Appeal for funds

The First Dastoor Meherjirana Library in Navsari, which is entering its 150th year, is a repository of Zoroastrian manuscripts, most of them 500 years old though some handwritten ones in Sanskrit, Persian Avestan, Pahlavi, Farsi and Old Gujarati are 700 years old. These have been referred to by foreign and national scholars who visit the Library for doctorate and professional research on the Zoroastrian religion. In 2013, on the 140th anniversary of establishing the Library, we held a conference of scholars from all over the world.

Exterior and interior of The First Dastoor Meherjirana Library in Navsari

The old Library was located on land belonging to Burjorji Bamanji Padam. In 1906 Ervad Jamshedji Kawasji Dastoorji Meherjirana erected a building which was expanded further by the family of Rustomji Hormasji Kolah in 1967. Today the old Library building has been refurbished from a donation received from Meher Panthaki in memory of late Coomie and Soli Dariwalla, with funds from their estate. An annexe was constructed in 2009 with a donation from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.

The Library is being upgraded to meet the needs of the 21st century. We are in the process of restoring manuscripts in our collection which are carefully preserved with help from the Indian Conservation Institute through a donation from the F. E. Dinshaw and M. K. Tata Trusts.

However, for administrative and maintenance costs we are dependent on the corpus provided by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, the interest received from which is meager and insufficient to meet our requirements. Also, to preserve the manuscripts we require a temperature controlled and dust free environment, which entails additional costs.

We therefor appeal for donations for the upkeep of our institution. For further details kindly contact the undersigned.

KATY K. ANTIA

Chairperson and trustee

The First Dastoor Meherjirana Library

Navsari

meherjirana_lib@yahoo.com