Kharshedji Rustomji Cama
Indian educator
Kharshedji Rustomji Cama (1831–1909), often known as K. R. Cama, was an Indian Parsi scholar and reformer from Bombay.
Early life
Born in a privileged family, Cama gained a reputation as a scholar. He had a traditional Parsi education, and then went to Elphinstone School in Bombay. Leaving in 1849, he joined a trading house in Calcutta, and then travelled in 1850 to London, returning in 1854 to Bombay. He went into business with Dadabhai Naoroji, and again visited Europe in 1855, and studied with orientalists there: Julius Mohl and Julius Oppert in Paris, and Friedrich von Spiegel at the University of Erlangen. Naoroji with Cama and his cousin Muncherjee Hormusji Cama set up the first Indian trading firm in Europe, based in London and Liverpool. Cama and Naoroji then dropped out, however, because of the firm's dealings in alcohol and opium.
Reformer
There was an identifiable group of Bombay Parsi reformers, including Naoroji, Cama and Manockjee Cursetjee who were concerned with educational reform, the position of women, and political participation. These interests typically went hand in hand with opposition to the local Panchayat, and religious reform. Cama supported the major reformist publication Rast Goftar ("Herald of Truth"), founded in 1851.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kharshedji Rustomji Cama” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.