Jadi Rana - A Kind Hindu King With Foresight

Holiest Fire Temple Temple of Parsis in India at Udvada, Gujarat.  (Photograph by Nilesh Shukla, Year 2025.)

Jadi Rana was a Hindu king of Sanjan in Gujarat. The Parsi Refugees had found safe asylum under him when they were forced to flee from their homeland, Persia (Iran) to save their life and religion from Islamic rulers in the 7th Century CE i.e. approximately 1300 years ago.

Most of us are aware of the famous milk and sugar story of Parsi refugees. True to that story, the Parsis have merged with the host society just as sugar dissolves in a cup full of milk. While their homogenous merging with host society and their successes are well  acknowledged, not many in India are aware that it was the Hindu King, Jadi Rana who had allowed the distressed and ensured their safe refuge in India. Perhaps, because it happened more than a thousand years ago and the fact that Indians are poor at history-writing and even poorer at self-praise, pretty little is known today about the king. 

However, some worthwhile information on the King is available from Parsi chronicles. The king’s knowledge of the factors that go to a successful merging of foreigners into local communities while still allowing everyone a full freedom to practice their own religion is a lesson to learn in itself. 

Parsis adopted Gujarati Language and Gujarati dress and yet maintained their unique identity complete with their religion, temples and traditions. They created successful business empires, established charities and have earned love and respect from the host society. This phenomenon of stress-free amalgamation is one of the rarest among rare phenomena in the history of the world.

When they had lost all hopes of survival under the islamic rule, a leading priest of the surviving Zoroastrians had a vision of God telling him to take the holy fire and the faithful with him to India and seek refuge there. They took a boat in the year 630 CE or thereabout and set sail for India braving unexpected sea storms on their way. When their storm-battered boat at last reached the shore of India at Port Sanjan in Gujarat, the leader of the refugees, who was a devout and knowledgeable priest, goes to meet the king Jadi Rana. The conversation between the priest and the king is described in a poetic fashion in what has become famous as “The Sixteen Sanskrit Slokas of Aka Adhyaru” and the legendary set of promises, known as “The Five Promises”. Apparently, the refugees actually did not use Sanskrit language but had used Pahlavi language (language of Iran at that time), however, the Pahlavi sloka were translated into Sanskrit by one, Neryosang Dhaval. The first fifteen verses are appeals of the leader of the refugees and the last one is by the King who accords permission for asylum, gives land and grants permission to build their temple where holy fire was installed. The “Five Promises” are the promises made by refugees to the king. (The holy fire, known as “Iran Shah” was first installed in the fire temple in Sanjan town as a temporary stop-gap arrangement and was subsequently permanently moved by the community to the nearby town of Udvada in a well-built new fire temple pictured here)

In a typical Indian tradition of oral history, this ancient conversation was passed on over generations. It was at last scripted into a document as late as in the year 1599 CE by a Parsi priest, Dorab Sanjana, under the title “Qissa-e-Sanjan”. The conversation brings out two interesting observations. Firstly, the king Jadi Rana was kind, knowledgeable and had foresight of a good ruler. Secondly, the leader of the refugees was knowledgeable, wise and a honourable man of God.

The King asked refugees to follow a few conditions to help make their life in India more stable, peaceful and conflict free. 1- Adopt local (Gujarati) dress and language (For easy amalgamation in the society) 2- Keep religious ceremonies like marriage etc after sunset (so as not to conflict with Hindu ceremonies that normally take place before sunset) 3) Do not bear Arms (So as not appear like a threat to locals) 4- Earn your own bread (by likes of farming) and take care of yourself (also known as ‘fend for yourself’) 5- Do not proselyte (Extension of point at 2: Do not lure locals into your faith by taking locals into Parsi Temples). 

Every generation of Parsis since the pioneering first wave of Parsis have remained truely honourable and have followed these conditions to the last comma and full stop. This is a major reason for the mutual goodwill, peaceful co-existence, trust and growth in a predominantly Hindu India despite their retention of religion and distinctive identity. This is a valuable and rare achievement from every standard. Some recent Parsi community leaders have expressed their own slightly differing views on those five promises, but that is understandable as each can have their own interpretation of any old text. Notwithstanding any alternative views, the Parsi community have remained steadfast exactly to the above promises, thus giving credence to the generally accepted version of “Five Promises”.

That the king Jadi Rana asked for a code of conduct from the incoming strangers by way of the five easy to follow promises, is a testimony to the wisdom and foresight, every ruler should possess in order to rule fairly and maintain peace, stability and harmony in the society they govern. Indeed, it takes two to tango, kudos also to the Parsi community. Instead of drowning in despair and complaining of victimhood, the community overcame all disadvantages and turned themselves into a successful and prosperous community. The operative formula that worked seems to be kindness with foresight of the host and  the honouring of the promises by the guests. 

King Jadi Rana and the Parsi community both deserve compliments and should be celebrated.

Udvada Town And The Holiest Parsi Fire temple of India

 

Parsis’ Holiest Fire Temple in India at Udvada	Udvada Town Entrance	Udvada Railway Station	Jadi Rana High School, Sanjan. (Picture of School-courtesy wikimapia.org)

Holiest Parsi Fire temple of India is situated in a small town of Udvada, about 185 km north of Mumbai. The last leg of my trip to India, in January 2025, took me to this small town of Gujarat on the coast of Arabian Sea. The Parsis are a tiny community in India. They are followers of an ancient faith, known as Zoroastrianism. Parsis are progressive and are generally loved and admired by Indians.

In their long history of more than a thousand years in India, the Parsi community has kept alive their distinct identity and yet have seamlessly merged with mainstream society. So much so that, never ever was any instance of quarrel between Parsi community and any other community.

Parsi are known in India for their jovial, friendly and helpful nature. They have built many successful business enterprises. Tata, Godrej, Wadia, Shapoorji, etc are some of the well known groups of Parsee owned businesses. They have also built many philanthropic organizations to undertake welfare of the society.

Some of the several Indian and International Businesses and Brands owned by Parsi Businessmen

 The holiest Parsi fire temple in Udvada is a beautiful looking building with traditional Zoroastrian imagery and architecture. The town also has a well maintained Museum showing Zoroastrian heritage and traditions. Interestingly I found small cards hung on the branches of the trees in the compound of the museum. At first glance, the hanging white cards looked like some decoration or perhaps a tiny equivalent of the Buddhist prayer banners that one finds around Buddhist shrines. However this was different. Each card had one of the following three quotes. “Good Thoughts”, “Good Words” and “Good Deeds” in English language on one side and its Avestan language equivalent (In English Script) on the other side “Humata”, “Hukhta” and “Hvarshta”.  A visitor to the museum can pluck card/s from there and retain them as souvenirs. The Zoroastrian religious books were written in the ancient Avestan language, an offshoot of Sanskrit, and are said to be built around those easy to remember, three tenets. Humata, Hukhta and Hvarshta. Tree-hanging cards, I thought, was a very good idea and a very apt souvenir. (Fun Fact: Sanskrit “S” becomes “H” in Avesta and with some distortions over a period of time and distance, it made, Sindhu-सिन्धु to Hindu, Sumati-सुमति (Good thoughts) to Humata, Sukti-सुक्ति (Good words) to Huktha and Srushti-सृष्टि (Good deed that creates good society/world) to Hvarashta).

Udvada is a typical small town of Gujarat. Most of its original Parsi inhabitants have moved to larger cities, however they maintain lively contact with their holiest shrine. Most Parsis, wherever they may be in the world, do not fail to make a pilgrimage to the Udvada Fire Temple. Indeed there does exist a sizable Parsi community in the town and serve the community by providing religious services at the Holy Fire Temple, providing lodging and boarding to the Parsi pilgrims. In their language, Parsis call the Fire Temple “Atash Behram”. As the fire at Udvada was originally brought from the original Fire Temple in Iran, the Udvada Fire Temple is also known as “Iranshah Atash Behram” (“Atash” is “Fire” in Iranian Farsi language, “Behram” has meanings like winning, victorious, etc )

In the Parsi chronicles, they have recorded their stories of flight from Persia (Iran), voyage to Sanjan and interactions with the hosts. In a remarkable poem, “Qissa-e-Sanjan”, famously known as “Sixteen Shloka”, the leader of the refugees narrates his conversation with the King, Jadi Rana. It encapsulates their discussion in Sanskrit language. The first fifteen shlokas cover submission of the visitor and the sixteenth shloka is the reply of the King, granting them asylum.

King Jadi Rana was certainly a remarkable ruler. He had that foresight, often missing in other rulers. He knew what bonds two communities without compelling them to change their religion and yet to let both communities flourish and freely keep their independent identities. He was unique. Modern day rulers can learn something from him. I was therefore curious to find if the town of Udvada had maintained any relics, edicts or memorials to commemorate King Jadi Rana, or had built any monument or memorial for the wise King. Strangely, I could not find it. May be it was not so prominent and I missed it.