The restoration and inauguration of Flora Fountain in the heart of the commercial center of Bombay on January 24, 2019 is a proud moment for the community. Of the total cost of Rs 47,000 incurred in constructing the edifice in 1869, 44% was donated by Cursetjee Parekh, a philanthropist who also funded the F. S. Parukh Dharamshalla at Khareghat Colony. But few are aware of the Parsi connection to the Fountain. Of the numerous stories, including several on the front pages of the local and national Press, few mentioned Parekh’s magnanimous contribution.
It’s doubtful whether any Parsi organizations were invited to the reopening of the around three-crore-rupee, two-year restoration funded by the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC). Nevertheless, that a government body valued an elegant and iconic city landmark of colonial times, is heartening. So much of the city’s rich heritage, including the name of the city, its roads and transport hubs have been renamed, oft after people who have made little or no contribution to the metropolis.
While several Parsi names have been retained, there were attempts to rename the Lady Jamsetjee (Jejeebhoy) Causeway at Mahim even though she had donated the amount to build the road connecting the island to the mainland. She did so after seeing the plight of those making the crossing by boat. When Khodadad Circle at Dadar was sought to be renamed, vigilant community members and others prevented the move.
But for every occasion the community has risen to protect its heritage, there are many examples of neglect and indifference. Ours is an aging, dwindling community and our depleted levels are often diverted elsewhere. Maintaining old landmarks is a lower priority. The Bomonjee Hormarjee Wadia fountain and clock tower on Bazar Gate Street (since renamed after Perin Nariman) turned into an eyesore till the Kala Ghoda Association headed by a Parsi funded the renovation. The Khada Parsi statue at Byculla was a haven for drug addicts and others till the BMC restored the edifice to its former glory. How much of a role Parsis played in urging the authorities to act is unknown.
The Parsis of yore had an eye for aesthetics as can be viewed in the magnificent structures, Gothic, classic and neoclassic, they funded and/or designed for the city. These included commercial buildings, schools, hospitals and to a lesser degree, fire temples. Except for the H. B. Wadia Atash Behram building that resembles a colonial style bungalow, many of the others emphasize the Assyrian bulls (protective deities) and/or columns reminiscent of Persepolis. The Vakil Kadmi Atash Behram in Surat has a courtyard from which one enters the main hall and then the kebla. The largely foresaken Dadysett Atash Behram in Fanaswadi has few distinguishing features. It appears to lack aesthetics but the compound lends it a rustic air.
As academician and critical theorist Prof (Dr) Homi Bhabha notes in his essay titled, "The Sethias and Soft Power: A Narrative," "Behold the agiary: The simplicity of a spare bungalow-like structure with an eternal enclave for the sacred fire; a facade marked by the dignity of neoclassic columns; a front portal flanked by the baroque beauty of Lamassu, winged bulls."
When available funds and foresight are used, structures have been maintained. The Parsi sense of aesthetic design culture is manifest in many fields.
In their book Peonies and Pagodas (PP): Embroidered Parsi Textiles (Tapi Collection) the editors Shilpa Shah and Tulsi Vatsal note, the Parsis "developed, during the 19th and early 20th century, a style of dress visibly distinct from that of other Indian groups...Parsi clothing was distinguished by an identifiably different style for both genders including upper and lower garments, headgear and footwear, with embroidery remaining a hallmark of their women’s clothing."
As writer Priya Mani writes in her article "Parsi Attire: Garas, Jhablas and Ijars" in PP, "The gara is a clearly recognizable artifact of 19th century Sino-Indian trade, which was spearheaded by the Parsis...Garas represent an interesting facet of global trade, cross-cultural influences and morphing visual languages, vividly illustrating how alien aesthetics and sensibilities were adopted and adapted by a small but distinct Indian cultural group...Design, ingenuity and intervention were required to create the first ‘true’ garas."
In his essay "Early Commerce and the City of Bombay," in Across Oceans and Flowing Silks from Canton to Bombay 18th-20th centuries and No Parsi is an Island (AOFS) edited by Pheroza Godrej, Firoza Punthakey Mistree, Ranjit Hoskote and Nancy Adajania, scholar and historian Jesse Palsetia writes, "At the beginning of the 19th century, there were six firms of Parsi shipbuilders in Bombay, monopolizing all the docks. Parsi shipbuilders introduced design and cultural changes including those learned by Ardaseer Wadia in England in 1839 that led to the development of large-scale manufacturing and labor organizations at Bombay...This represented the most advanced form of industrial organizations for the time." Palsetia quotes English historian Percival Spear as stating, "The Parsi shipbuilder rather than the English merchant was the true maker of Bombay."
In the same book, author Zenobia Dumasia notes in her article, "The Parsis in India" that "the ships built by the Wadia family were generally considered to be superior and sturdier than those built in England during the same period."
Parsis excelled in many fields. In his article on the "Parsis and the China Trade" which was published in AOFS novelist Amitav Ghosh noted, "only a small number of subcontinental merchants were able to compete successfully with westerners (in the opium trade with China), and the great majority of them were Parsis...
"In travelling back and forth between India and China, Parsis were exposed to a great range of new ideas, institutions and practices, and they were extraordinarily ingenious in adapting them to new circumstances. One particularly striking example of this is the Parsi theater. By the early years of the 20th century, travelling Parsi troupes had created a new and hugely influential theatrical form in Southeast Asia: Wayang Parsi."
"Not surprisingly, the most successful early cotton mills of Bombay were Parsi enterprises," notes Tirthankar Roy in the article "Embracing the World: Parsis after China Trade" in AOFS. "Nine out of the 13 mills set up in the 1870s belonged to Parsi owners. In 1914, there were 95 cotton textile mills in India, 34 had been started by Parsi entrepreneurs."
What distinguished the Parsis? Enterprise, hard work and most importantly, ingenuity. They innovated. As our numbers diminish we cannot hope to produce the same number of enterprising individuals and organizations. But we can certainly incorporate and inculcate basic values of innovation, design and upkeep. Why must logos only incorporate afargans and farohars? Why should tubelights and open wires adorn the facades of a fire temple or a residential building?
Why are some colonies like Cusrow Baug, Rustom Baug, Jer Baug, Malcolm Baug well designed and laid out and the others not so? Where did we lose the urge and drive to excel? And can some of that enterprise be revived?