1. A lecturership shall be established and maintained in the University of Oxford to be called the ‘Ratanbai Katrak Lecturership’ and a lecturer shall be appointed and called the ‘Ratanbai Katrak Lecturer’.
2. The sum of £1,000 Consolidated 2½ % Stock and the stocks, funds, and securities for the time being representing the same and any addition made thereto by accumulation or otherwise shall form a fund to be called the ‘Ratanbai Katrak Fund’. The capital thereof shall be invested in the corporate name of the University in trustee securities.
3. The purpose of the fund shall be to promote the study of the religion of Zoroaster and of its later developments from a theological, philological, and historical point of view. The lectures given should as far as possible throw new light on the subject treated.
4. A board of management shall be constituted consisting of:
(1) the Vice-Chancellor;
(2) Dr. Nanabhai Navrosji Katrak, the founder of the fund, during his lifetime;*
(3) the Regius Professor of Divinity;
(4) the Boden Professor of Sanskrit;
(5)-(8) four persons appointed for each election, two by the Board of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, and one each by the Board of the Faculty of Literae Humaniores and the Board of the Faculty of Theology. Three shall constitute a quorum.
5. Dr. N. N. Katrak and each of his successors during his tenure of office as a member of the board of management shall have power to nominate a representative to succeed him as a member of the board after his death or resignation. He shall have the name of such nominee registered with the University before his death or resignation. If a member fail so to nominate a successor and have his name registered, or if the nominee refuse to become a member of the board of management, this privilege shall cease and thenceforward no further representative of the donor shall be on the board of management.
6. At intervals of not more than ten years the board shall appoint a lecturer, who may be of any nationality, who shall give a course of not less than six lectures in the English language on some subject connected with the study of the religion of Zoroaster as defined in clause 3 above. They shall fix his or her stipend, which shall be not less than £125, and shall have power in addition to pay his or her travelling expenses, and any other incidental expenses if they think it desirable. In exceptional circumstances the board shall have power to appoint a lecturer after an interval of five years to give three or four lectures at a stipend of not less than £60. *Dr. Katrak died on 9 October 1945.
7. Each lecturer shall deliver to the Vice-Chancellor his or her lectures or a verified copy thereof, which shall be retained in the Bodleian Library.
8. The copyright of the lectures shall be transferred to and vested in the University.
9. The board of management shall seek to secure the publication of the lectures, and shall be empowered to make contributions from the fund for this purpose.
10. A copy of the lectures, if printed and published, shall be presented by the University to such institutions as the board of management considers desirable.
11. If the travelling and other expenses of the lecturer should in any case prove to be greater than the fund can afford, the lecturer may, with the consent of the board, send the written lectures to the Registrar to be read before the University by someone appointed for the purpose by the Vice-Chancellor.
12. In any circumstances which they may consider exceptional the board of management shall have the power to offer a prize for an essay in lieu of the lecturership, such prize to be called the ‘Ratanbai Katrak Prize’ and the conditions to be such as to carry out the intention of the founder as expressed in clause 3 above; the essay shall become the property of the University and may be printed and published in the manner described in clauses 8 and 9 above.
13. Council shall have full power to alter this decree from time to time, provided that the foundation shall always bear the title of the ‘Ratanbai Katrak Foundation’ and that its main object be kept in view, namely the perpetuation of the memory of the founder’s wife to be associated with the promotion of the study of the religion of Zoroaster, in the manner defined in clause 3 above, in the University of Oxford.
