JULY 5, 1872.]

THE SACRED FIRE ATUDWADA.

special celebrity and holiness, have endowed the rivers with a divine origin, in imitation of the myth which connects the Ganges with the feet of Vishnu. The hill from which the rivers flow has, from a dis tance, the faintest possible resemblance to the form of a boar, and Vishnu manifested himself, accord

213

ing to the Puranas, in one of his avatārs as a boar. These two circumstances being put together, can it be possible that the mystery of the legend is solved ? The name Gang a Mill a is certainly suggestive. W. N. N.

THE SACRED FIRE OF THE PARSIS AT UDw&p3. By W. RAMSAY, BO. C.S.

THE ancient followers of the religion of Zoroaster had been reduced by years of persecu tion to a comparatively small band of fugitives: giving up all hope of better times in a land in which they had once reigned supreme, they took refuge on board ship, and sailing from Ormazd bandar eventually landed on the isle of Diu, off the coast of Käthiàwād, where they remained for some years: but they were not to remain in peace even here, so again embarking" on board ship the “Colony” steered for the shores of the Konkan. A great storm overtook them, and the pilgrims

sacred fire, which, in accordance with the vow of their ancestors, had been kepteverburning during their sojourn in Sanjān. The fugitives reached Bhārat, in the hills above Wānsdá, and there cherished the holy flame for some years. The fire had been borne somewhat after the manner of the ark of the Israelites in the desert : it was

carried by the priests in a sort of a litter, by night to hide it from the rays of the sun, the touch of which would be a catastrophe to be averted by all means, and so covered up as to be safe from the possible profane gaze of the outer

in their fear vowed a vow that, if spared to reach

and uninitiated world.

the land, they would set up again the sacred fire which had been lost in their first flight from their

burn on in peace, and anon it was moved to

old home.

to Nausāri, where for 318 years; the flame burn ed peacefully and without interruption. But

The storm ceased, the sky cleared,

and under a bright sun the wanderers landed on the shores of what was then the kingdom of

Sanjān, ruled over by a Rāja of Rajput lineage. The prince received them favourably, and gave a kol or charter defining their future rights and liabilities. By this they were debarred from the use of arms : their apparel was fixed after the fashion ever since in vogue among them ; and their various rites and ceremonials, religious and

social, were recorded, and as it were stereotyped.

For 624 yearst the Parsi community went on mul

But the fire was not to

Wānsdá, where it remained 14 years, and thence

internal dissensions arose, and again a move was made to Surat, thence after three years, back

again to Nausāri, and thence again to Balsår, the mystic pot au feu being ever borne in the dead of night by the trusty guardians of its mysteries. After a sojourn of two years at Bal sār, the priests had an interview with the Rāja of Mândvi, Durgan Singhji, then residing in his fort at Párdi. Protection was implored and pro mised, and a choice given of certain villages on

tiplying and thriving as they do at the present day, when a Subah of the then Pādshah, one ‘Mahmud Beg,'t invaded the kingdom of Sanjān,

the sea coast for a residence.

and pressed the Rāja hard. In his distress, he ap plied to the Parsis, and put arms into their hands.

of a resting place.

Three times did the latter under a heroic leader

named Ardeshir beat back the ill-disciplined levies of Mahmud, but a fourth invasion was successful, and the Zoroastrians were again

compelled to fly in search of fortune. This time, however, they managed to preserve their

• About A.D. 717. See the Kissah-i-Sanjan, of Behram

Kaikobad (A.D. 1599) in the Jour. Bomb. B. R. As. Soc. Wol I. pp. 167-191.

+ The first Atish-Bahrām is said to have been erected by the Anjumān of Sanjān, and consecrated by Nereosing Pastur in Samvat 777, or A. D. 720. See Wilson, Parsi Religion, p. 557-ED---

f This is doubtless Māhmud Begada of Ahmadābād, who invaded this district in A. D. 1507. See Notes of a

At Udwada was

found a small band of Parsis and a Tower of

Silence, and here the fugitives fixed their choice A sanad was given them

conferring certain privileges and immunities. This is stated to have been in the Samvat year 1799, (A.D. 1742,) or about 130 years ago. A small temple was erected to shelter the fire ;

some years after a larger temple was built on the same site which was subsequently enlarged, and finally about 43 years ago the present substan Visit to Gujarat, p. 15.

Wilson, Sermon to the Parsis

(1839), p. 9.

§ There is probably an error of 100 years in this period. Nau să ri is the Nusaripa of Ptolemy.—ED. | Fryer mentions the Fire-temple at Nausari in 1675, New Account of East India, &c., p. 117. The present temple at this place was consecrated by Dastur Sorabji Rustamji in 1765, and to it all the young Mobeds from Bombay and elsewhere are sent for confirmation.-