ard, the last king of the ancient Persian monarchy. This
division does not exist amongst the Zoroastrians who have remained
behind in their own country.

The Parsis reckon their year on a calculation of three hundred and
sixty-five days, each month consisting of thirty days. Their year
commences with the month of Farvardin, and ends with the month of
Spendarmad. At the end of three hundred and sixty days, five days,
called the Gathas are added. The period of five hours and fifty-four
seconds does not enter into their computation. The old Persians,
therefore, in order to make their calculation agree with the
solar year, had made at the end of every hundred and twenty years
an intercalation or Kabisa, that is to say, they added one month
to that period. The Persian Zoroastrians, after the loss of their
independence, either through ignorance or simple forgetfulness, had
ceased to practise this Kabisa, whilst the Parsis had continued this
intercalation during their residence in Khorassan. Hence the origin
of the sects with which we have to deal.

In 1720 [90] Jamasp Vilayati, a learned Zoroastrian from Persia,
settled in Surat to advise the Mobeds, and it was he who discovered
that his co-religionists of India were one month behind their Iranian
brethren. Little importance however was attached to this fact. But
in 1746 another Iranian, Jamshed, and some Mobeds adopted the date
accepted by the Persian Zoroastrians, and took the name of Kadmis. The
rest of the community were called Shahanshahis, and preserved the
ancient system. Little by little the number of the adherents of
Jamshed increased. Now it should be noticed that it was in Surat that
this schism among the Parsis first took place, and for some time the
harmonious relations between the two did not suffer by it. But two
respectable men, Mancherji Kharshedji Seth, of the Shahanshahi sect,
and Dhanjisha Manjisha, of the Kadmi sect, managed literally to ignite
the powder in spite of their benevolent intentions. In order to get
some enlightenment Dhanjisha Manjisha sent to Persia at his own expense
a priest from Bharooch, Kavas Rustam Jalal. Born at Bharooch in 1733,
this man was well versed in the Arabic and Persian languages. For
twelve years he remained in Persia and Turkey, visited Yezd, Ispahan,
Shiraz, and Constantinople, and returned to Surat in 1780. During his
sojourn in Persia he had obtained an audience with Kerim Khan. Some
months before his return Dhanjisha