According to the generally accepted etymological explanation, the name bohrā (or bohorā) is derived from the Gujarati term vohorvū (vyavahār), meaning ‘to trade’. The term was applied to the Ismailis of Gujarat probably because they were originally a trading community, trade having also been the occupation of the earliest Gujarati converts to Islam. According to another explanation, the Bohras were so designated because they had been converted to Ismailism from the Hindu caste of Vohra. The bulk of the Ismaili Boh…