Conrerts.—Though the older residents in Sind have become Muhammadans, down to modern times Muhammadan converts have been allowed to retain their Hindu names. Under this custom, the Jat Muhammadans have some communities in the northern part of Sind ; those in Lower Sind are camel-drivers. The Sumra or Summa Rajputs adopted the Muhammadan religion while ruling, and remained in Sind after their deposition by the Muhammadans. Another section have remained in Cutch, whose chief also takes the title of Jam.
Nareja is one of the oldest of convert Sind tribes, and is found in Lower and Upper Sind or Khyrpur, and became converts to Muhammadanism of the Hanafi Sunni sect. The race is broad, fat, lethargic, and sensual, and the gait heavy and shambling. Sindi is the language that they speak, read, and write.
Ponhar, Muhammadan converts from Hinduism, form one of the most ancient, and formerly most powerful, of the local Sindi tribes, whose influ ence was destroyed by the Kalora in the begin ning of the 18th century. Their present principal residence is at Mehar and Schwan, in Central Sind.
Abra, an old and influential tribe in Sind, the records of whose prowess and reputation arc still preserved in the songs and traditions of the country. They give their name to the Nushira Abra district of Upper Sind. The Oonur tribe is an offshoot from the Abra ; is numerous in the Larkhana and Sukkurkund districts. Oonurpur is on the right bank of the Indus.
111har, a very ancient tribe inhabiting the skirts of the desert south of Bahawulpur. They were converted from Hinduism to Muhammadanism. They are ignorant but peaceable herdsmen, breed ing camels and sheep. About A.D. 1541, while Shah Beg Arghun was ruling, they came from 0obant, near the present Bahawulpur frontier, and dis possessed the Jatui. Subsequently, the Daoud putra dispossessed the Mhar, who never regained their former position.
The Babra, a Jaina sect, numerous in Jodh.
pur in Rajputana, are found in Sind. They form part of the mercantile body usually styled Mar waii. They are enterprising bankers, financiers, and in Sind merchants, also petty traders and shopkeepers.
Johia, a tribe in the western part of the Kurachee collectorate, claim a Rajput origin, and their chief takes the title of Jam.
The Lohana of Sind are Vaishnava and Saiva Hindus. Some of them worship the river Indus deity and his wazir under the names Jenda Pir and Udhero La11. They engage in trade and in agriculture. The suffixed titles of their sub
divisions are—Mu1, Chund, Rae, Ram, Das, Lal. They are the principal number of Hindus in the country, but, like the Saraswati Brahmans, they eat meat, fish, and onions, and drink spirits, buy ing the flesh from the Muhammadans, it being unlawful for them to kill. They are not highly educated, but in the time of the Talpur Amirs they were largely employed as revenue collectors, and were described as scheming and crafty. Under British rule they have shown an earnest applica tion and devotion to duty, able and energetic, honest and upright. They are financiers, bankers, merchants, and shopkeepers.
Tradesmen are the Raza, Lohar, Wadha or Dakhan, Dhobi, Pinjara, Katri, Khori, Mochi, Sunara, Thattiara, Muhana, Baleshahi and Machi There are, besides, in the Hyderabad district, 78 races of miscellaneous origin.
Religion.—The Muhammadans are 78 per cent. of the population ; many of them claim to be Syuds ; and besides the great sects of Shiah and Sunni, there are several prominent smaller bodies.
The Ismaili are chiefly in Sind, where they take the title of Khajah (Khoja, Khowaja). They are numerous in Bombay city, and in the Sind col Iectorates of Kurachee, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, and Tanna. In Bombay city, on the date of the census, 8451, or per cent, of the Muhamma dan there, returned themselves under that desig nation, and about 18,000 were residing in other parts of that presidency. They are petty dealers and merchants, are quiet, peaceful people, and have never given any annoyance to the British.
The Ismaili acknowledge Ali, Masan and Husain as rightful imams ; some hold that the line closed with Ismail, son of Jafar Sadiq, who was their seventh and last imam. From him they take the name Ismaili, and also from him the seveners.' The Ismaili put a metaphorical interpretation on the Koran, which tended to explain away and supersede its doctrines, leaving only a negative religion, and substituting licence for morality. They were sometimes called Mulahida, heretics, and have been deemed to include the Karmatians, and the Assassins, and others, but these are merely offshoots from the Ismailian heresy. The doctrines were largely spread by Abdallah, son of Maimun, a native of Persia. In the middle of 1878, Kiln Khutu, a young Mthammadan, murdered the Mukhi or headman of the Khojahs in the open street in broad daylight at Umercurry in Bombay. He was hanged on the 20th July 1878.