Manjisha had come to Bombay, and
had there founded the Kadmi sect under the auspices of Dadiseth,
one of the most influential men of the time. Mulla Kavas followed
his patron to Bombay and was appointed Dastoor of the Atash-Behram
erected by Dadiseth himself (Dadibhai Nasarwanji) for the Kadmi sect,
which he consecrated on the 29th of September, 1783. The following
year he quitted Bombay and settled in Hyderabad, in the Deccan, where
he was honoured with the friendship of the Nizam. He remained there
till his death, which took place in 1802 (Parsee Prakash, p. 92).

The Kadmi sect continued to flourish in Bombay, when, at the
commencement of the century, rose the great dispute of the Kabisa, that
is to say, the famous month by which the Kadmis were in advance of the
Shahanshahis (Parsee Prakash, pp. 62, 198, 863, 867, &c.). Mulla Firoz,
[91] son of Mulla Kavas, and another distinguished priest, Fardunji
Marazbanji, constituted themselves the champions of the Kadmi sect,
while the mass of the people, guided by Kharshedji Manockji Shroff,
grouped themselves under the patronage of the pious Dastoor of the
Shahanshahis, Edulji Dorabji Sanjana, [92] and clung to the date
observed by the Parsis since their arrival in India. Meetings were
organised to which learned Moguls were invited, in order to offer
explanations, and, if possible, to terminate the discussion. The
newspapers were full of virulent articles, pamphlets appeared in great
numbers, and the people in some cases seemed disposed to settle the
question by the right of might, an irrefutable argument.

The Shahanshahis maintained that the Zoroastrian religion admitted a
month's intercalation at the end of a period of 120 years, and that at
the time of the fall of the Persian Empire there had indeed been one
intercalation during their sojourn in Khorassan, but once they were
in India this usage had been abandoned; hence the backwardness by one
month from the computation of the Kadmis. The latter declared on the
other hand that the intercalation was forbidden in the Zoroastrian
calendar, that it was only meant for political emergencies, and that
this mode of calculation had never been practised in Khorassan.

Modern learning has brought this vexed question within its true
limits. Mr. Kharshedji Rustamji Kama, of the Kadmi sect, known by
his study of the Zoroastrian religion, has proved, or rather has
attempted to prove, in a work on the computation of Yezdezard, that