Trust Matters: Parsi Endowments in Mumbai and the Horoscope of a City

Mumbai's Parsi community is one of the largest private landowners in the city due to its network of public charitable trusts. In Trust Matters, Leilah Vevaina explores the dynamics and consequences of this conjunction of religion and capital, proposing the trusts as a horoscope of the city. She explores the charitable trust as a technology of time, originating in the nineteenth century, structuring intergenerational obligations for Mumbais Parsis, connecting past and present, the worldly and the sacred.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 01 December 2023
Publisher: Duke University Press

The Parsi community in Mumbai, despite numbering less than 60,000 in a city of over 12 million people, holds a significant position as one of the largest private landowners due to its extensive network of public charitable trusts. In her book "Trust Matters," Leilah Vevaina delves into the intricate dynamics and far-reaching consequences of this unique convergence of religion and capital. Through her exploration, Vevaina sheds light on the various activities facilitated by these communal trusts, including giving, disputing, living, and dying, which shape the communal life of the Parsis in urban India.

Vevaina argues that communal trusts serve as the legal framework for formal religious giving and ritual in urban India, exerting a profound influence on communal affairs. These trusts, she suggests, can be viewed as a horoscope of the city, comprising a constellation of housing, temples, and other spaces that offer potential futures. Vevaina delves into the charitable trust as a technology of time, originating in the nineteenth century, which structures intergenerational obligations for the Parsis in Mumbai. Through this lens, she explores how the trust connects the past and present, the worldly and the sacred, creating a complex tapestry of property, religion, and kinship in the urban global South.

By approaching Mumbai through the legal mechanism of the trust and the individuals who inhabit its boundaries, as well as those who challenge or support it, Vevaina offers a fresh and insightful perspective on these interconnected themes. Her book provides a valuable contribution to the study of property, religion, and kinship in the urban context, offering a nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between these forces in the lives of the Parsis in Mumbai and beyond.

Weight: 324g
Dimension: 151 x 228 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478025399