ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8740-2570

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

World History (Ph.D.)

Department

History

First Advisor

Nerina Rustomji

Second Advisor

Shahla Hussain

Third Advisor

Philip Misevich

Abstract

This dissertation proposes a world-historical approach to Northwestern Indian cultural exchanges in the seventeenth century, focusing on the impact of trade and migrations in the Indian Ocean World (IOW) on the identity of mercantile communities in the region. There is a lack of research on the cultural history of these Northwestern Indian communities, which were prominent in the seventeenth-century commercial IOW. The current gap between economic and cultural histories can be addressed through research that analyzes commodities as symbols of culture and identity. The study aims to translate the cultural history of Northwestern Indian communities through material culture via objects commonly traded and preserved in museums, referenced in texts, and appearing in cultural expressions. It combines archival and material culture analysis to discern the connectivity that influenced identity. This study investigates the textile trade as the primary commodity from India in the Indian Ocean world economy, delving into the movement of merchants and textiles to the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, East African coast, and Southeast Asian port towns. It specifically analyzed the involvement of six Northwest Indian communities — Ahir, Khatri, Bohra, Rabari, Khoja, and Parsi — in the commercial and cultural world of the Indian Ocean. The communities were selected based on their involvement with either trade, manufacture, or consumption of products exchanged in the Indian Ocean, as documented in the sources. The Ahir community embroidered toran was traced to the Fustat fragments found in Egypt, Bohra use of incense to Southern Arabia, Rabari pastoralist ivory bangles to East Africa, rosewater in Khoja Nowruz celebrations to the Persian Gulf, and finally, sandalwood from Southeast Asia to Parsi holy fires. The analysis identifies and links communities of merchants and artisans in this trade that are poorly documented. It demonstrates the dynamic shifts in their cultural identity influenced by cultural encounters in the Indian Ocean. The study argues that Indian Ocean material exchanges shaped the cultural identities of Northwest Indian mercantile communities who used the objects they developed, produced, or traded to express status, develop religious rituals, and understand their identity as distinct from other social groups in Indian Ocean ports.

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