author
Rustom Pestonji Masani
1876–1966
Remembered as a scholar-administrator with unusually wide interests, he wrote on Indian public life, Zoroastrian thought, and folklore. His work moves easily between civic history and cultural interpretation, giving readers both detail and range.
1 Audiobook
Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and West
by Rustom Pestonji Masani
About the author
Born in 1876, Rustom Pestonji Masani built a remarkably varied career as a public servant, scholar, and writer. Reliable library and reference records identify him as an Indian banker, historian, and essayist, and contemporary biographical material describes him as a figure of broad learning and public activity.
Alongside his official work, he wrote books that show the spread of his interests. These include Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and West (1918), Dadabhai Naoroji: The Grand Old Man of India (1939), and Zoroastrianism: The Religion of the Good Life. Together, these works suggest a writer equally drawn to folklore, biography, religion, and the history of modern India.
Masani also held important academic and civic roles. A contemporary honours record notes that he had lately served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bombay, and he was knighted during the British period. He died in 1966, leaving behind books that still attract readers interested in religion, cultural history, and the intellectual life of colonial India.