DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4646#0071
71
tres-fameux et tres-cstime parmi les savans tie FAsie, qui vivoit il y a
environ quatre cent cinquante ans" &c.
It is extremely curious, that the word Khoja occurs in the Habits--
tan—which was so extensively, quoted from by Mr. Anstey—only once
and that there it is used as a proper name, and connected with the
Ismaili sect. The word Khojah at page 417, vol. 2; is said to
signify, " Lord, professor, man of distinctions" and ' also a eunuch.
Khojah is the title commonly prefixed to Nassir Eddin " the defender
of the faith," which is the surmane of Muhamed ben Hassan or Ben
Muhamed al Tusi whom I mentioned before. He was born in Tus in
the year of the Hejira 597 (A. D. 1200) He is acknowledged to have
been the Doctor who acquired among Musulmans the highest reputa-
tion in all sorts of sciences ; he was a commentator of Euclid and of
the spherics of Theodosius and Menelaus. He left scientific works,
duly admired, and was an astronomer, lawyer theologian and States-
man" He was also eminent as the historian of the Ismaili Khalifhs.
The Khojahs were correctly stated by Mr. Anstey to have been first:
settled in Kutch. This is their own tradition and it is confirmed by
their old books, which are written in the Sindhi characters and in a
mixed language of Kutchi and Gujerati. From Kutch came the fa-i
thersofthe present Bombay Khojas, and it is important to observe
that there are still other Khoja communities in Cutch, Gujerat, Sind;
and elsewhere. Towards the end of the last century there were Khojahs
in Bombay, and early in the present century they formed a commu-
nity, and used to send contributions to the Pir. The Plaintiffs have
carefully abstained from referring to these communities, and their re-
ligious opinions, we, on the other hand, shall be as anxious to call
attention to them. The Bombay Khojas, I repeat, are only one among
many Khoja communities ; and it was probably the stimulus afforded
by the spectacle of European Government, in this island, which in-
spired some of the Bombay Khojas with the spirit of resistance to their
Pir in 1829-30.
In the celebrated Kojah female case, where the issue was simply1)
as to the law of inheritance applicable to Khojas, the general effect /
of the evidence, as to the history of the Bombay Khojas, is thus sum-l
marised by Sir Erskine Perry who had not however so many facts
before him, as your Lordship will have. " However this may be,)
the Khojahs are now settled principally amongst Hindu communities
tres-fameux et tres-cstime parmi les savans tie FAsie, qui vivoit il y a
environ quatre cent cinquante ans" &c.
It is extremely curious, that the word Khoja occurs in the Habits--
tan—which was so extensively, quoted from by Mr. Anstey—only once
and that there it is used as a proper name, and connected with the
Ismaili sect. The word Khojah at page 417, vol. 2; is said to
signify, " Lord, professor, man of distinctions" and ' also a eunuch.
Khojah is the title commonly prefixed to Nassir Eddin " the defender
of the faith," which is the surmane of Muhamed ben Hassan or Ben
Muhamed al Tusi whom I mentioned before. He was born in Tus in
the year of the Hejira 597 (A. D. 1200) He is acknowledged to have
been the Doctor who acquired among Musulmans the highest reputa-
tion in all sorts of sciences ; he was a commentator of Euclid and of
the spherics of Theodosius and Menelaus. He left scientific works,
duly admired, and was an astronomer, lawyer theologian and States-
man" He was also eminent as the historian of the Ismaili Khalifhs.
The Khojahs were correctly stated by Mr. Anstey to have been first:
settled in Kutch. This is their own tradition and it is confirmed by
their old books, which are written in the Sindhi characters and in a
mixed language of Kutchi and Gujerati. From Kutch came the fa-i
thersofthe present Bombay Khojas, and it is important to observe
that there are still other Khoja communities in Cutch, Gujerat, Sind;
and elsewhere. Towards the end of the last century there were Khojahs
in Bombay, and early in the present century they formed a commu-
nity, and used to send contributions to the Pir. The Plaintiffs have
carefully abstained from referring to these communities, and their re-
ligious opinions, we, on the other hand, shall be as anxious to call
attention to them. The Bombay Khojas, I repeat, are only one among
many Khoja communities ; and it was probably the stimulus afforded
by the spectacle of European Government, in this island, which in-
spired some of the Bombay Khojas with the spirit of resistance to their
Pir in 1829-30.
In the celebrated Kojah female case, where the issue was simply1)
as to the law of inheritance applicable to Khojas, the general effect /
of the evidence, as to the history of the Bombay Khojas, is thus sum-l
marised by Sir Erskine Perry who had not however so many facts
before him, as your Lordship will have. " However this may be,)
the Khojahs are now settled principally amongst Hindu communities