Abstract

Gharwaapsi (Gujarati) is a historical and socio-religious study of the relationship between the Kutch Kadva Patidar community and the Pirana Satpanth tradition in western India. Drawing upon community literature, historical records, religious texts, oral traditions, and published secondary sources, the work examines the origins, development, and long-term influence of Satpanth among sections of the Patidar population of Gujarat and Kutch.

The book traces the historical circumstances surrounding the spread of Satpanth teachings, explores changes in religious practices and communal identity, and analyses the interaction between local Hindu traditions and doctrines associated with Satpanth. Particular attention is given to questions of religious continuity, conversion, cultural adaptation, community leadership, and collective memory. The work presents the author’s interpretation that the adoption of Satpanth beliefs contributed to a gradual transformation of the community’s religious orientation and social institutions.

A major theme of the book is the twentieth- and twenty-first-century movement among sections of the community to reaffirm a Sanatani Hindu identity. The study documents organizational initiatives, community debates, and efforts aimed at religious and cultural re-identification, situating these developments within broader discussions of identity formation, religious change, and community self-definition in South Asia.

By bringing together historical narratives, community perspectives, and documentary evidence, Gharwaapsi contributes to the study of Satpanth traditions, religious identity in Gujarat, Patidar social history, and the dynamics of religious transformation in western India. The book provides source material of interest to scholars of South Asian religions, Ismaili and Satpanth studies, community history, and the sociology of religion.

Religious history of Kutch Kadva Patidar Sanatan community. The book contains the history about the community’s initial religious conversion from Hindu Sanatan religion to Pirana Satpanth religion (a branch of Shia Islam) and re-conversion back to Sanatan Religion popularly known as Hindu religion.

You cannot find a better book than this, on the religious history of Kutch Kadva Patidar community.