Dr. Sir Ervad Jivanji Jamshedji Modi (1854–1933), who also carried the title of Shams-ul-Ulama, was a prominent
Zoroastrian Parsi-Indian priest, scholar and community leader in Bombay. One of "the most decorated priests in history",
he wrote over 70 books, produced over 120 scholarly papers on Zoroastrian history, traveled and researched into Zoroastrian affairs extensively and was instrumental in organizing the
Parsi community in India.
During his lifetime he had been called "the greatest living authority on the ancient history and customs of the Parsis."
He created a facsimile edition of the
Middle Persian
Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...
legal treatise,
Mādayān ī Hazār Dādestān Mādayān ī Hazār Dādestān, (''Book of a Thousand Judgements''), is a significant primary document concerning the social and institutional history of Sasanian Iran and the only entirely legal treatise on pre-Islamic Sasanian jurisprudence to hav ...
in 1901.
Books
* The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsees (1922)
* My Travels Outside Bombay (written in
Gujarati (1926)
Honors and awards
* B.A. (Bombay University, 1876)
* Fellow of the University of Bombay (1887)
* Dip.
Litteris et Artibus
Litteris et Artibus is a Swedish royal medal established in 1853 by Charles XV of Sweden, who was then crown prince. It is awarded to people who have made important contributions to culture, especially music, dramatic art and literature.
The ob ...
(Sweden, 1889)
*
Shams-Ul-Ulama (Government of British India, 1893)
*
Officier d'Academie (France, 1898)
*
Officier de l'Instruction Publique (France, 1903)
* Ph.D. (Honoris Causa, Heidelberg, 1912)
* Honorary Correspondent of the Archaeological Department of the Government of India (1914)
* C.I.E. (1917); Campbell Medalist, B.B.,
Royal Asiatic Society
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...
(1918)
* Honorary Member of the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is a research institute involved in the conservation, preservation, and research of old manuscripts and rare books related to Orientalism, particularly Indology. It is located in Pune, Maharash ...
(1923)
*
Chevalier de Légion d'honneur (France, 1925)
*
Officier de Croix de Merit (Hungary, 1925)
*
British Knighthood (1930)
* LL.D. (Honoris Causa, Bombay University 1931)
References
External links
Collection of Works by Jivanji Jamshedji Modi - Online* Encyclopaedia Iranica, at https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/search?s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-iranica-online&search-go=&s.q=Jivanji+Jamshedji+Modi
Parsi people from Mumbai
Gujarati people
Zoroastrian priests
1854 births
1933 deaths
Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire
Indian Zoroastrians
Writers from Mumbai
19th-century Indian educational theorists
19th-century Indian historians
20th-century Indian historians
20th-century Indian educational theorists
Zoroastrian studies scholars
Litteris et Artibus recipients
Officiers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Indian Knights Bachelor
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