According to Mr. Faridi, from whose description the remainder of
this article is mainly taken, the Memans or more correctly Muamins or
'Believers' are converts from the Hindu caste of Lohanas of Sind. They
venerate especially Maulana Abdul Kadir Gilani who died at Baghdad in
A.D. 1165. His sixth descendant, Syed Yusufuddin Kordiri, was in 1421
instructed in a dream to proceed to Sind and guide its people into
the way of Islam. On his arrival he was received with honour by the
local king, who was converted, and the ruler's example was followed
by one Manikji, the head of one of the _nukhs_ or clans of the Lohana
community. He with his three sons and seven hundred families of the
caste embraced Islam, and on their conversion the title of Muamin or
'Believer' was conferred on them by the saint. It may be noted that
Colonel Tod derives the Lohanas from the Rajputs, remarking of them:
[484] "This tribe is numerous both in Dhat and Talpura; formerly
they were Rajputs, but betaking themselves to commerce have fallen
into the third class. They are scribes and shopkeepers, and object
to no occupation that will bring a subsistence; and as to food, to
use the expressive idiom of this region where hunger spurns at law,
'Excepting their cats and their cows they will eat anything.'" In his
account of Sind, Postans says of the Lohanas: "The Hindu merchants and
bankers have agents in the most remote parts of Central Asia and could
negotiate bills upon Candahar, Khelat, Cabul, Khiva, Herat, Bokhara or
any other marts of that country. These agents, in the pursuit of their
calling, leave Sind for many years, quitting their families to locate
themselves among the most savage and intolerant tribes." This account
could equally apply to the Khatris, who also travel over Central Asia,
as shown in the article on that caste; and if, as seems not improbable,
the Lohanas and Khatris are connected, the hypothesis that the former,
like the latter, are derived from Rajputs would receive some support.
The present Pir or head of the community is Sayyid Jafir Shah, who is
nineteenth in descent from Yusufuddin and lives partly in Bombay and
partly in Mundra of South Cutch. "At an uncertain date," Mr. Faridi
continues, "the Lohana or Cutchi Memans passed from Cutch south through
Kathiawar to Gujarat. They are said to have been strong and wealthy
in Surat during the period of its prosperity (1580-1680). As Surat
sank the Cutchi Memans moved to Bombay. Outside Cutch and Kathiawar,
which may be considered their homes, the Memans are scattered over the
cities of north and south Gujarat and other Districts of Bombay. Beyond
that Presidency they have spread as traders and merchants and formed
settlements in Calcutta, Madras, the Malabar Coast, South Burma,
Siam, Singapore and Java; in the ports of the Arabian Peninsula,
except Muscat, where they have been ousted by the Khojas; and in
Mozambique, Zanzibar and the East African Coast." [485] They have
two divisions in Bombay, known as Cutchi or Kachhi and Halai.