Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Bohora

by Edgar Thurston

Bohora.— The Bohoras or Boras are " Musalman converts from the Bombay side. They are traders. In Madras they have their own high priest and their own mosque (in Georgetown). It is said that, when one of them dies, the high priest writes a note to the archangels Michael, Israel and Gabriel, asking them to take care of him in Paradise, and that the note is placed in the coffin." *^[1] They consider themselves as a superior class, and, if a member of another section enters their mosque, they clean the spot occupied by him during his prayers. They take part in certain Hindu festivals, e.g., Dipāvali, or feast of lights, at which crackers are let off.

1. • Madras Census Report, 1901,