The Nizari Isma'ili Tradition in Hind and Sind

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with providing a perspective on the total heritage - oral, written as well as that observed in a continuing tradition of religious practice - among the Nizari Isma'ilis of the Sub-continent. It initially attempts to define the content and nature of this heritage (collectively termed 'Tradition') with special reference to the ginans preserved in manuscripts. The Tradition is studied with a view to analyzing the self-image therein of those who preached Nizari Isma'ilism, and also with the purpose of reconstructing a history of the da'wa as it spread and developed in the area. The second part focuses on certain specific themes, reflected in a few selected ginans, with a view to determining how certain basic Isma'ili concepts became metamorphosed in the ginans. Such a metamorphosis, it is argues, represents the process by which Nizari Isma'ilism was presented to the new adherents in the context of Indo-Muslim society