[1680.—"The boora ... being a very floaty light boat, rowinge with 20 to 30 Owars, these carry Salt Peeter and other goods from Hugly downewards, and some trade to Dacca with salt; they also serve for tow boats for ye ships bound up or downe ye river."—Ibid. ii. 15.]
(2) BORA s. H. and Guz. bohrā and bohorā, which H. H. Wilson refers to the Skt. vyavahārī, 'a trader, or man of affairs,' from which are formed the ordinary H. words byoharā, byohariyā (and a Guzerati form which comes very near bohorā). This is confirmed by the quotation from Nurullah below, but it is not quite certain. Dr. John Wilson (see below) gives an Arabic derivation which we have been unable to verify. [There can be no reasonable doubt that this is incorrect.]
There are two classes of Bohrās belonging to different Mohammedan sects, and different in habit of life.
1. The Shī'a Bohrās, who are essentially townspeople, and especially congregate in Surat, Burhanpur, Ujjain, &c. They are those best known far and wide by the name, and are usually devoted to trading and money-lending. Their original seat was in Guzerat, and they are most numerous there, and in the Bombay territory generally, but are also to be found in various parts of Central India and the N.-W. Provinces, [where they are all Hindus]. The word in Bombay is often used as synonymous with pedlar or [boxwallah]. They are generally well-to-do people, keeping very cleanly and comfortable houses. [See an account of them in Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 470 seqq. 2nd ed.] These Bohras appear to form one of the numerous Shī'a sects, akin in character to, and apparently of the same origin as, the Ismāīlīyah (or Assassins of the Middle Ages), and claim as their original head and doctor in India one Ya'ḳūb, who emigrated from Egypt, and landed in Cambay A.D. 1137. But the chief seat of the doctrine is alleged to have been in Yemen, till that country was conquered by the Turks in 1538. A large exodus of the sect to India then took place. Like the Ismāīlīs they attach a divine character to their Mullah or chief Pontiff, who now resides at Surat. They are guided by him in all things, and they pay him a percentage on their profits. But there are several sectarian subdivisions: Dāūdi Bohrās, Sulaimāni Bohrās, &c. [See Forbes, Rās Mālā, ed. 1878, p. 264 seqq.]
2. The Sunni Bohrās. These are very numerous in the Northern Concan and Guzerat. They are essentially peasants, sturdy, thrifty, and excellent cultivators, retaining much of Hindu habit; and are, though they have dropped caste distinctions, very exclusive and "denominational" (as the Bombay Gazetteer expresses it). Exceptionally, at Pattan, in Baroda State, there is a rich and thriving community of trading Bohrās of the Sunni section; they have no intercourse with their Shī'a namesakes.
The history of the Bohrās is still very obscure; nor does it seem ascertained whether the two sections were originally one. Some things indicate that the Shī'a Bohrās may be, in accordance with their tradition, in some considerable part of foreign descent, and that the Sunni Bohrās, who are unquestionably of Hindu descent, may have been native converts of the foreign immigrants, afterwards forcibly brought over to Sunnism by the Guzerat Sultans. But all this must be said with much reserve. The history is worthy of investigation.
The quotation from Ibn Batuta, which refers to Gandari on the Baroda river, south of Cambay, alludes most probably to the Bohrās, and may perhaps, though not necessarily, indicate an origin for the name different from either of those suggested.
c. 1343.—"When we arrived at Ḳandahār ... we received a visit from the principal Musulmans dwelling at his (the pagan King's) Capital, such as the Children of Khojah Bohrah, among whom was the Nākhoda Ibrahīm, who had 6 vessels belonging to him."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 58.
c. 1620.—Nurullah of Shuster, quoted by Colebrooke, speaks of this class as having been converted to Islam 300 years before. He says also: "Most of them subsist by commerce and mechanical trades; as is indicated by the name Bohrah, which signifies 'merchant' in the dialect of Gujerat."—In As. Res., vii. 338.
1673.—"... The rest (of the Mohammedans) are adopted under the name of the Province or Kingdom they are born in, as Mogul ... or Schisms they have made, as Bilhim, Jemottee, and the lowest of all is Borrah."—Fryer, 93.