“For Parsis only”

You have related the shocking incident of some snobbish Parsis throwing Dr Ambedkar out of a Parsi dharamshala in Baroda where he was staying because he was unable to find any other accommodation, being a Dalit ("For Parsis only,” Events and Personalities, Par­siana, February 7, 2007). It was typical of the small-minded bawas of that time.

However, not many know that a Parsi provided Ambedkar’s father with a house and helped the boy get an education, which he had been denied as a Dalit. After retiring from the army as a subedar, Ambedkar’s father settled with his family in Satara where they could reside only in the horrible maharwada (ghetto for untouchables). Ambedkar, who was a good student, attended the New English School, thanks to the help of Sir Dhunjisha Cooper, who had been a former student of that school. Since the boy showed great promise but could not study in the hut inside the maharwada, Dhunjisha gave the Ambedkars one of his houses in Sadar Bazar on a nominal rent, and also extended financial help to the boy. I have seen the small house, located near the Parsi agiary in Sadar Bazar. Later, when both Dhunjisha (who was the first chief minister of Bombay) and Ambedkar were in politics, the latter refused to support the Congress when it wanted to defeat Dhunjisha’s party in the legislature.

Dhunjisha’s actions illustrate the true Zoroastrian spirit, not the snobbery of some Parsis.

JAMSHEED KANGA