Parsis dropped Hindu habits when the British arrived and considered themselves a more vital race than both Indians and the British - Book Review: The Good Parsi

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All it takes is one drop of poison

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From: Luhrmann, T.M. "The Good Parsi: The fate of a colonial elite in a postcolonial society". Harvard University Press, 1996

Page 98

"But the most remarkable feature of the text is its breezy assurance of Parsi and British near-equivalence. Parsis, Karaka explains, had learned Hindu habits to live among the Hindus, but that was merely a surface accretion which enabled them to survive. "As [Parsis] advance every year in civilization and enlightenment, they copy more closely English manners and modes of living". Under the British their natural nobility, and more to the point, natural "mastery,” products of a civilization even greater than the British, sprang forth. Soon, Karaka speculated, they would be indistinguishable from the English. "Some of those [Parsis] who adopt European dress might even be mistaken for Europeans, for the population possesses a vitality and an energy inherited from their ancient ancestors the Persians that is equal to those of European populations living in more bracing climates than India" —that is, Parsis are more vital than either Indians or Englishmen in India. "The highest proportion of children in any class in Bombay under one year of age is found in the Parsi population."' His last paragraph is obsequious, and with no hint of a play of contestation: With regard to the present position of the Parsis, A may be said that they are well launched on the path of progress. With the advent of British power in India better and brighter days dawned for them."