Historians have long been aware that the Imamshahi sect of Pirana is an offshoot of Nizari Ismailism, a branch of Shia Islam7 and there is ample evidence to support this view.8 In the eleventh century a quarrel of succession led to the formation of two mainstreams: Mustali and Nizari Ismailism. From Iran which bas been its main seat, the Nizari mission (dawa) penetrated into the Indian subcontinent some time during the twelfth or thirteenth century.There it was mainly known as Satpanth (the true path), a name which was a local equivalent of the Arabic sirat-e-mustaqim by which the Ismailis referred to their religion. Historically of course, the Satpanth must not be viewed as a different branch or sect of the Nizaris but rather as a South Asian acculturated form of their faith. Adaptation to the historical circumstances, as well as to the local environment has played a major part in the history of Ismailism. In the Muslim countries where it emerged and developed it had to face, for many centuries, the hostility of the Sunni or Twelver Shia rulers and of their theologians who considered its followers as heretics (malahida).10

The Ismailis have always struggled to survive their identity crisis and problems of fragmentation have been a constant threat in their history. When the Nizari missionaries reached the subcontinent they were confronted with the same problem, as the Sunnis from Central Asia had already established their rule in Delhi and elsewhere. But they had to respond to another challenge: that of attempting to convert the non-Muslim population following various beliefs and practices which can globally be termed “Hindu”. At this stage it is necessary to recall that the Sunni rulers of the subcontinent were less concerned with conversions than with conquests,11 whereas conversion was an essential part of the idiom of the Ismaili dawa. Thus, in order to avoid persecution, the Nizaris resorted to the usual process of taqiyya (concealing one’s identity and true faith in case of danger, which is a permitted Shia practice): they appeared outwardly as Hindu yogis and saints or as Sunni Sufi Pirs, according to the context in which they had to work,12 never revealing their real identity to those who were not properly initiated. Besides, to attract the Hindus or the Jains they recast their doctrines and rituals in forms that were more familiar to the converts who were allowed to retain most of their customs whilst they themselves practised taqiyya, for which reason they came later on to be referred to as Guptis (litt. secret ones). Let us add that the experiences of the Pirs and of their followers in practising taqiyya should be studied and understood separately: concealing one’s true faith may have meant something different for the spiritual leaders and for the ordinary members of the panth. Be that as it may, among the achievements of the Nizari missionaries one must mention the ritual of the ghat-pat 13 and the religious poetry known as ginans14 in which indigenous and Islamic elements are closely interwoven.

It was in fact a whole vision of History or rather of meta- and hiero- history15 which was proposed to the new converts in a form which could be directly understood by them: for example, the figure of the Imam, so essential in Shia and, in particular, in Ismaili philosophy,16 was associated with Vishnu and his ten main incarnations (das avatar). But while, in common Hindu belief, Vishnu”s tenth avatar is expected only at the end of our era (kali yuga), in the new “Hinduised” Nizari idiom his advent had already taken place: he was none other than Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad”s son-in-law who became manifested in the successive line of Imams. The Ismaili belief in time cycles17 was somewhat akin to the Hindu concept of yugas, so that Vishnu” s previous incarnations could be made to fit into an already existing conceptual framework. The centrality of this idea is attested by the fact that, till recently, a ginan entitled Das avatar was a part of the regular prayer session in the Nizari jamat-khanas where the Khojas (one of the names used to refer to the Nizari community of the subcontinent) gathered three times a day.18 Ultimately it is the whole Islamic concept of successive revelations completing and superseding each other which was retained: in the same way as Judaism and Christianity had been accepted in the Quran as successive phases of the sacred History, the past as reflected in Vedic and Brahmanical mythology was integrated in a form modified to suit the requirements of Ismaili ideology. Therefore, it is not only as a result of taqiyya (precautionary dissimulation) but also as a expression of this idea, that Nizari Ismailism, conceived as the latest Revelation, was referred to, in its South Asian context, as the Athar (sometimes Atharva) or fifth Veda, following the Brahmanical Atharva Veda,19

To conclude this brief survey it will not be out of place to add a few words about the subsequent evolution of this branch of Islam in the subcontinent. A few historical records20 supplemented by traditional oral sources tell us of the setback suffered by the dawa, mainly in the fifteenth century, when various groups seceded from the parent body. Among these one should mention the Imamshahi sect of Pirana,21 and most probably various groups in Rajasthan and other parts of North India.22 The weakening of the central authority represented by the Imam residing in Iran, who most of the time had to live in concealment, allowed various religious bodies to attract the Nizari couvert in to their orbit. The influence of British power and ideology associated with the arrival of the Aga Khans (the living Imams) in the subcontinent in the nineteenth century led to a re-evaluation of the identity of the Khoja community, 23 best illustrated by the famous Aga Khan court case of Bombay (1866). The spiritual leader of the Nizaris forced them to chose between these alternatives: either follow him and pay the customary tithe (dasondh) or integrate into another community, Sunni, Twelver Shia or Hindu.24The British concern for clear-cut categories, mirrored in the census operations of that period, as well as the activities of some local revivalist movements which were a response to the colonial challenge, created a pressure which made it more and more difficult for social groups to retain intermediary or “liminal” religious identities.25

ln this way the Nizaris who remained faithful to the Aga Khans were gradually, through various fluctuant phases, led to re-Islamise their tradition to suit the requirements of a particular policy aimed at a rapprochement between Ismailis and their former rivaIs in the Muslim world.26 Meanwhile those who had chosen to adopt a different religious identity followed their own way.

To sum up, the main features of Nizari Ismailism, in its South Asian form, should be stressed once more: acculturation, shifting of identities according to the historical and local contexts and the practice of taqiyya reflected by the existence of Gupti communities. These are specific phenomena the extreme significance of which needs to be emphasised.