Enthoven, Reginald Edward. The Tribes and Castes of Bombay. Bombay, India: Government Central Press, 1920.
DAUDI BOHORAS are the richest, best organised and
most widely spread class of Gujarát Musalmáns. They are also called Lotiás from
lota, a waterpot, because their turban is shaped like a lota. [1]
Though active and well made, few Dáudi Bohorás are
muscular or even robust. Their features are regular and clear, the colour
olive, the expression gentle and shrewd. They shave the head, wear long thin
beards, and cut the hair on the upper lip close. Many of the women are said to
be beautiful and fair-skinned with delicate features. Following the precept and
to some extent the example of the prophet, they are careful to keep their
eyelids pencilled, with collyrium, their teeth blackened with missi, an
astringent powder, and the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet
reddened with henna. Their home tongue is Gujaráti marked by some peculiarities
of dialect, and the use of several Arab words well pronounced even by women who
have not learned Arabic. Except a few, who, having performed a pilgrimage to
Karbala or returned from a voyage to China or some foreign country, have of
late years adopted the Arab costume, a Dáudi wears at home a silk or white
cotton skullcap, a jacket of white cloth, a shirt falling below the knee, and
trousers of white or stripped cotton cloth loose above and tight near the
ankle. Out of doors he wears a small white turban, a waistcoat, a Hindu shaped
coat angarkha, trousers the same as those worn in the house, and long
shoes called Ujjaini. The Dáudi woman wears a red-dark-blue or yellow
cotton silk scarf odna; in North Gujarát a light tight-fitting silk
bodice and in South Gujarat a silk jacket dagli, a silk petticoat, and
shoes of wood in the north and of leather in the south. Their holiday dress is
very rich, of embroidered silk and brocade. Out of doors, over the dress they
wear a large dark-coloured silk veilrobe called burka passing over the
head. This covers the face, leaving small net openings in front of the eyes,
and drapes in loose folds to the ground shrouding the whole figure. Both Hindu
and Musalmán ornaments are worn.
Dáudi Bohorás are Shiáhs of the Mustaálian division of the
great Ismaili sect. They are attentive to their religious duties, many - both
men and women- knowing the Kurán. They are careful to say their prayers, to
observe Muharram as a season of mourning, and to go on pilgrimage to
Mecca and Karbala. They abstain from music and dancing and from using or
dealing in intoxicating drinks and drugs. The chief points of difference
between their beliefs and practices and those of regular Musalmáns are that
they pay special attention to Ali and his sons Hassan and Hussain, and to their
high priest the Mulla Sáhib of Surat; that they attach special importance to
circumcision; that they reject the three Caliphs Abu Baker Sidik, Umar and
Usmán; and that at death a prayer for pity on the soul and the body of the dead
is laid in the dead man’s hand. They would seem to share all the ordinary
Indian beliefs in spirit-possession and exorcism and in charms and omens.
Except for some peculiarities in their names; that they
attach special importance to circumcision [2];
that the sacrifice or akikah ceremony is held in the Mulla’s house; that
at marriage the bride and bridegroom when not of age are represented by
sponsors or walis; 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, Dáudi customs do not, so far as has been
ascertained, differ from those of ordinary Musalmáns.
The completeness of their class arrangements, the envy of
other Muhammadans, is the most marked feature of the Dáudi Bohorás. Their
leader, both in things religious and social, is the head Mulla of Surat. The
ruling Mulla names his successor generally, but it is said not always, from
among the members of his own family. Short of worship, the head Mulla 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 cases of
adultery, drunkenness and other offences by fine, flogging and excommunication.
Every considerable settlement of Dáudis has its Mulla or deputy of the head
Mulla. He is their leader in religious matters and when disputes arise he calls
a meeting of the chief members and decides the point. From this decision an
appeal lies to the head Mulla in Surat.
Besides the head Mulla or Dái there are Mullas of four
grades, Mázun or literally the permitted (to rule), Mukásir or the executor,
Mashaikh or the elder, and Mulla or the guardian. They do not depend for
support on their people, but earn their livelihood as school-masters or by
practising some craft. Any well-behaved youth with a good knowledge of Arabic
may be admitted into the lowest grade of Mullás, and, as he shows himself
worthy, is raised in rank next to the head Mulla. To train youths for the duties
of Mulla a college was in A. D. 1809 founded in Surat, and is still, though on
a greatly reduced scale, kept up at a yearly charge of about Rs. 10,000.
Besides the central college, every Dáudi settlement has its school, where,
under the charge of the Mulla and generally by a Sunni Musalmán teacher, boys
and girls are taught to read the Kurán. Besides on education the head Mulla
spends large sums in feeding and clothing strange and destitute Dáudis, and in
helping the poor among his people to meet the expenses of marriages and other
costly ceremonies. The funds to meet this outlay and to support the state of
the head Mulla are raised from fines, from a special subscription of a fifth
part of their income called khums and from the regular Musalmán alms zakát.
Almost all Dáudi Bohorás live by trade. Some are merchants
having large dealings with Arabia, China, Siam and Zanzibar, others are local
traders in hardware, silks and hides, and horns and live cattle; but most are
town and village shopkeepers, selling hardware, cloth, stationery, books,
groceries and spices, and a few, especially in Ahmedábád, Baroda and Surat, are
confectioners. The inhabitants of a few villages in Dholka in North Gujarát are
peasants and a few are in Government service.
Except that they are sparing in what they eat, taking care
that nothing is wasted; that because of its cheapness many of them use beef;
that with them fish, like other animals, must, to be lawful food, die under a
Musalman’s knife; and that they are specially scrupulous to use no intoxicating
drug or stimulant, in their food and way of eating, Dáudis do not differ from
ordinary Musalmans.
[1]
Faria (A.D. 1664) speaks of the Musalmans of Gujarat as Lautens partly
strangers, partly native converts (Ker’s Voyages, VI. 229).
[2] It is mentioned in the Bombay Census Report for 1911, p. 120, that they excise the clitoris of female children.
