Under The Name
Of Khojas The Sect Multiplied Considerably In Sind, Kach'h, And Guzerat,
Whence They Spread To Bombay And To Zanzibar.
Their numbers in Western
India are now probably not less than 50,000 to 60,000.
Their doctrine, or
at least the books which they revere, appear to embrace a strange jumble
of Hindu notions with Mahomedan practices and Shiah mysticism, but the
main characteristic endures of deep reverence, if not worship, of the
person of their hereditary Imam. To his presence, when he resided in
Persia, numbers of pilgrims used to betake themselves, and large
remittances of what we may call Ismail's Pence were made to him. Abul
Hassan, the last Imam but one of admitted lineal descent from the later
Shaikhs of Alamut, and claiming (as they did) descent from the Imam Ismail
and his great ancestor 'Ali Abu Talib, had considerable estates at
Mehelati, between Kum and Hamadan, and at one time held the Government of
Kerman. His son and successor, Shah Khalilullah, was killed in a brawl at
Yezd in 1818. Fatteh 'Ali Shah, fearing Ismailite vengeance, caused the
homicide to be severely punished, and conferred gifts and honours on the
young Imam, Agha Khan, including the hand of one of his own daughters. In
1840 Agha Khan, who had raised a revolt at Kerman, had to escape from
Persia. He took refuge in Sind, and eventually rendered good service both
to General Nott at Kandahar and to Sir C. Napier in Sind, for which he
receives a pension from our Government.
For many years this genuine Heir and successor of the Viex de la
Montaingne has had his headquarters at Bombay, where he devotes, or for a
long time did devote, the large income that he receives from the faithful
to the maintenance of a racing stable, being the chief patron and promoter
of the Bombay Turf!
A schism among the Khojas, owing apparently to the desire of part of the
well-to-do Bombay community to sever themselves from the peculiarities of
the sect and to set up as respectable Sunnis, led in 1866 to an action in
the High Court, the object of which was to exclude Agha Khan from all
rights over the Khojas, and to transfer the property of the community to
the charge of Orthodox Mahomedans. To the elaborate addresses of Mr.
Howard and Sir Joseph Arnould, on this most singular process before an
English Court, I owe the preceding particulars. The judgment was entirely
in favour of the Old Man of the Mountain.
[Illustration: H. H. Agha Khan Mehelati, late Representative of the Old
Man of the Mountain.
"Le Seigneur Viel, que je vous ai dit si tient sa court ... et fait a
croire a cele simple gent qui li est entour que il est un grant
prophete."]
[Sir Bartle Frere writes of Agha Khan in 1875: "Like his ancestor, the Old
One of Marco Polo's time, he keeps his court in grand and noble style. His
sons, popularly known as 'The Persian Princes,' are active sportsmen, and
age has not dulled the Agha's enjoyment of horse-racing.
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