Patronage and philanthropy: Prize medals of the Parsi Community of Mumbai

Journal article

The Parsis of Bombay (now Mumbai) owe their origins to a distant past – they follow Zoroastrianism, probably the world’s oldest apostolic religion which has roots in ancient Iran. The religion is centred around ritualistic treatment of fire, belief in a single great god Ahura Mazda and the pursuit of eternally moral values like Truth, adopting a single path based on the maxim of ‘good thoughts, good words and good deeds’. The religion was at its zenith when the Sasanian emperors of Iran (3rd – 7th century AD) patronised it as the official religion. Semi-mythical stories attribute the arrival of Parsis from Iran to India when the Sasanian Empire collapsed under Islamic invasions in the mid-late seventh century. The Parsi émigrés settled in western India, on the coast of Gujarat, where they were given sanctuary by local rulers. They flourished into an influential and wealthy community through enterprise, in spite of always remaining a small and precarious minority among the bewilderingly colourful ethnic profile of their adopted homeland.

Authors: Bhandare, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Publisher: British Medal Art Society
• Journal: Medal
• Volume: 70
• Pages: 36-41
• Publication date: 2017-03-01
• Acceptance date: 2017-01-01