Glossary

Arsad marriage circle of sixty-eight villages in the Charotar Sunni Vohra samaj

Bajrang Dal Youth wing of the VHP, founded in 1984

bapu saint

BJP Bharata Janata Party (Indian People’s Party); political party in India

closed house house in Anand with an absentee landowner

Charotar region in central Gujarat

Charotar Sunni Vohra samaj an endogamous community of Sunni Muslims in the Charotar region, not to be confused with the Baruchi Vohras (from the region of Baruch), Surti Vohras (from the Surat region), or Daudi Bohras (who are Shia)

Chaud marriage circle of fourteen villages in the Charotar Sunni Vohra samaj

Congress Party political party in India

dupatta shawl, commonly worn by women as part of a salwar kameez outfit

endogamy marriage within a group

ghetto term used in India to indicate marginalized residential areas inhabited by Muslims

ghettoization term used in India to indicate residential segregation along religious lines

haj pilgrimage to Mecca (pronounced Makka)

Hindutva term used to denote the ideology of Hindu nationalism, or Hindu majoritarianism

housing society common residential area in Anand, in which a group of house owners within a residential complex is legally registered as a cooperative

hypergamy marriage system in which a lower-status female is married to a higher-status male

land conversion legal procedure, during which the agricultural status of a plot of land is converted to a nonagricultural status

madrassa religious school or institute

majid mosque

majoritarianism a political ideology that asserts that a majority of the population is entitled to have primacy and power in society

maulana religious teacher

pir paternal home (of a married woman)

RSS an organization, founded in 1925, which organizes training to instill Hindutva values and discipline in participants

salwar kameez a clothing set of wide trousers and a long short

Sangh Parivar a group of organizations that promote the Hindutva ideology

samaj community

scooty light motorized two-wheeler

suburb term to denote an urban space with a distinctive middle-class identity

Sunni an umbrella category in Islam. In global discourse, “Sunni” is the opposite of “Shia” Islam, but in Anand more likely to be presented as part of a different opposition, between “Sunnis” (the followers of saints) and “Tablighis” (the followers of the Tablighi Jamaat)

Tablighi Jamaat Islamic reform movement

T.P. scheme Town Planning scheme

Vohra/Vahora/Vora/Bohra/Bora surname within the Charotar Sunni Vohra community

vatan home, place of origin, motherland (of a man)

VHP an organization, founded in 1964, with the aim of promoting Hinduism worldwide

ward locality that constitutes a voting unit during elections