A History of Syncretism of the Khoja Muslim Community

Medieval India seems to have been at the confluence of various grassroots religious/spiritual traditions. One of the important texts in this regard is Dasavatar credited to have been written Pir Sadr-ud-din, the founder of the Khoja Ismaili sect in the 15th century, in Sindh. The Dasavatar renames Kalki of Puranic literature as Nikalanak – the last messiah who is to come at the end of this era; acknowledges Vishnu, and also names Buddha as one of the avatars. Apart from the said text, this paper would also look at Nizarpanthis, a Hindu sect of Rajasthan; and Nizari Ismailis and their syncretic values.