->ElliAWB: Reverted edits by Ebbedlila (talk) to last version by Shyamal. requested at ANI

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Reverted edits by Ebbedlila (talk) to last version by Shyamal. requested at ANI

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{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
[[File:K._R._Cama_Garu_1911.jpg|thumb]]
'''Kharshedji Rustomji Cama''' (1831–1909), often known as '''K. R. Cama''', was a [[Parsi]] scholar and reformer from [[Bombay]].

==Early life==
[[File:Indian National Congress 1904.jpg|thumb|left|Indian National Congress group in 1904; Cama is fourth from the left, standing in the back row]]

Born in a privileged family, Cama gained a reputation as a scholar.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jesse S. Palsetia|title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6oNt3M_yLgC&pg=PA141|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12114-0|page=141}}</ref> He had a traditional Parsi education, and then went to [[Elphinstone School]] in Bombay. Leaving in 1849, he joined a trading house in [[Calcutta]], and then travelled in 1850 to London, returning in 1854 to Bombay. He went into business with [[Dadabhai Naoroji]], and again visited Europe in 1855, and studied with orientalists there: [[Julius Mohl]] and [[Julius Oppert]] in Paris, and [[Friedrich von Spiegel]] at the [[University of Erlangen]].<ref name="EI">[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cama-kharshedji-rustamh-b Encyclopædia Iranica, ''Cama, Kharshedji Rustamh''.]</ref> Naoroji with Cama and his cousin Muncherjee Hormusji Cama set up the first Indian trading firm in Europe, based in London and Liverpool. Cama and Naoroji then dropped out, however, because of the firm's dealings in alcohol and opium.<ref>{{cite book|author=John R. Hinnells|title=The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration: Religion and Migration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWnUfjzvwHoC&pg=PA326|year=2005|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-151350-3|page=326}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Roger Ballard|title=Desh Pardesh: The South Asian Presence in Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74ZVFb37zuIC&pg=PA255|year=1994|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-091-1|page=255}}</ref>

==Reformer==
There was an identifiable group of Bombay Parsi reformers, including Naoroji, Cama and [[Manockjee Cursetjee]] who were concerned with educational reform, the position of women, and political participation. These interests typically went hand in hand with opposition to the local [[Panchayat]], and religious reform.<ref>{{cite book |author=Eckehard Kulke |title=The Parsees in India |year=1974 |publisher=Weltforum Verlag |isbn=3-8039-0070-0|pages= 66–7 and 92}}</ref> Cama supported the major reformist publication ''Rast Goftar'' ("Herald of Truth"), founded in 1851.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jesse S. Palsetia|title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6oNt3M_yLgC&pg=PA191|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12114-0|page=191}}</ref>

Cama was a member of the Amelioration Society set up in 1855 by Merwanji Framji Panday, which brought together reformers and conservative Parsis.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Thomas W. Gaehtgens|author-link=Thomas W. Gaehtgens|author2=Katja Zelljadt|title=Getty Research Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=stfWE8aAlz8C&pg=PA56|date=April 2010|publisher=Getty Publications|isbn=978-1-60606-017-9|page=56}}</ref> In the 1860s he began to concentrate on his own intellectual roots, and worked to develop education in the Parsi community.<ref name="EI"/><ref>{{cite book|author=N. Jayapalan|title=Indian society and social institutions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gVo1I4SIqOwC&pg=PA216|year=2001|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri|isbn=978-81-7156-925-0|page=216}}</ref> He was an influential figure also in the [[Asiatic Society of Bombay]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Arnold P. Kaminsky|author2=Roger D. Long PhD|title=India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVxlfDHGTFYC&pg=PA62|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37463-0|page=62}}</ref>

Cama emerged as the leading religious reformer of the period, and founded an association, the ''Zarthoshti Din ni Khol Karnari Mandali'' ("Society for Promoting Research on the Zoroastrian Religion") to promote his views, based on a meeting with ''[[dastur]]s'' in 1864. His studies in Europe of [[Avestan]] and [[Middle Persian literature|Pahlavi]] gave him assurance in criticising scholarly deficiencies of the local priesthood.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jesse S. Palsetia|title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6oNt3M_yLgC&pg=PA163|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12114-0|page=163 note 99}}</ref><ref>Shroff, pp. 180–1.</ref> His programme included the exclusion from Parsi religious practice of all [[Hindu]] elements, and improvement of the ''madressa'' schools;<ref>James Emerson Whitehurst, ''The Zoroastrian Response to Westernization: A Case Study of the Parsis of Bombay'', Journal of the American Academy of Religion Vol. 37, No. 3 (Sep. 1969), pp. 224–236, at pp. 227–8.
Published by: Oxford University Press. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1461653</ref> in the case of the Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Zarthoshti Madressa (founded 1863) he intervened in 1881 to reform the system and entry requirements.<ref>Shroff, p. 179.</ref> He was a founding director of the [[Alexandra Native Girls' English Institution]].<ref>Shroff, p. 84.</ref> [[Behramji Malabari]]'s social programme, aimed at reforming Hindu custom, also attracted his support.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jesse S. Palsetia|title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6oNt3M_yLgC&pg=PA194|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12114-0|page=194}}</ref> Conservative orthodox Parsis named the reforming group around the ''Mandali'' the "Paris Protestants".<ref>Shroff, p. 184.</ref>

==Influence==
From 1861 Cama taught Avestan and Pahlavi in his home, with methods drawing on European philology.<ref>Shroff, p. 181.</ref> His students included [[Sheriarji Dadabhai Bharucha]], whom he taught Pahlavi.<ref>[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bharucha-sheriarji-dadabhai-parsi-scholar-born-at-broach-in-1843 Encyclopædia Iranica, ''Bharucha, Sheriarji Dadabhai''.]</ref> He was an early influence on [[Jivanji Jamshedji Modi]], later his biographer.<ref>[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/modi-jivanji-jamshedji Encyclopædia Iranica, ''Modi, Jivanji Jamshedji''.]</ref>

Interested in [[calendar reform]], Cama published on the [[Zoroastrian calendar]] in the 1860s.<ref>{{cite book|author=F. Max Mueller|author-link=F. Max Mueller|title=Pahlavi Texts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=epKWjakNAJEC&pg=PA388|accessdate=19 August 2013|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri|page=388|id=GGKEY:B99562XA0F6|year=1882}}</ref> He contested the accepted date of the arrival of Parsis in India, setting it at 936, against the date then received (Dastur Kamdin) of 716.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jesse S. Palsetia|title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6oNt3M_yLgC&pg=PA3|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12114-0|pages=3–4 note 3}}</ref> In the 1870s he went on to speculate more broadly on religion, encompassing [[Mithraism]] and [[freemasonry]] in his interests, and addressing those outside the Parsi community.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jesse S. Palsetia|title=The Parsis of India: Preservation of Identity in Bombay City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6oNt3M_yLgC&pg=PA168|year=2001|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12114-0|page=168}}</ref>

==Legacy==
The K. R. Cama Institute was established in 1916 to perpetuate his memory, following meetings at which the British administration, Parsi reformers, businessmen, and [[Wilson College, Mumbai|Wilson College]] were represented. The Hindu merchant Damodhardas Gordhandas Sukhadwala offered financial support for an institute, which was inaugurated by [[Lord Willingdon]]. Initially it was housed at the Sukhadwala building in Hornby Street. From 1936 it had its own premises, at 136 Apollo Street, Fort, Bombay. It publishes books and a journal. From an initial library consisting of works from Cama's personal collection, it has assembled a research library for orientalists.<ref>Shroff, pp. 149–53</ref>

==Family==
Cama was twice married.<ref name="EI"/> His son Rustamji was married to [[Bhikaiji Cama]].<ref>{{cite book|author=John R. Hinnells|title=The Zoroastrian Diaspora : Religion and Migration: Religion and Migration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWnUfjzvwHoC&pg=PA407|year=2005|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-151350-3|page=407}}</ref>

==References==
*{{cite book |author=Zenobia E. Shroff |title=The Contribution of Parsis to Education in Bombay City (1820–1920) |year=2001 |publisher=Himalaya Publishing House}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Kharshedji Rustomji Cama}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cama, Kharshedji Rustomji}}
[[Category:1831 births]]
[[Category:1909 deaths]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Scholars from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Politicians from Mumbai]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Zoroastrian studies scholars]]

Kharshedji Rustomji Cama - Revision history

->ElliAWB: Reverted edits by Ebbedlila (talk) to last version by Shyamal. requested at ANI