7. Houses and dress.
Of their method of living Malcolm wrote:[9] “I visited several of the houses of this tribe at Shāhjahānpur, where a colony of them are settled, and was gratified to find not only in their apartments, but in the spaciousness and cleanliness of their kitchens, in the well-constructed chimney, the neatly arranged pantries, and the polished dishes and plates as much of real comfort in domestic arrangements as could be found anywhere. We took the parties we visited by surprise and there could have been no preparation.” The Bohras do not charge interest on loans, and they combine to support indigent members of the community, never allowing one of their caste to beg. The caste may easily be known from other Muhammadans by their small, tightly wound turbans and little skull-caps, and their long flowing robes, and loose trousers widening from the ankle upwards and gathered in at the waist with a string. The women dress in a coloured cotton or silk petticoat, a short-sleeved bodice and a coloured cotton head-scarf. When they go out of doors they throw a dark cloak over the head which covers the body to the ankles, with gauze openings for the eyes.
[1] This article is largely based on Mr. F. L. Farīdi’s full description of the sect in the Bombay Gazetteer, Muhammadans of Gujarāt, and on a paper by Mr. Habib Ullah, pleader, Burhānpur.
[2] Bombay Gazetteer, Muhammadans of Gujarāt, p. 30. Sir H. T. Colebrooke and Mr. Conolly thought that the Bohras were true Shias and not Ismailias.
[3] Ibidem, pp. 30–32.
[4] J.A.S.B. vol. vi. (1837), part ii. p. 847.
[5] Berar Census Report (1818), p. 70.
[6] Castes and Tribes of Southern India, art. Bohra.
[7] Crooke’s edition of Hobson-Jobson, art. Bohra.
[8] Moor’s Hindu Infanticide, p. 168.
[9] Memoir of Central India, ii. p. 111.