1 537
2 Khoja groups.
3 calk'd a ‘ caste/ but there does not appear to bo any true caste of
4 Khojas, any Hindu trader convorteil to Islam beinp; known by that
5 name. Thus the Khojas of Slialipur aro almost entirely Khatris, and
6 a Khatri now becoming a Musalmaii in that District would bo called a
7 Khoja. The Kliojas of Jhang, on the other hand, are said to be con-
8 verted Aroras ; while some at least of the Lahore Khojas claim Bluitia
9 origin, and one section of the Ambala Khojas are Kdyaths. But in the
10 north-west Punjab and the northern districts of the North-West
11 Frontier Lrovinco, the term Paracha is preferred by Hindu traders con-
12 verted to Islam, so that where the Bardchas aro a recognised and
13 wealthy caste, khoja is used for miscellaneous ’Muhammadan traders,
14 chiefly hawkers and pedlars, or at least petty traders ; while in the
15 eastern districts and in the Derajat, where the Khojas are commei'cially
16 important, pardciia is used for the Muhammadan pedlar.
17 These Muhammadan traders, whether called Khoja or Paracha, are
18 found all along the northern portion of the two Provinces under the
19 hills from Amritsar to Peshawar, and have spread southwards into the
20 central and eastern districts of the Western Plains, but have not entered
21 the Derajat or Mtizalfargarh in any numbers. Their eastern boundary
22 is the tSutlej valley, their western the Jhelum-Chenab, and they aro
23 found throughout the whole of the Salt Range. Probably it is hardly
24 correct to say of them that they have “ spread ” or “ entered/’ for they
25 apparently iucludo many distinct classes who will have sprung from
26 different centres of conversion. They appear to be most numerous in
27 Lahore. An inieresting account of a trade development by the Khojas
28 of (Jujrdt and Sialkot is given in Punjab Government Home Proceed-
29 in 0-8 No. 10 of March 1870. It appears that these men buy cotton
30 piece-goods in Delhi and hawk them about the villages of their own
31 Districts, selling on credit till harvest time, and the business has now
32 assumed very large proportions. The Khojas of the Jhang district
33 wero thus described by Mr. Monckton : “ They do not cultivate with
34 their own hands, but own a groat many wells and carry on trade to a
35 considorablo extent. They aro supposed to have been converk'd
36 from Hinduism. They do not practise cattle-stealing, but aro a liti-
37 crious race, and addicted to fraud and forgery in the prosecution of
38 their claims.
39 In spito of their conversion to Islam, the Khojas retain many traces
40 of the Khatri caste organization. Thus at Bhera inShilhpur they have
41 the following sub-divisions : —
42 1. Sahgal.
43 2. Wohra or I3ouuA
44 3. Sckii.
45 4. Kapur.
46 5. Duggal.
47 G. Rawar or Ror.
48 7. Govawala.
49 8. ^lagun.
50 !). Mchndru.
51 “ Their own account of their origin is that they emigrated from i ersia. 1 robably they
52 lied the country when the Ismailiyoh heresy (to which they still cleave) was so severely
53 thrcatcnal by llolaku Khan. They differ from the Ismailite.s in one essential point, n-.,
54 vdierias that race believes in only seven Imams, the Khwajehs continue the
55 Ihfi Diescnt day. They aro therefore heterodox 8hiahs, as they reject Abubakr, Umar,
56 and Usman Muhammed Rakir and Ini.im Jafar-i-Sadik. In Sindh they have no mosques,
57 S vvoS“,?o or house prepared for that purpose. For ^narriages and uncra Ls
58 they go to the Sunni Kizi's, but their Mukhi or head priest at Karachi •'*08 all their
59 religious and civil disputes. Under the Mukhi, vvho is changed periodically, aro severdl
60 ofliwrs called Wails, and under these agam are others termed Khamrija.