and Accounting. Medicine and Industry in Mumbai and its impossible to name them all. Suffice it to say they are part of the very fabric that made Mumbai a great city and today's modern India. Given their very small numbers their achievements are stupendous, only accentuated by their charity work and humble nature.
Finally this thread is dedicated to my two best Parsi buddies from Mumbai - P and F.
This list should also include Ratan Tata, as he saved the Tata industries from collapse and turned it into one of the biggest corporations in the world..
Cyrus Mistry is also a good businessman...