A Discoverie of the Sect of the Banians: Containing Their History, Law, Liturgie, Casts, Customes, and Ceremonies. Gathered from Their Bramanes, Teachers of that Sect

Henry Ford, A Discoverie of the Sect of the Banians: Containing Their History, Law, Liturgie, Casts, Customes, and Ceremonies. Gathered from Their Bramanes, Teachers of that Sect: As the Particulars were Comprized in the Booke of their Law, called the Shaster: Together with a Display of their Manners, Both in Times Past, and at this Present, [bound with:] The Religion of the Persees… Wherein is shewed the Superstitious Ceremonies used amongst them, London: F Constable, 1630

2 parts in 1
Frontispiece; title pages; 14; 53 pages
first edition, additional engraved pictorial title by William Marshall, the second part with the separate title The Religion of the Parsees; original leather bound with fresh spine along with contemporary slipcase
7.28 x 5.51 in (18.5 x 14 cm)

THE FIRST ENGLISH ACCOUNTS OF HINDUISM AND ZOROASTRIANISM — HENRY LORD’S DISPLAY OF TWO FOREIGN SECTS, LONDON 1630

First edition of one of the earliest and most influential works on the religions of India, comprising Henry Lord’s paired treatises on the Banians (Hindus) and the Persees (Zoroastrians). Lord served as East India Company chaplain at Surat between 1624 and 1629, where he undertook what became the first systematic European attempt to describe the beliefs and rituals of India’s mercantile communities.

The Discoverie of the Banians provides a pioneering account of Hindu society, law, caste, and ritual, drawn from the Shastras and from Lord’s conversations with Brahmins. The Religion of the Persees is the first English text devoted to Zoroastrianism, recording ceremonies, funerary practices, and the symbolic worship of fire among the Parsi community settled at Surat and Bombay. Both works are introduced by William Marshall’s engraved title page, showing emblematic figures of the two sects and framed with allegorical scenes including fire altars and Brahmanical rites.

This combined edition is exceptionally rare and highly important. It established the framework through which Hinduism and Zoroastrianism were understood by Europeans for over a century, cited by travellers, missionaries, and early Orientalists. Today, it represents not only an invaluable ethnographic source but also a foundational text in the early history of Bombay, where the Parsi community would later rise to prominence.

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