we know, alas! that in
the East abuses take long in disappearing. In spite of the friendly
promises of the Shah there was no change made in the collection of
this tax. A pressing appeal through the English Ambassador at Teheran
did not even reach the monarch. It was only in 1882 that Sir Dinshaw
Maneckji Petit, the president of the Persian Zoroastrian Amelioration
Fund, received through the medium of Mr. Thomson, of the English
Embassy, the communication of the royal firman decreeing the immediate
abolition of the tax (Parsee Prakash, p. 662). This long struggle has
cost the Persian Amelioration Fund of Bombay nearly 109,564 rupees,
or about 257,475 francs! It is needless to say with what transports of
joy and gratitude this boon was received by the unfortunate victims,
who for centuries had groaned under the exactions of subordinate
officials, and whom the enlightened kindness of the sovereign placed
at once on a footing of equality with his other subjects. [60] As to
the friends of the Mazdien communities of Iran, they may hope to see
them prosper and their numbers increase under the influence of the
same qualities and virtues which have contributed to the greatness
and prosperity of the Zoroastrians of India. [61]

The relations between Bombay and Persia were not confined to this
single benevolent initiative of the Bombay Committee. [62] We should
also notice the establishing of schools in the towns of Yezd and
Kirman (1857) due to the munificence of the Parsee notabilities, and
the pecuniary gifts given for the purpose of settling in life young
girls exposed on account of their poverty to terrible dangers in a
Mahomedan country. Between 1856 and 1865 nearly a hundred Mazdien
women were thus got married by the care of the agent of a charitable
association. We may also mention the establishment of dispensaries
and houses of refuge, and should not omit to include in this brief
list the founding of two monuments, which throws a very interesting
light on the direction of the religious ideas of the modern Parsis.

Two localities, situated not far from Yezd and held sacred by
tradition, Koh-i-Chakmaku and Akda, preserved the memory of their
ancient glorious days through a legend concerning the two daughters of
Yezdezard, Khatun Banu and Hyat Banu, who had at one time disappeared
without leaving any trace behind them. After the fall of the king,
his family, finding no protection in Madain, had taken refuge in the
citadel