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From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India

By R. V. Russell

Of The Indian Civil Service

Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces

Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner

Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.

NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.

Bohra

LIST OF PARAGRAPHS 1. Origin of the sect. 4. BoJira graveyards. 2. Their religious tenets. 5. Religious custotns. 3. The Mullahs. 6. Occupatio7i. 7. Houses and dress. Bohra,

Bohora

A Muhammadan caste of traders who i. Origin come from Gujarat and speak Gujarati. At the last census ° ' esect. they numbered nearly 5000 persons, residing principally in the Nimar, Nagpur and Amraoti Districts, Burhanpur being the headquarters of the sect in the Central Provinces. The name is probably derived from the Hindi byoJidra, a trader. Members of the caste are honorifically addressed as Mullaji. According to the received account of the rise of the Bohras in Gujarat a missionary, Abdulla, came from Yemen to Cambay in A.D. 1067. By his miracles he converted the great king Sidhraj of Anhilvada Patan in Gujarat, and he with numbers of his subjects embraced the new faith.

For two centuries and a half the Bohras flourished, but with the establishment of Muzaffar Shah's power (A.D. 1 390-141 3) in that country the spread of Sunni doctrines was encouraged and the Bohra and other Shia sects suppressed. Since then, with gradually lessening numbers, they have passed through several bitter persecutions, meeting with little favour or protection, till at the close of the eighteenth century they found shelter under British rule. In 1539 the members of the sect living in Arabia were expelled from there and came to Gujarat, where they were hospitably received by their brethren, the headquarters of the sect being thenceforward ^ This article is largely based on Muhammadans of Gujarat, and on a Mr. F. L. Farldi's full description of paper by Mr. Habib Ullah, pleader, the sect in the Bombay Gazetteer, Burhanpur.

fixed at Surat.

The Bohras are Shias of the great IsmaiHa sect of Egypt. The IsmaiHa sect split off from the orthodox Shias on the question of the succession to the sixth Imam, Jafar Sadik, in A.D. 765. The dispute was between his eldest son's son Ismail and his second son Musi, the Ismailias being those who supported the former and the orthodox Shias the latter. The orthodox Shias are distin- guished as believers in twelve Imams, the last of whom is still to come. The Ismailias again divided on a similar dispute as to the succession to the Khalifa Almustansir Billah by his eldest son Nazar or his younger son Almustaali. The Bohras are descended from the Mustaalians or supporters of the younger son and the Khojas from the Nazarians who supported the elder son.

All these distinctions appear somewhat trivial. Gujarat contains two classes of Bohras : the traders who are all Shias and are the only immigrants into the Central Provinces, and a large class of cultivating Bohras who are Sunnis. The latter may be the descendants of the earliest converts and may have been forced to become Sunnis when this sect was dominant in Gujarat as noticed above, while the Shias are perhaps descended from the later immigrants from Arabia. The Shia Bohras themselves are further divided into several sects of which the Daudi are the principal. Mr. Farldi writes of them : ' " They are attentive to their religious duties, both men and women knowing the Koran. They are careful to say their prayers, to observe Muharram as a season of mourning and to go on pilgrimage to Mecca and Kerbala.

They strictly abstain from music and dancing and from using or dealing in intoxicating drinks or drugs. Though fierce sectarians, keenly hating and hated by the regular Sunnis and other Muhammadans than those of their own sect, their reverence for Ali and for their high priest seems to be further removed from adoration than among the Khojahs.

They would appear to accept the ordinary distinctions of right and wrong, punishing drunkenness, adultery and other acts generally considered ^ Bombay Gazetteer, AInhammadans of Gujarat, p. 30. Sir H. T. Cole- brooke and Mr. Conolly thought that the Bohras were true Shias and not Ismailias. 2 Ibidem, pp. 30-32.

11 THE MULLAHS 347 disgraceful. Of the state beyond death they hold that, after passing a time of freedom as evil spirits, unbelievers go to a place of torment. Believers, but apparently only believers of the Ismaili faith, after a term of training enter a state of perfection.

Among the faithful each disembodied spirit passes the term of training in communion with the soul of some good man. The spirit can suggest good or evil to the man and may learn from his good deeds to love the right ; when the good man dies the spirits in communion with his soul are, if they have gained by their training, attached to some more perfect man, or if they have lost by their opportunities are sent back to learn ; spirits raised to a higher degree of knowledge are placed in communion with the High Priest on earth ; and on his death are with him united to the Imams, and when through the Imams they have learnt what they still require to know they are absorbed in perfection.

Except for some peculiarities in their names ; that they attach special importance to circumcision ; that the sacrifice or alsikah ceremony is held in the Mullah's house ; that at marriage the bride and bridegroom when not of age are represented by sponsors or ivalis ; that at death a prayer for pity on his soul and body is laid in the dead man's hands ; and that on certain occasions the High Priest feeds the whole community—Bohra customs do not so far as has been ascertained differ from those of ordinary Muhammadans. " Their leader, both in things religious and social, is the

3. The head Mullah of Surat. The ruling Mullah names his ^^"^^^^'• successor, generally, but it is said not always, from among the members of his own family. Short of worship the head Mullah is treated with the greatest respect. He lives in much state and entertains with the most profuse liberality. On both religious and civil questions his authority is final. Discipline is enforced in religious matters by fine, and in case of adultery, drunkenness and other offences, by fine, excommunication and rarely by flogging. On ceremonial occasions the head Mullah sits on his throne, and in token of his power has the flyflapper, chauri, held before him. As the Bohras enter they make three prostrations, salaams^ close their hands and stand before him. To such as are worthy

he says ' Be seated,' to others ' Stand.' Once a year, on the 1 8th Rajjab, every Daudi lays his palm within the head Mullah's hand and takes an oath to be faithful. On this day when he goes to the mosque the Bohras are said to kiss the Mullah's footsteps and to apply the dust he treads to their heads and eyes." Each considerable settlement of the sect has a deputy Mullah of its own.

4. Bohra Thc Sahadra or burial-place of the Bohras at Burhanpur graveyards, contains the tombs of three of the Surat Mullahs who happened to die when they were at Burhanpur. The tombs are in shell-lime and are fairly handsome erections. The Bohras support here by voluntary subscription a rest-house, where members of the sect coming to the city can obtain free board and lodging for as long as they like to stay. Mr. Conolly says of their graveyards : ^ " Their burial-grounds have a pleasing appearance, the tombs being regularly arranged in streets, east and west. The tombs themselves, which are, of course, north and south, the corpse resting on its right side, differ in no respect from those of Sunnis, with the exception of a small chirdgh takia or lamp-socket, cut out of the north face, just like the cavity for the inscription of our own tombs." 5. Reii- Of their religion Mr. Kitts writes : - "In prayers they gious differ both from Shias and Sunnis in that they follow their customs. ' Mullah, praying aloud after him, but without much regularity of posture.

The times for commencing their devotions are about five minutes later than those observed by Sunnis. After the midday and sunset supplications they allow a short interval to elapse, remaining themselves in the mosque meanwhile. They then commence the afternoon and even- ing prayers and thus run five services into three."

Mr. Thurston notes that the Bohras consider themselves so superior to other sects that if another Muhammadan enters their mosque they afterwards clean the spot which he has occupied during his prayers.^ They show strictness in other ways, making their own sweetmeats at home and declining to eat those of the Halwai (confectioner). It is said "^ J.A.S.B. vol. vi. (1837), part ii. ^ Cas/es and Tribes of Southern p. 847. India, art.

Bohra. '^ Berar Census Report ( 1 8 1 8), p. 70. II RI'.LR'.IOUS CUSTOMS 349 also that they will not have their clothes washed by a Dhobi, nor wear shoes made by a Chamar, nor take food touched by any Hindu. They are said to bathe only on Fridays, and some of them not on every Friday. If a dog touches them they are unclean and must change their clothes. They celebrate the Id and Ramazan a day before other Muham- madans.

At the Muharram their women break all their bangles and wear new bangles next day to show that they have been widowed, and during this period they observe mourning by going without shoes and not using umbrellas. Mr. Conolly says of them : " I must not omit to notice that a fine of 20 cowries (equally for rich and poor) punishes the non-attendance of a Bohra at the daily prayers. A large sum is exacted for remissness during the Ramazan, and it is said that the dread of loss operates powerfully upon a class of men who are particularly penny -wise. The money collected thus is transmitted by the Ujjain Mullah to his chief at Surat, who devotes it to religious purposes such as repairing or building mosques, assisting the needy of his subjects and the like.

Several other offences have the same characteristic punishment, such as fornication, drunkenness, etc. But the cunning Bohras elude many of the fines and daily indulge in practices not sanctioned by their creed ; thus in their shops pictures and figures may be purchased though it is against the commandments to sell the likeness of any living thing." It has been seen that when a Bohra is buried a prayer for pity on his soul and body is laid in the dead man's hands, of which Mr. Faridi gives the text. But other Muhammadans tell a story to the effect that the head Mullah writes a letter to the archangel Gabriel in which he is instructed to supply a stream of honey, a stream of milk, water and some fruit trees, a golden building and a number of houris, the extent of the order depending on the amount of money which has been paid to the Mullah by the departed in his lifetime ; and this letter is placed beneath the dead man's head in the grave, the Bohras having no coffins.

The Bohras indignantly repudiate any such version of the letter, and no doubt if the custom ever existed it has died out. The Bohras, Captain Forsyth remarks, though bigoted 35° BOHRA 6. Occupa- religionists, are certainly the most civilised and enterprising tion. g^j^jj perhaps also the most industrious class in the Nimar District. They deal generally in hardware, piece-goods and drugs, and are very keen traders. There is a proverb, " He who is sharper than a Bohra must be mad, and he who is fairer than a Khatri must be a leper." Some of them are only pedlars and hawkers, and in past times their position seems to have been lower than at present. An old account says : ^ " The Bohras are an inferior set of travelling merchants.

The inside of a Bohra's box is like that of an English country shop ; spelling-books, prayer-books, lavender- water, soap, tapes, scissors, knives, needles and thread make but a small part of the variety." And again : "In Bombay the Bohras go about the town as the dirty Jews do in London early and late, carrying a bag and inviting by the same nasal tone servants and others to fill it with old clothes, empty bottles, scraps of iron, etc."" 7. Houses Of their method of living Malcolm wrote : ^ " I visited and dress, several of the houses of this tribe at Shahjahanpur, where a colony of them are settled, and was gratified to find not only in their apartments, but in the spaciousness and cleanliness of their kitchens, in the well-constructed chimney, the neatly arranged pantries, and the polished dishes and plates as much of real comfort in domestic arrangements as could be found anywhere.

We took the parties we visited by surprise and there could have been no preparation." The Bohras do not charge interest on loans, and they combine to support indigent members of the community, never allowing one of their caste to beg. The caste may easily be known from other Muhammadans by their small, tightly wound turbans and little skull-caps, and their long flowing robes, and loose trousers widening from the ankle upwards and gathered in at the waist with a string. The women dress in a coloured cotton or silk petticoat, a short-sleeved bodice and a coloured cotton head-scarf When they go out of doors they throw a dark cloak over the head which covers the body to the ankles, with gauze openings for the eyes. 1 Crooke's edition of i/c;Z'j-^;/-y<5/;i(7«, ^ Memoir of Central India, ii. p. art. Bohra. in. 2 Moor's ///«(/« Infanticide, p. 168.

Bohra women given freedom from cooking

[ From the archives of the Times of India]

Vijaysinh Parmar

Hundreds of women from the Dawoodi Bohra community have been unshackled from the hearth thanks to the ‘community kitchen’, a concept floated by their religious head DrSyedna Mohammed Burhanuddin about four years ago in Mumbai. The community high priest promoted this idea so that women could devote time for religious activities, focus on children’s education or even start small businesses. Bohras in Rajkot, the main business centre in the region, found the idea appetizing. There are about 2,200 Bohra Muslim families in the city and nearly half of them have started getting tiffins from the community kitchens. The families contribute a fixed sum every month and the food delivered is enough for two meals.