KAPADIA, DINSHAH DORABJI

 

KAPADIA, DINSHAH DORABJI (1874-1973), Parsi scholar and educator. He matriculated from the Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Parsi Benevolent Institution (1891) and, after receiving his M.A. degree (1897), was appointed a fellow of Elphinstone College, Bombay (1896-97). He was promoted in 1919 as a commissioner of the Indian Educational Service and taught mathematics in Poona and Bombay (1901-30). Kapadia also served as a fellow of the University of Bombay (1918-36), chair of the Poona Parsee Punchayet Trust, president of the governing body of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute in Bombay, and chair of the Society for the Promotion of Research in the Zoroastrian Religion, Bombay.

Kapadia’s major scholarly contribution is his Glossary of Pahlavi Vendidād (Bombay, 1953), which is mainly based on the edition of the Pahlavi Vendidad done by Hoshang Jamasp (see HŌŠANG JĀMĀSP), with glossary (Vol. II). Its preparation was delayed for several years due to the demise of Bahramgore Anklesaria in 1944 and a fire in 1945 that gutted the Fort Printing Press, Bombay, which was the only printing house in India or the Orient at the time that had typefaces for the Avestan and Pahlavi scripts. Bahramgore Tehmorasp Anklesaria had prepared a draft English translation of the Pahlavi Vendidad to be published on the occasion of the birth centenary of Kharshedji Rustamji Cama in November 1931. Revisions and poor health, however, prevented him from steering it through the press. Kapadia was entrusted the posthumous editorship of the translation, which was eventually published in 1949.

 

Bibliography:

Behramgore T. Anklesaria, translit. and tr., Pahlavi Vendidâd: Zand-î Jvîṭ-Dêv-Dâṭ, ed. Dinshah D. Kapadia, Bombay, 1949; repr., 2002.

Dastur Hoshang Jamasp, Vendidâd. Avesta text with Pahlavi translation and commentary, and glossarial index, with the assistance of Mervanji Manekji Gandevia, 2 vols., Bombay, 1907.

Idem, Zarthoshtî dharma saṇbaṇdhnī vāējō, ed. Dinshah Kapadia, Poona, 1908.

Dinshah Kapadia, “Avesta Words Denoting the Day and Night, Their Significance and the Gahs of the Ancient Persians,” in Irach Jehangir Sorabji Taraporewala Memorial Volume, Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute 18, 1957, pp. 381-88.

Idem, “Renaissance of Zoroastrian Studies among the Parsis with the Introduction of Philological Study of Iranian Languages,” in Sir J. J. Zarthoshti Madressa Centenary Volume, Bombay, 1967, pp. vii-xvi.

Muncherji Pestonji Khareghat, Astrolabes (M. P. Khareghat Memorial Volume II), ed. Dinshah Kapadia, Bombay, 1953.

(Burzine K. Waghmar)

Originally Published: December 15, 2010

Last Updated: April 20, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XV, Fasc. 5, p. 521