ect being thenceforward fixed
at Surat. The Bohras are Shias of the great Ismailia sect of Egypt. The
Ismailia 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 distinguished 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. [389] All these distinctions appear somewhat trivial.

2. Their religious tenets.

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. Faridi writes of them: [390] "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
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