<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="6.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>13</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Purohit, Teena</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Reading Global Islam Through Messianic Renewal in Dasavatar</style></title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2007</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">12/2007</style></date></pub-dates></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Routledge</style></publisher><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">In the Aga Khan Case of 1866, the Bombay High Court&amp;acirc;s rede&amp;iuml;&amp;not;nition of a caste group of
khojas as &amp;acirc;Ismaili&amp;acirc; resulted in the institution of a uniform religious identity that undermined
the pluralistic character of Islamic practices in South Asia. The colonial court&amp;acirc;s
monolithic understanding of khoja identity as &amp;acirc;Ismaili&amp;acirc; has continued to in&amp;iuml;&amp;not;uence the
community&amp;acirc;s self-understanding to the present day. In this paper, I question this dominant
narrative in which khojas were identi&amp;iuml;&amp;not;ed as &amp;acirc;Ismaili&amp;acirc;. I argue that the early modern
Gujarati poem of the gina&amp;Acirc;&amp;macr;n genre, Dasavata&amp;Acirc;&amp;macr;r, became essential to the making of Ismaili
Muslim identity in the nineteenth century. I read the Dasavata&amp;Acirc;&amp;macr;r gina&amp;Acirc;&amp;macr;n as a conduit of
khojas&amp;acirc; religious beliefs to produce an alternative history of Ismaili community formation.
This discussion of Dasavata&amp;Acirc;&amp;macr;r explores the workings of global Islam in microcosm.
It shows that the &amp;acirc;borrowings&amp;acirc; which transpire within the Indo-Islamic ecumene cannot be
conceptualized through notions of &amp;acirc;sect&amp;acirc; or as an addendum to a Middle East-centered
Islamic grand narrative, which is how the Ismailis continue to be described in authoritative
accounts.</style></abstract></record></records></xml>