Series 45 ahmedabad district gazetteer 1984 -pirana sect is a branch shia muslim and imam shah is...

Ahmedabad District Gazetteer 1984 -Pirana Sect is a branch Shia Muslim and Imam Shah is Saiyyed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Series 45

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Series 45


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Muslims

The Gujarat Mus lims may be d ivided into two ~ain s,ections, thoae ""ho have a foreign strain and those who arc almost c;-nhrcly of local R indu descent. Fro m the middle of the 7th to the end. o f G1e 18th cenltu:y, foreign M uslims continued to find their way into Gujarat. Of the lo cal converts, some were persuaded and others were fo rced to adopt Is lam b y Alp Khan ( A . D. 1297-1317 ) wl1o spread the Muhammadan faith fro m Anhilvad to Broach . Sultan Ahmed Shah (A. 0 . 14 11-1441 ). Mahmud l3egada (A. D . 1459-1513 ) and Mahmud ll (A. D . 1536- 1547 ) specially exerted themsel ves t o spread I slam. Among the Mughal e m pero rs . J ahang.ir in A. D . 161 8 and Aurangzeb in A . D. 1646 atte mpted. b y persecution to force the Hindus to become Mnslims. l

Among the "Muslims of fo reign o r igin. there are Saiyads. Shaikhs. Pathans and Mughals. while the V ohoras . Si pahis. Ghanchis . Pinjaras. M o mnas, Khojas, M cmo ns and C hhipas are Muslims con verted from Hindus in this d istrict .

• The Saiyads can be sa id to form the hig_hest communal group

in the Muslim societ y. They claim to be desce ndants fr,1m the Prophet th rough his daughter Fatimah and h e r hu~hand the Prophet's cousin Al i.

Scores of Saiyad families entered Gujarat dur ing the reigns of the Su ltans o f Gujarat ( 1400-1570 ) and thei r successors . the M ughals ( 1570-1750). The Mirat-i-Ahmadi lists the roltowing important families: (J) The Shirazis . (2) The Bukharis . (3) The Rifa'i s . (4. The Qadirlyyas. (5) The Meshhcd is, (6) The Tdrusis. (7) The Tirmizis . (8) The Bbaktaris. (9) The Arizis, ( 10) The Zaid is and ( 11) The M ahdvis. Out of them.

,..... ____ __,.iukhari . Rifa'is and M eshhed is are fo und mainly in this d istrict as they ettled here.

. .It\ ~ranch o f Saiyads tracing its o TJgm from Nizad P ir and ha' it~~ •_th~n tts. ranl<s. the important Tmam Shah entered Gujarat a· l sma•h

m•sstonanes. At present the Sa iyads can hard ly be regarded as an affluent section o f the Muslim communi ty . There are n number of immigrants. who claim to be the Saiyads but they are no t so recognised by ·rrue' Saiyads. The ' t · s · · . . . d hose · rue a1yads are h ighly scns•uve to marriage connecttOnS an t cust~ms which bespeak or e ven su~gest a Saiyad o rigin. T he fluency in Ordtf•· un 1 · ·t o m•.xec With Gujarati and well-ve rsed in Persian arc so me trat 5 f genutne Saiyads. They arc mainly fo und in Ahmadabad City ta tuka 0


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2 14 DISTRICT GAZETTEER ; AHMADA'8Al)

The Ghanchis are oilmen: They are also called Ghanchi-Yoh?.ras. They arc found in Ahmadabad C tty taluka and ot~e~ talukas of thts district. They are the descendants of Hindus of the P~)'ara and Ghanchl castes. Th.::ir females dress l ike Hindus and adopt. Hmdu n~mes. At marriage, their w{1me n go singing like the Hindus, w1th the bndegroom in proce. ssion to the bride's house and in their feas ts they have Hindu dishes of tadu, kansar , etc. At death, women wail anJ beat the breasts. They are Sunni in faith, and h ave a jcunat , with a he admen chosen by the members.

The Pinjara is a craftsman community, who are cotton-threshers. In addition, they have taken to misce llaneous callings like oilselling, small trade and private service. Since both the Gban chis and Pinjaras have taken to old trade and sinc.e both have adopted the surname Mansoori, it appear:; probable that the two communities are ne arer to one another and may

-------. have a commo n origin. They are fo und in Ahmadabad City of this district. In matter of social customs like birth, marriage and death they follow Muslim social customs. They are a poor and backward community.

~ The Momnas from Mo min ( beJievcrs ) are descendants of Hindus oF many castes converted to the Sbiah form of the faith b y differ~nt mC:'mbers o( the Ismaliya Saiyads, of whom lmamshah o f Pirana was the most

L--------Jdistinguishc<..l. T hey are found in Ahmadabad City taluka of this district. They are mai11ly cotton weavers, wh ile some of ~hem also weave silk sarees. They also scJI cotton rope and tape. Do th males and females have Hindu names. Among them circumdsion is _Qractiscd and dead arc buried. Like Hindus, wo men wail ahd b eat the breast a t death. Some of tbci11 1Ul on Hindu dress. wh ile some ut on Muslim dress. Their women generally put on sarce and petti-coat. The.y speak Gujarati. Jnstcad ~f the <.luran , they read lmamshah·s book o [ religious rules and also wo.r';;htP Hindu Gods.

The Khoja s are converted Hindus. They are mainly found ill the Ahmadabad City taluka, of this d istri<:t. They are the descendants of Luhanas, who were converted to I slam b y the preaching of a Shiah preacher called Nur Satagur or Nur-ud-din in the 12th century. H e is said to have made a number of converts in Gujarat by orderinO' the idols of a :Hindu t 1 - o L hanas e mp e to speak and b ear test1mony to the tru th of his mission. The u .

were the first to y ield to his jnfluence and in con sequence acquired their tnbal Kh

. Rande. name OJa, or h onourable convert. One of Nur Satag:ur's successor'. t

• _ o • fiJ'S o ngmally a Tuwar R ajput, sowed the seed of Ismalia faith. On tbeJr . ·n settle ment in the towns of G ujarat, the Khojas were small dealers jn ~:Cr1 ~nd fuel. From th ese humble beginning. they now occupy a powerfu~ pos~Hh m commerce. They are scattered all over Gu1·arat and I1ave dealwgs .

11 - - tstor1l5 a · Important t rade center s in and outsid e India. Many of thelr c t


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cHAPTBR XlX-PLAC!!S OF JNTE~EST 92.1

chievements. The M a ha Laxmi Mata temple is spacious and bas been reno~ated more than o nce. The Maha Kali temple boasts of a beautiful and rare ·dol of Sbiva in the tandava pose. A stone slab of seventeenth century ~otains seventeen Sanskrit verses com posed by o ne Oayaram engraved on it.

There is a temple of K uber towards the southern extre mity o f Dholka. c ontrary to oth er temples. this temple faces east. Tt was built by a Brahmin in Saka Samvat 172 1. A temple built 150 years back: displays a big anci'eDt idol of Ardha-Nari-lshwar. The Jain te mple in B haJa pol ha an ancient Parswanath idol, supposed to have bee n built in the pre-Christ era . DhoJka has rwo other Jain te mples. r The first school at Dho lka wa-. opened a c; early a <; A . D . 1829. At present. the to wn has I I primary sch ools. six h igh schools, colleges of arts and commerce an d a Prir:nary Teachers Training College for women. There are two public hospitals. a primary health centre. two garden s. two c inema houges and Government rest h ouse. Jt is an important h a ndloom centre . There are two rice mills, cotton ginning factories. a brass utensil fac to ry. a hume pip e fa ctory and two factories manufacturing wooden chairs and fumiture. The town has branches of State Ban k of India. Dena Bank. Ban k o f Baroda. J an ata Co-operative Bank and Ahmadabad Distri L Co-opcrati\e Bank.

Dholka has its town m unicipal ity. It has a sub-market yard of agri'cut. rural produce. The to wn is equipped with e lectricity an d piped water supply. A fa ir is he ld at the temple of the Nagnath Mahadev o n Sh ra van V a d 30. Annual Urs are he ld at t he tomb of Hazarat Sha P ir a nd Bukhari Sabeb oa. Shawwal I 6-20 and Rajab 7 respectively. Dho lka is fa'l' om: for its pomegT&· nates and guavas .

Giramtha- Oa-;kro i Taluka J>. 1.244 ): Area in ac rcc; I .818

Giramtha is 9 km. from Vatva. a railway station on the B o mbay Viramgam broad gauge section of th e Weste rn R ailway and 15 k m . from Ahmadabad. the taluka a nd distr ict h ea dquarters. It is connected b y the State Transport buses w ith Ahmadab ad a nd other importa nt centres of th e L---,.---'district. Near this v j!lage is the P irana mo na ste r v with five rows ( mauso-~ums ) . ....!he ch ie f being tha t o r Ima m sh a . It is said that in l f1t19 A . D .• .§yed Imamsha cam e fro m Ira n a nd settled o n a h moclc at tbe entran ce ~ramtha viJJage. There were no ra ins for three years in s uccessio n . l'he farmers requested him to b ring ra in . When rain felt. th ey chose him t~ be their spiritual guide. A hutment was built for h im to the west o f the ~~lag~ where an arrow sh ot by h im had fa JJen . Soon after . th is. Mo.hamm ed

l<mg o f Ah madabad. wh o was convinced tha t Tmamc:ha had m1rac ulo us

1· T he acoouM It mainly bated on an article prepared by Dr. B i.,in Jhave ri of Ohotka.

ffi(:) li-47- 116


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Series 45 ahmedabad district gazetteer 1984 -pirana sect is a branch shia muslim and imam shah is...

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