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A History of Syncretism of the Khoja Muslim Community

Publication Type  Article
Year of Publication  2017
Date Published  2017
Authors  Ranjan, Amit
Original Publication  The Apollonian
Volume  4: 1-2
Issue  March-June
Pagination  53-65
Publisher  The Apollonian
Key Words  Religious Polemic; Khoja Ismaili sect; Hindu Nizarpanthis; Indian Islamic scholarship; Ismaili Nizari’ism
Abstract  

Medieval India seems to have been at the confluence of various grassroots religious/spiritual traditions. One of the important texts in this regard is Dasavatar credited to have been written Pir Sadr-ud-din, the founder of the Khoja Ismaili sect in the 15th century, in Sindh. The Dasavatar renames Kalki of Puranic literature as Nikalanak – the last messiah who is to come at the end of this era; acknowledges Vishnu, and also names Buddha as one of the avatars. Apart from the said text, this paper would also look at Nizarpanthis, a Hindu sect of Rajasthan; and Nizari Ismailis and their syncretic values. In the 19th century, a Nizari Ismaili Gujarati writer, Nanjiani, made an interesting discovery about the Hindu Nizarpanthis – that their practices incorporated various tenets from Ismaili Nizari’ism. In the Ginans – hymns of Khojas, and both the Nizari sects, one can hear echoes of a syncretic culture that was passive political resistance, grassroots and pervasive. How pervasive these movements were - can be gauged from one of the Ginans of Sadr-ud-din: “We have explained in thirty-six languages and forty-two melodies and yet, the deaf would not listen, oh my brother!”


A History of Syncretism of the Khoja Muslim Community

Medieval India seems to have been at the confluence of various grassroots religious/spiritual traditions. One of the important texts in this regard is Dasavatar credited to have been written Pir Sadr-ud-din, the founder of the Khoja Ismaili sect in the 15th century, in Sindh. The Dasavatar renames Kalki of Puranic literature as Nikalanak – the last messiah who is to come at the end of this era; acknowledges Vishnu, and also names Buddha as one of the avatars. Apart from the said text, this paper would also look at Nizarpanthis, a Hindu sect of Rajasthan; and Nizari Ismailis and their syncretic values. In the 19th century, a Nizari Ismaili Gujarati writer, Nanjiani, made an interesting discovery about the Hindu Nizarpanthis – that their practices incorporated various tenets from Ismaili Nizari’ism. In the Ginans – hymns of Khojas, and both the Nizari sects, one can hear echoes of a syncretic culture that was passive political resistance, grassroots and pervasive. How pervasive these movements were - can be gauged from one of the Ginans of Sadr-ud-din: “We have explained in thirty-six languages and forty-two melodies and yet, the deaf would not listen, oh my brother!”

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