Dhunjishahs evacuating Weihsien in October 1945. Wednesday, May 22 2013

Many thanks to Angela Elliot for sharing this brilliant photo of the Tianjin Parsee family called Dhunjishahs, evacuating Weihsien in October 1945. Darab DhunjiShah was the co-owner of the Tientsin/Tianjin Talati hotel in China. Weihsien was the Japanese run internment camp during World War II to keep civilians of Allied countries living in Northern China

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Mr Yuan: The Parsee Fire Temple caretaker Tuesday, May 21 2013

Mr Yuan, on the right

Last year, in 2012, I was trying to understand the Parsees sojourn to China.  Traders and merchants apart from the famous ones like Sir Jamsetji Jijibhai, Readmoneys and Tatas also resided in Old Shanghai. The Shanghai Parsee community obviously grew enough to have an Agiary  to preserve and sustain the Parsee faith.  Away from home and family ties, Parsees needed their own worship place to celebrate festivals, keep the traditions alive by employing a Dastur for Parsee rituals, occasions and also to induct the young members to the Zoroastrian faith with the initiation Navjote ceremony.

I read about Sam Tata who was born in Shanghai and his photo collection on Shanghai. He emigrated to Canada and really not much was known of the community. Books, periodicals refer to them in mere passing or list their offices in business gazettes. Searches on these names hardly produce any data.  Dehulling however constantly presented a Chinese professor’s name.  A professor who had extensively studied the Parsee religion, traveled to India, had been refused admittance to the Bombay/Mumbai Agiary (non-Parsees are prohibited)  but invited for seminars in India & abroad to talk about the Parsee faith and his research.

Finally, we met and he was kind enough to introduce me to Mr Yuan who was the caretaker for the Shanghai Agiary, after all the Parsees had left or evacuated, after Japanese invasion in 1937 and thereafter. Mr Yuan worked for a businessman,one, S.M. Talati (no obvious connection to the Tianjin Talati family) and was entrusted to look after the Agiary. It was a very interesting meeting but one thing bothered me. Parsees are extremely particular about one little detail: No non-Parsees can ever step inside an Agiary, even in desperate times. So, it seemed odd that S.M. Talati had entrusted the task of the Shanghai Agiary upkeep to a non-Parsee. After discussing S.M. Talati’s family, I felt that the question had to be asked. The answer surprised me. It was a non-Parsee for sure but it was a Sikh gentleman:  Mr P.Singh, an official in the then Shanghai Indian consulate office, who was paying Mr Yuan, in case the Parsees returned to Shanghai. Unfortunately, they never did and S. M. Talati died a bankrupt man.

As for the Agiary, there’s a  mid-sized sky-scraper, some kind of a school, with gleaming windows in its place.

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Dr. Lalkaka – a Parsi doctor in Shanghai Saturday, Mar 23 2013

My developing interest in Shanghai’s history especially the Indian side had very little clues to fall back on initially. Only few Parsi  opium merchants(Readymoney, Jeejibhai) who had made their fortunes in the China trade have been highlighted in British China-British India history. So, it was quite a surprise when I chanced upon Dr Lalkaka’s name.

He was a resident of Shanghai since 1886, having joined his uncle B.P.Lalkaka, an established businessman. The Parsi community in quasi-colony of British’ Shanghai’s International Settlement was growing and, it was evident they were the preferred trading class in India and definitely so in China. They were able to mingle with the British rulers more easily than any other Indians. Mannerisms, appearance may have played a part as well.

Dr. Lalkaka, who studied medicine in Bombay and England would join the Shanghai Volunteer Corps as a private. From Arnold Cartwright’s book Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong Kong, Shanghai…Volume 1′ :

“SURGEON MAJOR CAWAS LALCACA was at Bombay in 1862 and educated in and London where he qualified as a of Medicine and as a Licentiate of the College of Physicians He came to Shanghai in 1886 and joined A Company the Shanghai Volunteers as a private in following year. In 1891 he was promoted to the medical staff as surgeon lieutenant becoming surgeon captain in 1896 and principal medical officer to the corps in 1907, being granted the rank of major in 1908.”

Lalkaka led a somewhat quiet life. Clearly, based on publications of the time, he was a model citizen with unblemished record except when his clients/patients didn’t pay his fees. But his membership in the Shanghai Masonic society was the first indication I had of the society’s influence in the Far East.  How did a doctor end up in this fraternal organization of ‘grand lodges?’ Well, the answer, after much digging led me to  Royal Sussex Lodge, No. 501 and Northern Lodge of China, No. 570, E.C. where  Dr. Cavas Lalkaka was an eminent member. His uncle, Bapujee P Lalkaka and another family member Eduljee P Lalkaka had most likely wielded tremendous influence since they had been  Freemasons much before their nephew became one. Even in Hong Kong many Parsis were part of Freemasonry. As such, only affluent and prominent men were members of the Masonic society in the Far East. (Click this link to understand how Freemasonry came to China)

But, then Dr. Lalkaka took a sabbatical and arrived in London – maybe he intended to pursue opportunities here? One has to assume so as there are no records on his journey to London except in one of the Royal  Sussex Lodge  501 meetings stating he would be in London for a year and would then be back in Shanghai afterward.

Dr Lalkaka never returned to Shanghai. Indian freedom activist Madan Lal Dhingra was in London at the same time. On 1 July 1909, Dhingra attended an ‘At Home’ hosted by the National Indian Association at the Imperial Institute. At the end of the event, as the guests were leaving, Dhingra shot Sir Curzon-Wyllie, an India Office official, at close range. His bullets fatally hit Dr Lalkaka as well, also an invitee. Lalkaka had attempted to stop Dhingra but was shot accidentally. Dhingra, later expressed regret for shooting Lalkaka who was never the intended victim in his plans.

In keeping with the Parsi faith and rites in Britain, Dr. Lalkaka was buried in  Parsi section of the Brookewood cemetery (and his grave is still here). His funeral was well attended by the Parsi community members and British officials. Dr Lalkaka was 48 years of age when he died, single and issue less. In his honor the London School of Tropical Medicine introduced an award medal for meritorious students. In the reconstructed 1912 Shanghai Masonic Lodge, in the East room a portrait of Dr Lalkaka above the paneling was exhibited with a brass plate underneath recording the Masonic life of the distinguished Brother Lalkaka and his tragic death. In Shanghai Henry Lester’s hospital (today’s Renji hospital)  Lalkaka’s bust statue was erected in its premises.

The death of Sir Curzon-Wyllie received international condemnation (and praise) and even Mahatma Gandhi denounced the assassination. Dhingra was sentenced to death. The Masonic society in Shanghai including the Royal Sussex Lodge 501 mourned Lalkaka’s loss.

Dr Lalkaka’s grave in Brookwood cemetery, UK

Dr Lalkaka  became a victim inadvertently and consequently a post script in British and Indian history. But, Dr Lalkaka has remained much submerged under the layers of cloaked and at times invisible Shanghai-Indian history. Even today, historians haven’t mentioned the Dhingra incident nor Dr. Lalkaka’s connection when referring to Shanghai’s checkered and colorful past. A pity.

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A Parsi Perspective – excerpts from Dosabhai Framji Karaka’s book. Saturday, Mar 9 2013

Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai

Prior to and around the first Opium war, Parsi merchants monopolized  trade in the Far East.  As favored British Indian citizens, Parsis forged ahead establishing their businesses, in India and overseas.  The perspective from inside in that time period is an unusual one and fortunately it does exist (in the English language) – though the book was written with the intent  to highlight Parsis as epitome of business intelligence and benevolence. (Excerpts from the book, as related to China trade are outlined in the following paragraphs.)

In his 1884  book ‘History of the Parsis’, author Dosabhai Framji Karaka states “It was the Eastern trade which brought the Parsis a mine of wealth. The Readymoneys, the Dadiseths, the Banajis, Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai the first baronet, the Kamas, and many others amassed their wealth in this trade.” According to Karaka after 1842, this monopoly encountered competition from other Indians including Khojas and Muslim merchants. Eventually, it was the Calcutta and Bombay Jews, the better educated business community that displaced the Parsi. ” While the Parsi merchants of China remained in the old groove, the Jews took better advantage of the new treaty ports in China and the opening up of trade on new lines of business. The extension of steam communication between India and China gradually extinguished the Parsi merchants’ service of sailing vessels, and last of all, when the civil war raged in the United States of America in 1862, the attention of the Parsis was to some extent diverted from their Chinese trade, by the greater attraction of the enormous profits in cotton trading with England.”

After the end of the American War however the ‘share mania’ in Bombay led to many Parsee businesses to bankruptcy. Many Chinese branches also suspended their businesses. “There are still, however, a few Parsi commercial establishments in Hongkong and Shanghai, but the Jews now enjoy the monopoly of the trade between India and China which formerly belonged to the Parsis.”

Prominent Parsis figure in the book including Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai. Karaka describes him as “the man who shed the greatest lustre on the Parsi race in India.”  The book was written in 1884 (Sir Jamshedji died in 1859) and thus is not too much of a backward glance in time. Heavily laced with Parsi pride, at most junctures Karaka gushes about the philanthropic and benevolent Parsis who have changed the face of the territory they inhabited due to their sheer diligence and enterprising spirit.

At the young age of 16, Sir Jamshedji made his first voyage to China in 1799 and realized the business potential. Karaka makes available the translated letter(from Gujarati to English, written by Sir Jamshedji to his friend) the blow by blow account when Sir Jamshedji was captured by the French, on way to Madagascar (1806) on board the ‘Brunswick’ and his eventual release – a fascinating account. “Shrewd, sagacious, and observant, with a natural bent of mind for commercial pursuits, the experience that he acquired during his repeated visits to China, and the knowledge he possessed of the chief traders in that country, proved of incalculable value to him. This experience he brought to bear on the extensive transactions which he subsequently had with China, Europe, and other parts of the world.” Eulogizing, Karaka spares no adjectives in praise of Sir Jamshedji stating further  ” If a stranger landed on the shores of Bombay and inquired what were the works by which Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai had acquired so much renown, it could not be long before he found them out.”

Congratulating Sir Jamshedji on his 1842 knighthood , Karaka singles out the significant accomplishments, munificence of the new baronet and the baronetcy patent is included in the appendix. Much of the book deals with the various distinguished members of the Parsi race before proceeding on to explain the history of Zoarastrianism , the various religious books and customs.  The letters exchanged with Sir Jamshedji also are inserted to reflect the contribution of this opium merchant.

There is a mention of Grant Medical College, Bombay funded generously by Sr Jamshedji to provide deserving and needy students medical education in India. One Parsi who studied at this college slowly made his way to Shanghai, China and became a part of the Shanghai Masonic society. How, why and when – few answers and more questions remain on this interesting facet. More on this Shanghai Parsi soon.

Book link: http://openlibrary.org/works/OL2605774W/History_of_the_Parsis

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Freemasonry in Shanghai – Parsees Friday, Mar 1 2013

The Masonic Hall served as the meeting ground for various freemasonry lodges registered in and around Shanghai. Affluent Parsees were also members of this society.

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