Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s1.10
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s1.10
- Language
- German
c48.s1.10.1
a wealthy body of enterprising traders converted to the Shiah form of Islām about the 13th century. They moved southwards from Sindh into Gujarāt and Bombay, and there, starting from petty shopkeeping, they have attained a very high position in foreign trade, and are noted for the number of the branches they have set up abroad. The Khōjah of the Panjāb are quite distinct from these, though they too are converts from the Brāhmanic mercantile classes and mostly profess the Shiah tenets. They also, like the others, recognise as their religious head H. H. Āghā Khān, whose family migrated to Bombay from Persia about sixty years ago. The Mēmān, again, are of Sindh origin, descended from a body of Lōhānā who were converted in the 15th century, and, like the rest, moved into Kach and Kāthiāvāḍ. In common with the western Khōjah, they have preserved a good deal of their Brāhmanic custom and tradition. In commerce they have risen to a good position, though not, perhaps, to the rank of the Khōjah. Their counterpart is found in the Mōmin or Mōmnā, a body of Gujarāt peasants converted about the same time as the Mēmān, and who are now chiefly weavers and cotton-goods dealers, with a few still on the land. About half of those returned as Mēmān at the Census probably belong to the latter community, and about two thirds of the Khōjah are of the Panjāb section. The last of the Muslim trading classes of the Bombay coast to be here mentioned is the Bohrā, in its various subdivisions.
c48.s1.10.2
These, like the rest, are converts to the Shiah faith from the commercial classes of the chief towns in Gujarāt, about the 11th century, and combine the strict observance of Muslim worship with a due regard for the Brāhmanic or pre-Brāhmanic methods of dealing with the personal or domestic supernatural. The upper classes engage in foreign trade, but the rank and file are content with a successful career in the retail shop, and are somewhat remarkable for their neglect of English in an otherwise efficient and well-diffused scheme of instruction. The Census shows under the same title the cultivating Vōhorā of Gujarāt, Sunni by sect, and retaining in most cases a fairly clear recollection of the Brāhmanic caste from which they were converted, and adjusting their marriage arrangements in accordance therewith. About half the number of Bohrās given in the return belong to this class. On the Malabar coast are the Māppila and Jōnakkan, and on the south Coromandel coast, the Labbai. The last named are descended from an Arab colony, driven from its native country in the 8th century; or, according to another account, from Arab traders who married Tamil wives at a later date. Their connection with Arabia is indicated, in either case, by the name of S'ōnagan (Arabia) which they used to bear, and their present name of Labbai is said to be no more than a local rendering of labbaik, the Arabic for the familiar phrase "here I am".
c48.s1.10.3
In practice they are orthodox Muslim, though like the Muslim of the eastern Panjāb, they marry by Brāhmanic rites with a text or two of the Kurān recited to complete the ceremony. There is a small community living side by side with them, known as the Marakkāyar, who claim similar origin, but do not intermarry, and are apparently of more recent arrival. Both speak Tamil with a few Arabic words interspersed. Those who are not traders are engaged in betel cultivation and pearl-diving. The Māppila have been referred to in other parts of this survey as the chief Arabian colony on the western coast. They are placed in this group because it was as traders that they first visited Malabar, but in the present day this pursuit is practised only along the coast, and the bulk of the Māppila inland are landholders and cultivators. In both capacities they have shown themselves thrifty and energetic. Their name is either an honorific soubriquet, shared by some other classes in the neighbourhood, or, as some think, the Tamil word for bridegroom, applied to the Arabs who married native women. In language and in many of the local customs of marriage and inheritance, they have identified themselves with the native population. The Jōnakkan are no other than Māppila returned under a title given along the coast, especially in Travancore, to converts to Islām, and is possibly the Malayālam rendering of Yavana, the old Brahmanic designation for all foreigners hailing from the west.
c48.s1.10.4
The community is recruited from some of the castes along the coast, especially the fishermen, of whom the Mukkuvan have in some families the curious rule that one of their children should embrace Islām. In remarkable contrast to the experience in the Panjāb in regard to such conversion, it is alleged that the Malayālam is improved by the change in faith. Probably the original status of the convert was lower than in the north.