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Reading Adil Malia’s comments on one of our much loved rashtriya kavis (national poets), Kavi Ardeshir Faramji Khabardar, in "The languishing language” (Parsiana, August 7-20, 2025) made me go back in time to my school days when we sang some of the early 20th century songs of the freedom movement — a clarion call to free our beloved motherland from the yoke of foreign rule and restore India to her former glory. Our hearts would beat with pride as we sang Khabardar’s Amé Bharatbhuminaa putro … and we would lustily belt out the last line: "Amé Hindi, Hindi, Hindi, Chhè Hind amaaro désh (We are the sons of Bharat and will remain Indian forever for India is our land).” It was only recently that I realized that this poem was written in 1908, soon after the partition of Bengal, long before India gained independence. The refrain used to be, "Amé déshi, déshi, déshi, O divya amaaro désh (We are the natives of this divine land)!”

Another much loved poem of Khabardar’s was Sadaakaal Gujarat written for the 1926 Gujarat Sahitya Parishad and recited there for the first time. It is still recited not only in India but in the remotest regions of the world when Gujarati-speaking persons, not only Gujaratis, happen to meet their fellow compatriots:

"Jyaan jyaan vasé ék Gujarati, tyaan tyaan sadaakaal Gujarat.

Jyaan jyaan Gujarati bolati, tyaan tyaan gurjarni maholaat

(Wherever resides even a single Gujarati, the land forever becomes Gujarat; wherever Gujarati is spoken, there arise the mansions of the Gurjars!)”.

It is only now that I realize how much these poems impressed me as a child as they have lingered in my memory for over half a century.  

Gujaratis usually do not associate Kavi Khabardar with Parsi-Zoroastrian culture. But his monumental work, Asho Zarathustrani Gathao par Navo Prakash (New Light on the Gathas of Holy Zarathushtra) bears testimony to his profound love and reverence for the faith of his forefathers. 

In the preface to this book Khabardar expresses his gratitude to another great Parsi scholar, Dr Irach Taraporewala, who could write equally well both in Gujarati and in English. It was Taraporewala who had requested Khabardar to translate the English version of the first four chapters of the Ahunavaiti Gatha into Gujarati verse. Khabardar was also helped by Dastur (Dr) Navrooz Minochehr-Homji who would visit him for an hour every day, introducing him to books relating to Avestan grammar as well as other reference books relating to the Gathas. 

Beramji Pirojsha Madan is another Parsi writer whose book Kabir Vaani has been recently digitized by Gujarat Vidyapeeth and is now available to all on the net. His book comprises 900 selected verses of Kabir. Each verse is followed by an explanation of its meaning in Gujarati. This was the book that introduced me to Kabir’s couplets. It was one of my father’s favorite books and he never tired of reciting verses from it.

I cannot recall a time when I did not know the verse: "Pothi padh padh jag muaa, bhayaa na pandit koy; Adhaai akshar premkaa padhe so pandit hoy (Illiterate is the mind/ Crammed with ideologies and isms./ Only one who divines the meaning of / The single-syllabic word LOVE/ Is truly learned).”  

There are many delightful travelogs written in Gujarati by Parsi writers. Seth Pirojsha Pestonji Meherhomji’s Americani Musafari is one such. The original book, published by the Sahitya Academy is now available for all to read on the net. When Meherhomji visited America in 1862, the Civil War was raging and he gives a vivid description of the country at that time. He visited many parts of the country as well as many institutions and was very impressed by the progress that the country had made. Tulsi Vatsal and I have translated this book into English (see "Meherhomji meets Lincoln,” Parsiana, August 7-20, 2021). 

It was Meherbanu Anklesaria’s  Pahelavi Iranmaa Musafari (1932) that made me aware of Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Iran. The delegation that accompanied him had many prominent Parsis like Dinsha Irani and Behramgor Anklesaria who worked tirelessly to make this visit a grand success. Anklesaria’s travelog gives us an idea of the modernization of Iran under Reza Shah Pahlavi.  

But it was the Surat based social worker and litterateur Dr Ratan Marshal’s book, Gujarati Sahitya-Patrakaratva-Rangabhumine Kshetre Parsionu Pradan (The Contribution of Parsis in the Fields of Literature, Journalism and Theater) that really opened my eyes to the tremendous contribution of the many Parsi men and women who, by writing in Gujarati, had enriched the language. Marshal himself received many awards including the Narmad Suvarna Chandrak for his autobiography Katharatan. His dissertation on the History of Gujarati Journalism is "considered to be the original reference book for Gujarati journalism.”

It is not for nothing that Parsis, though a muthhibhar tolo (only a handful in number) have been so prolifically praised in song from Gujarat to Bengal. 

Kavi Kaant speaks of "Vishwasi Parsi” (trustworthy Parsi) in his beautiful paean to Hind Dev Bhumi (India, the Land of the Gods). 

The Bengali poet, Atulprasad Sen, in his evocative song Bolo bolo bolo Shobe cries out:

"Esho hai Hindu, Esho Musholman

Esho hai Paroshi, Baudhho Christiaan

Milo hai Maaero chorone.

(Come O Hindus, Come Musalmans

Come O Parsis, Buddhists and Christians

Gather at the feet of our Mother(land).”

And Tagore, in Stanza 2 of the forgotten verses of Jana Gana Mana addresses the God of India’s Destiny, the Bharat Bhaggo Bidhata: 

"Your call is announced continuously, we heed your gracious call

The Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Musalmans and Christians,

The east and the west come to your throne

And weave the garland of love.

Oh! You who bring in the unity of the people!

Victory be to You, dispenser of the destiny of India!”  

(Translation adapted from one posted by Sitaram Sekhar Mittra from the article, The Forgotten Stanzas of Jana Gana Mana on the net.)

Sadly, the tremendous contribution of Parsis to the land that gave them refuge and nurtured them will soon be a distant memory as our numbers dwindle and our language languishes in the shadows of the past.