Lest We Forget…

Dear Editor,

Your article dated Saturday, 04th June, 2016 in the Parsi Times, “HOMAJI NI BAAJ” was well-timed. Many elders are aware of the sacrifice made by Homaji, yet how many of the young could even have heard of this saintly personage’s name! Be it as it may!
There is yet another Homaji very few, even elderly Parsis, could be in the know of. His name is Dastur Camaji Homaji. Like his namesake, he was also born in Bharuch in the 17th century. A weaver by profession, he had a Muslim partner by the name of Saiyad, who did him in, causing Homaji heavy loss. Enraged, Homaji called him a “Kafir”. That was enough for Saiyad to take him to the court of the then Nawab of Bharuch. Upon questioning, Camaji Homaji admitted that he had called Saiyad a ‘Kafir’. Promptly, the death sentence was pronounced, but an offer to spare his life was made, if he embraced Islam.
Camaji Homaji spurned the offer, saying in old Gujarati, “Je majhab né khatar mara baap-dadao é Iran vatan chhodyu, téné hoon béimannivdu, maro jaan bachava – é banvumahalchhé!” (It would be unthinkable that I would be an infidel and so easily give up the very religion that my ancestors left their homeland in Iran for, just to save my life. That is simply not possible!)
Camaji Homaji preferred to embrace death, rather than disown his faith. He was beheaded in 1703.
For this supreme self-sacrifice, he is considered a Saint in Bharuch, his name is invoked in every Zoroastrian ritual, down to the present day.

Aban Z. Sethna