sentences:  An indicator of the Indian merchants' importance in Siraf comes from records describing dining plates reserved for them.Over time a process of cultural accommodation occurred and the local pantheons of spirits were merged with the foreign.The origin of the major Hindu deities, Vishnu, Shiva, and the various forms of the female consorts or goddess such as Shakti and Durga and the history of their possible converging or merging is not reliably documented.