Editing Parsis (section)

== Definition and identity ==
According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'',<blockquote>Parsi, also spelled Parsee, member of a group of followers in India of the Persian prophet [[Zoroaster]]. The Parsis, whose name means "Persians", are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to India to avoid religious persecution by the Muslims. They live chiefly in Mumbai and in a few towns and villages mostly to the south of Mumbai, but also a few minorities nearby in [[Karachi]] (Pakistan) and [[Chennai]]. There is a sizeable Parsee population in [[Pune]] as well in [[Bangalore]]. A few Parsee families also reside in [[Kolkata]] and [[Hyderabad]]. Although they are not, strictly speaking, a [[caste]], since they are not Hindus, they form a well-defined community. The exact date of the Parsi migration is unknown. According to tradition, the Parsis initially settled at Hormuz on the [[Persian Gulf]] but finding themselves still persecuted they set sail for India, arriving in the 8th century. The migration may, in fact, have taken place as late as the 10th century, or in both. They settled first at [[Diu, India|Diu]] in [[Kathiawar]] but soon moved to South Gujarāt, where they remained for about 800 years as a small agricultural community.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/444672/Parsi |title=Parsi (people) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2013-07-28 |archive-date=May 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150504041101/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/444672/Parsi |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

The term ''Pārsi'', which in the Persian language is a [[demonym]] meaning "inhabitant of [[Fars province|Pārs]]" and hence "ethnic Persian", is not attested in Indian Zoroastrian texts until the 17th century. Until that time, such texts consistently use the Persian-origin terms ''Zartoshti'' "Zoroastrian" or ''Vehdin'' "[of] the good religion". The 12th-century ''Sixteen [[Shloka]]s'', a [[Sanskrit]] text in praise of the Parsis,<ref>Parsi legend attributes it to a Hindu author; [[cf.]] {{Harvard citation no brackets|Paymaster|1954|p=8}} incorrectly attributes the text to a Zoroastrian priest</ref> is the earliest attested use of the term as an identifier for Indian Zoroastrians.

[[File:Indian - Leaf from Bound Collection of 20 Miniatures Depicting Village Life - Walters 35176H.jpg|thumb|Parsis from India, {{Circa|1870}}]]
The first reference to the Parsis in a European language is from 1322, when a French monk, [[Jordan Catala|Jordanus]], briefly refers to their presence in [[Thane]] and [[Bharuch]]. Subsequently, the term appears in the journals of many European travelers, first French and Portuguese, later English, all of whom used a Europeanized version of an apparently local language term. For example, Portuguese physician [[Garcia de Orta]] observed in 1563 that "there are merchants ... in the kingdom of [[Khambhat|Cambaia]] ... known as Esparcis. We [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] call them Jews, but they are not so. They are [[Gentile|Gentios]]." In an early 20th-century legal ruling (see [[#Self-perceptions|self-perceptions]], below), Justices Davar and Beaman asserted (1909:540) that "Parsi" was also a term used in Iran to refer to [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrians]].{{sfn|Stausberg|2002|p=I.373}}{{sfn|Boyce|2002|p=105}} notes that in much the same way as the word "Hindu" was used by Iranians to refer to anyone from the Indian subcontinent, "Parsi" was used by the Indians to refer to anyone from Greater Iran, irrespective of whether they were actually ethnic Persian people. In any case, the term "Parsi" itself is "not necessarily an indication of their Iranian or 'Persian' origin, but rather as indicator – manifest as several properties – of ethnic identity".{{sfn|Stausberg|2002|p=I. 373}} Moreover, if heredity were the only factor in a determination of ethnicity, the Parsis would count as [[Parthia]]ns according to the ''Qissa-i Sanjan''.{{sfn|Boyce|2002|p=105}}

The term "Parseeism" or "Parsiism", is attributed to [[Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron]], who in the 1750s, when the word "Zoroastrianism" had yet to be coined, made the first detailed report of the Parsis and of Zoroastrianism, therein mistakenly assuming that the Parsis were the only remaining followers of the religion.

Some older texts also refer to Parsis as "Persees".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tuckey |first=James Hingston |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8xVDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA155 |title=Maritime Geography and Statistics, Or a Description of the Ocean and Its Coasts, Maritime Commerce, Navigation Etc: In 4 Volumes |date=1815 |publisher=Black |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=ZOROASTRIANISM |url=https://archive.org/stream/zoroastrianism_202004/Parsis%20of%20ancient%20India%20by%20S.%20K.%20Hodivala%20(1920)_djvu.txt |title=Zoroastrianism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lord |first=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=82HXAAAAMAAJ&q=%22persees%22 |title=A Discovery of the Banian Religion and the Religion of the Persees: A Critical Edition of Two Early English Works on Indian Religions |last2=Sweetman |first2=Will |date=1999 |publisher=Edwin Mellen Press |isbn=978-0-7734-7928-9 |language=en}}</ref>

In addition to above, the term "Parsi" (Persian) existed even before they moved to India:
* The earliest reference to the Persians is found in the Assyrian inscription of [[Shalmaneser III]] ({{circa|854}}-824 BC).
* [[Darius the Great]] (521-486 BC) establishes this fact when he records his Parsi ancestry for posterity, "parsa parsahya puthra ariya ariyachitra", meaning, "a Persian, the son of a Persian, an [[Arya (Iran)|Aryan]], of Aryan family" (Inscription at [[Naqsh-e Rustam|Naqsh-i-Rustam]], near [[Persepolis]], [[Iran]]).
* In Outlines of Persian History, Dasturji Hormazdyar Dastur Kayoji Mirza, Bombay 1987, pp.&nbsp;3–4 writes, "According to the [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]] text of [[Karnamak-i Ardeshir-i Papakan|Karnamak i Artakhshir i Papakan]], the Indian astrologer refers to Artakhshir ([[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] king, and the founder of the Empire) as khvatay parsikan 'the king of the Persians'.
* [[Herodotus]] and [[Xenophon]], the two great historians who lived in the third and fourth centuries BC, referred to Iranians as Persians.<ref name="Jamshed Irani v. Banu Irani">{{Citation |last=Jamshed Irani v. Banu Irani |year=1966 |title=68 blr 794 |publisher=Justice Mody}}</ref>