Parsi migration to Gujarat; CCWV.LIFE

Zoroastrian refugees from Iran reach Gujarat on India's west coast, where the local ruler, in the later account of the Qissa-i Sanjan, grants them settlement at Sanjan on conditions of peace. Their descendants are the Parsis, and India becomes the faith's second homeland.

Tagged: Parsi Zoroastrianism

The Event

Date: c. 785 (traditional)
Also called: The landing at Sanjan
Era: Early Islamic Centuries; Standard periodization of Zoroastrian history
Location: Sanjan, Gujarat; today India
Traditions: Zoroastrianism
Streams: Parsi
Key texts: Qissa-i Sanjan

How the Tradition Tells It

The migration's date rests on the Qissa-i Sanjan, composed about 1600, centuries after the landing; dates proposed for the settlement range across the eighth to tenth centuries, and the traditional date is kept here as the table gives it.

Connections

Illustration for Arab conquest of Persia

History Event Arab conquest of Persia 651 driven by

Primary Sources

Qissa-i Sanjan.

Secondary Sources

Boyce, Mary. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge, 1979.
Choksy, Jamsheed K. Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
Encyclopaedia Iranica, entries on the Avesta, the Sasanians, and the Parsi calendar disputes.
Hinnells, John R. The Zoroastrian Diaspora: Religion and Migration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Rose, Jenny. Zoroastrianism: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris, 2011.

Provenance: HIST-1011; confidence 0.8; accessed 2026-10-28.