"Though my grandparents were separated, my grandmother’s house was stoned in Navsari,” thespian Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal told us. She was speaking to Parsiana on February 20, 2024 about the aftermath of what is popularly known as the Vansda navjotes. Performed in 1942 for the offspring of Parsi land owners and tribal women, the navjotes evoked little support and gave rise to considerable criticism. Public meetings were called in Bombay censuring those involved. Among the prime movers of the navjotes were Dastur (Dr) Framroze Bode and social worker Burjorji Bharucha. Mody-Kotwal said her maternal grandfather Pestonji Cassad was an associate of Bode.
Cassad "was a great do-gooder though not financially well off. He was a noble man and always stood for what was right. Besides, he was a scholar of Zoroastrianism and had studied the religion thoroughly.” She sent Parsiana a photo said to be that of the navjotes being performed, and posted the image on the Facebook group Worldwide Zoroastrians on February 20.
Alongside a picture of Cassad, she had written on her Facebook page on July 28, 2019 that he was a man much ahead of his times. "A scholar and a lawyer, he practiced in Aden, Rangoon and Africa… (He was) one of the persons responsible for initiating children of Parsi fathers and tribal mothers in the state of Vansda into the Zoroastrian faith. A more gentle and generous (even though he himself had not much wealth) and erudite soul is difficult to find.” Cassad would go to small villages and build wells for the villagers. "It seems that the then maharaja of Vansda told him about the plight of children of tribal women and Parsi fathers. So my grandfather, with the help of Dastur Bode and a few other compassionate and forward thinking people got the navjote of about 100 children done (The generally accepted number is 77 and the navjotees were of all ages — editors)… He was always ready and willing to help others. I, for one, am very proud of him!” declared Mody-Kotwal.
Ten other mobeds from Bombay assisted with the navjotes held over two days, July 26, 1942 in Chikhli, then part of Bombay Presidency, and the next day in Bhamti in the then princely state Vansda (see "Vansda revisited,” Parsiana, October 21-November 6, 2022).
Top r: "Do-gooder” Pestonji Cassad; above: Vansda navjotes in 1942
As notes social commentator and Parsiana columnist Berjis Desai ("The Vansda navjotes,” Parsi Controversies, Parsiana, January 7-20, 2022), "Too many things were then happening on the national front with Independence on the anvil and the Vansda navjotes were quietly forgotten… No one attempted to excommunicate the navjotees or prevented them from exercising their rights as Parsis. All 77 navjotees, and their future generations, were deemed Parsi Zoroastrians.”