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Khoja
The Khojas ( sd}; gu, ખોજા, hi, ख़ोजा) are a mainly Nizari Isma'ili Shia community of people originating in Gujarat, India. Derived from the Persian Khwaja, a term of honor, the word Khoja is used to refer to Lohana Rajputs or Baniya castes who converted to Islam from Hinduism. They are historically members of the Bania groups converted to Islam by Muslim pirs (saints). In India, most Khojas live in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and the city of Hyderabad. Many Khojas have also migrated and settled over the centuries in East Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and North America. The Khoja were by then adherents of Nizari Isma'ilism. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the aftermath of the Aga Khan Case a significant minority separated and adopted Sunni Islam and Twelver shi'ism, while the majority remained Nizari Isma'ili. In Pakistan, most Khoja live in Karachi in Sindh province. Etymology The term ''Khoja'' derives from ...
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Lohana
Lohana, also referred to as Loharana, Thakkar and Lohrana, are an Indian trading or mercantile ''jāti''. Lohanas claim to be descendants of the Lava, son of Rama, and to descend from the Raghuvanshi dynasty.Lachaier, Pierre. "Cérémonies D'hommage à Sarasvatī Et Aides à L'éducation Chez Les Lohāṇā De Pune." Bulletin De L'École Française D'Extrême-Orient 94 (2007): 27-58. Accessed November 2, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43733204. The Lohanas are divided into many separate cultural groups as a result of centuries apart in different regions. Thus there are significant differences between the culture, language, professions and societies of Gujarati Lohanas, Sindhi Lohanas, and Kutchi Lohanas. Origin According to historian Richard Burton, Lohanas originate in Lohanpur in Multan district of Punjab (now in Pakistan). Matthew A. Cook adds that according to Burton, Lohana's largely Punjabi origin can be considered on basis of "features and manners, ceremonies and ...
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Khwāja
Khawaja (Persian: خواجه ''khvâjəh'') is an honorific title used across the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, particularly towards Sufi teachers. It is also used by Kashmiri Muslims and the Mizrahi Jews—particularly Persian Jews and Baghdadi Jews. The word comes from the Iranian word ''khwāja'' (Classical Persian: ''khwāja''; Dari ''khājah''; Tajik ''khoja''). In Persian, the title roughly translates to 'Lord' or 'Master'. The Ottoman Turkish pronunciation of the Persian خواجه gave rise to ''hodja'' and its equivalents such as ''hoca'' in modern Turkish, ''hoxha'' in Albanian, ''xoca'' (''khoja'') in Azerbaijani, ''hodža'' in Bosnian, ''χότζας'' (''chótzas'') in Greek, ''hogea'' in Romanian, and ''хоџа'' in Serbian. Other spellings include ''khaaja'' (Bengali) and ''koja'' ( Javanese). The name is also used in Egypt and Sudan to indicate a person with a foreign nationality or foreign heritage. Etymology Ultimately deri ...
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Khwaja
Khawaja (Persian: خواجه ''khvâjəh'') is an honorific title used across the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, particularly towards Sufi teachers. It is also used by Kashmiri Muslims and the Mizrahi Jews—particularly Persian Jews and Baghdadi Jews. The word comes from the Iranian word ''khwāja'' (Classical Persian: ''khwāja''; Dari ''khājah''; Tajik ''khoja''). In Persian, the title roughly translates to 'Lord' or 'Master'. The Ottoman Turkish pronunciation of the Persian خواجه gave rise to ''hodja'' and its equivalents such as ''hoca'' in modern Turkish, ''hoxha'' in Albanian, ''xoca'' (''khoja'') in Azerbaijani, ''hodža'' in Bosnian, ''χότζας'' (''chótzas'') in Greek, ''hogea'' in Romanian, and ''хоџа'' in Serbian. Other spellings include ''khaaja'' (Bengali) and ''koja'' ( Javanese). The name is also used in Egypt and Sudan to indicate a person with a foreign nationality or foreign heritage. Etymology Ultimately deri ...
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Pir Sadardin
Pir Sadar al-Din (Sadardin) or Pir Sadruddin was a fourteenth-century Nizari Ismaili ''da'i'' and is regarded as the founder of the Khoja Nizari Ismaili community, also called Satpanth. He was the son and successor of Pir Shihab al-Din, and was one of the most prominent Ismaili authors of the 14th century. He was a contemporary of the Nizari Ismaili Imam Islam Shah.Virani, Shafique N. “The Eagle Returns: Evidence of Continued Ismāʿīlī Activity at Alamūt and in the South Caspian Region following the Mongol Conquests.” In ''Journal of the American Oriental Society 123, no. 2'' (2003): 351-370. https://www.academia.edu/37219410/The_Eagle_Returns_Evidence_of_Continued_Ismaili_Activity_at_Alamut_and_in_the_South_Caspian_Region_following_the_Mongol_Conquests Born in Persia, Sadardin later travelled to South Asia, settled in the Sindh area (in what is now southern Pakistan), founded the Khoja community and developed the Khojki script; he also wrote ginans Ginans ( ur, گنا ...
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Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's Islam by country#Countries, second-largest Muslim population just behind Indonesia. Pakistan is the List of countries and dependencies by area, 33rd-largest country in the world by area and 2nd largest in South Asia, spanning . It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by India to India–Pakistan border, the east, Afghanistan to Durand Line, the west, Iran to Iran–Pakistan border, the southwest, and China to China–Pakistan border, the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is its largest city and fina ...
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Bania (caste)
__NOTOC__ The Bania (also spelled Baniya, Banija, Banya, Vaniya, Vani, Vania and Vanya) is a Vaishya community mainly found in Indian states of Gujarat, and Rajasthan, but they are also found in Madhya Pradesh. Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh, Traditionally, the main occupations of the community are merchants, bankers, money-lenders, and in modern times they are mostly White-collar and Knowledge workers and owners of commercial enterprises. The community is composed of several sub-castes including the Agarwal Banias, Porwal Banias, among others. Most Banias follow Hinduism or Jainism, but a few have converted to Sikhism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. Most of Hindu Banias are Vaishnavas and are followers of Vallabhacharya and Swaminarayan. Etymology The etymological origin lays in the Sanskrit word ''vanik'', and they are deemed to be India's "pre-eminent" trading community, historically. In Bengal the term Bani ...
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Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province by population after Punjab. It shares land borders with the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan to the west and north-west and Punjab to the north. It shares International border with the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east; it is also bounded by the Arabian Sea to the south. Sindh's landscape consists mostly of alluvial plains flanking the Indus River, the Thar Desert in the eastern portion of the province along the international border with India, and the Kirthar Mountains in the western portion of the province. The economy of Sindh is the second-largest in Pakistan after the province of Punjab; its provincial capital of Karachi is the most populous city in the country as well as its main financial hub. Sindh is home ...
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Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth-most populous state, with a population of 60.4 million. It is bordered by Rajasthan to the northeast, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the south, Maharashtra to the southeast, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea and the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west. Gujarat's capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. The Gujaratis are indigenous to the state and their language, Gujarati, is the state's official language. The state encompasses 23 sites of the ancient Indus Valley civilisation (more than any other state). The most important sites are Lothal (the world's first dry dock), Dholavira (the fifth largest site), and Gola Dhoro (where 5 uncommon seals were found). Lothal i ...
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Kutchi Language
Kutchi (; કચ્છી, , ڪڇّی) or Kachhi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Kutch region of India and Sindh region of Pakistan. The name of the language is also transliterated as Katchi, Kutchhi, Kachchi, Kachchhi, Kachhi or Cutchi. Influences from other languages Kutchi is a dialect of Sindhi, with which it is mutually intelligible. Over time, it has borrowed vocabulary from Gujarati. Most Kutchis living in India are bilingual or trilingual, due to exposure to closely related neighbouring languages such as Gujarati. Many Pakistani Kutchis are also bilingual or trilingual; many residents of Karachi speak Kutchi. Its differences from neighbouring languages are more pronounced in its spoken varieties, but it has many loans from Gujarati, Marwari (a major western Rajasthani language) and Hindi-Urdu as well. Kutchi speaking communities include some Charan (Gadhavi), Rajputs Jadeja, Bhanushalis, Lohanas, Brahmins (Rajgor), Meghwals, Visa Oswal and Dasa Osval (Oshw ...
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Gujarati Language
Gujarati (; gu, ગુજરાતી, Gujarātī, translit-std=ISO, label=Gujarati script, ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old Gujarati (). In India, it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Union. It is also the official language in the state of Gujarat, as well as an official language in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. As of 2011, Gujarati is the 6th most widely spoken language in India by number of native speakers, spoken by 55.5 million speakers which amounts to about 4.5% of the total Indian population. It is the 26th most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers as of 2007.Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in ''Nationalencyklopedin''. Asterisks mark th2010 estimatesfor the top dozen languages. Outside of Gujarat, Gujarati is ...
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Persian Language
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties, namely Iranian Persian (officially known as ''Persian''), Dari Persian (officially known as ''Dari'' since 1964) and Tajiki Persian (officially known as ''Tajik'' since 1999).Siddikzoda, S. "Tajik Language: Farsi or not Farsi?" in ''Media Insight Central Asia #27'', August 2002. It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan, as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet, a derivation of the Arabic script, and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet, a der ...
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North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. Because it is on the North American Plate, North American Tectonic Plate, Greenland is included as a part of North America geographically. North America covers an area of about , about 16.5% of Earth's land area and about 4.8% of its total surface. North America is the third-largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the list of continents and continental subregions by population, fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 579 million people in List of sovereign states and dependent territories in North America, 23 independent states, or about 7.5% of the world's population. In Americas (terminology)#Human ge ...
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