The Parsis

Menant, Delphine, 1850-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 156K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Les Parsis by Delphine Menant. Author: Menant, Delphine, 1850-. Language: English. Class: DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia. Release Date: Jun 13, 2009.

Editor's review

Delphine Menant's Les Parsis is an ethnographic work on the Parsi community published in the late nineteenth century, with an electronic edition available from Project Gutenberg. Its value lies in being an early systematic record of the Parsis' origins, religious customs, social institutions, and living conditions in India, offering first-hand period observations on how followers of Zoroastrianism took root on India's west coast and how they engaged in commerce and integrated into society during the colonial era. The writing is descriptive and classificatory, with clearly organized material, making it a useful supplementary reader for the study of religious history, South Asian history, and immigrant communities. Note that the book reflects a nineteenth-century European observer's perspective and terminology, and some judgments reflect the ideas of the time; readers should maintain a critical awareness and not treat it as neutral final authority. Readers with good English or French reading ability will better appreciate its documentary value.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Religious studies students researching Zoroastrianism and the Parsi community
Historical enthusiasts needing sources on South Asian colonial-era communities
Sociology readers concerned with cultural adaptation of immigrant groups
Researchers gathering primary sources with English or French reading ability

Not a good fit for

General readers seeking light stories and lacking academic patience
Readers needing the latest data on the contemporary Parsi community
Learners with difficulty reading English or French and without parallel texts

Reading tips

Start with the introduction and table of contents to identify the sections on religion, customs, and social institutions.
Mark passages on religious rituals and community institutions as you read for later reference.
Compare with modern Parsi studies to identify the limitations of nineteenth-century observations.
Verify proper nouns before recording them to avoid misinterpretation.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What aspects of the Parsis does this book mainly cover?

According to the available information, the book focuses on the Parsi community, covering their religion, customs, and social conditions; it is an early systematic description of the community, and specific chapters should be checked in the original table of contents.

What language background is needed to read this book?

This is an electronic edition from Project Gutenberg; the title and author information indicate a French work, and the language of the main text should be confirmed from the original. Readers should have corresponding foreign-language reading ability or prepare a parallel translation.

Are the descriptions in the book still accurate today?

They cannot be treated directly as contemporary descriptions. The book was written in the nineteenth century and reflects the records and ideas of observers at that time; the Parsi community has changed since, so it should be used in comparison with modern research.

Comments

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About the author

Menant, Delphine, 1850- Author

Delphine Menant (1850–?) was a French observer and writer who focused on the Parsi community of India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Public information about her life is limited, and her nationality and professional identity are not clearly documented. Her three known works centre on the Parsis of Bombay and Gujarat: the French-language Les Parsis offers a systematic account of Parsi history, religion, and social life; the Dutch-language Bij de Parsi's van Bombay en Gudsjerat records her visits to Parsi communities in Bombay and Gujarat; and De monumenten van den Girnar turns to the antiquities of Mount Girnar. Her writing has the character of fieldwork and ethnographic description, offering European readers early first-hand material on the culture and heritage of this Zoroastrian diaspora community, and it is often cited in regional studies.