"There was no king by the name of Jadi Rana in any Indian history. Both Jadhav and Rana are titles,” not the name of a king, stated archeologist Dr Rukshana Nanji at the 184th K. R. Cama birth anniversary lecture on "Foreign Traders in Indian Ports (7th-13th Century CE)” on November 12, 2014 at the Dr Sir J. J. Modi Memorial Hall in the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute. A reference is made to Rana in Boman Kaikobad’s epic the Kisse-i-Sanjan written in 1559 in Navsari.
"Depending upon the dates that individual scholars arrive at from their reading of the Kisse-i-Sanjan, they derive the identity of Jadi Rana and suggest names of various kings who could be the person to allow the migrating Zoroastrians to settle at Sanjan,” Nanji clarified in an email to Parsiana dated December 8, 2014.
Dr Rukshana Nanji: for better trade opportunities
She stated that the Zoroastrians came to India "in search of better trade opportunities. India was a good place to do business and it was natural they would come to the west coast…
"Many groups of Zoroastrians migrated to India and to other ports of the Indian Ocean. One such group is attested to in the Kollam copper plates from the Malabar. These are dated 849 CE. Almost all these groups were traders. Similarly, the group that migrated to Sanjan consisted of a mercantile community. The only obvious difference between the Sanjan group and other groups is that the Kisse records the presence of dasturs accompanying the migrants and the consecration of the Holy Iranshah. No other group appears to have made such a religious effort. Hence the Sanjan group appears to have consisted of Zoroastrian merchants with strong religious compulsions. But trade was the mainstay of this community since they chose to settle in ports along the west coast.”
The Sasanian kings had close ties with India. The trade links survived for centuries. There were 18 ports on the Persian Gulf. The trade was initially in spices along the Malabar Coast. "The 18 prominent ports in the Persian Gulf had been established and developed in pre-Islamic times by the Achemenian kings and the Sasanians. Several more were functioning in the Islamic period,” Nanji stated.
The Zoroastrians were "not referred to as Parsis but as behdins — people of good faith.”
"Why did Islam do so well?” questioned Nanji. Largely because the Arab invaders arrived at an opportune time. "Muslim traders thrived and did very well in Indian ports, as in other ports of the Indian Ocean for various reasons. One reason being conversions, assimilation into local cultures and a cultural unification of trading zones,” the scholar noted.
At the function KRCOI president Muncherji Cama spoke about his illustrious relative Kharshedji Rustomji Cama and how he was a misfit in the family business. "Bhéju akkho vakhat chopri ma chhè (his mind is in his books all the time),” was the lament from family members. Cama traders was "the first Indian firm to be set up in the UK. Kharshedji knew French, German, Latin and Greek and was interested in biology, botany and astronomy. He eventually forsook trade and pursued a career in scholarship.