This thesis is concerned with tracing the rise and spread of that section of the Nizari Ismaili Da'wa which eventually gave rise to what has come to be known as Satpanth Ismailism. The spread in turn involves studying the activities and identifying the various da'is or pirs who came to India and spread the Satpanth doctrine. It is fundamental to the study of movements like Ismailism, that the historical context in which they spread be understood clearly and it is only in this way that one can hope to understand the intellectual assumptions of the movement, in relation to the technique of propagation adopted by the da'wa. Hence the thesis is also concerned, as far as possible, to set out systematically the historical context within which Satpanth Ismailism spread, in order to establish some sort of an identity for it.

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