In all of the South Asian subcontinent, Bengal was the region most receptive to the Islamic faith. This area today is home to the world's second-largest Muslim ethnic population. How and why did such a large Muslim population emerge there? And how does such a religious conversion take place? Richard Eaton uses archaeological evidence, monuments, narrative histories, poetry, and Mughal administrative documents to trace the long historical encounter between Islamic and Indic civilizations.
Moving from the year 1204, when Persianized Turks from North India annexed the former Hindu states of the lower Ganges delta, to 1760, when the British East India Company rose to political dominance there, Eaton explores these moving frontiers, focusing especially on agrarian growth and religious change.
By:
Richard M. Eaton
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 17
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 590g
ISBN: 9780520205079
ISBN 10: 0520205073
Series: Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies
Pages: 388
Publication Date: 31 July 1996
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations List of Tables Note on Translation and Transliteration Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE BENGAL UNDER THE SULTANS 1. Before the Turkish Conquest Bengal in Prehistory Early Indo-Aryan Influence in Bengal The Rise of Early Medieval Hindu Culture The Diffusion of Bengali Hindu Civilization 2. The Articulation of Political Authority Perso-Islamic Conceptions of Political Authority, Eleventh-Thirteenth Centuries A Province of the Delhi Sultanate, 1204-1342 The Early Bengal Sultanate, 1342-ca. 1400 The Rise of Raja Ganesh (ca. 1400-1421) Sultan ]alai al-Din Muhammad (1415-32) and His Political Ideology The Indigenization of Royal Authority, 1433-1538 Summary 3. Early Sufis of the Delta The Question of Sufis and Front-ier Warfare Bengali Sufis and Hindu Thought Sufis of the Capital 4. Economy, Society, and Culture The Political Economy of the Sultanate Ashraf and Non-Ashraf Society Hindu Society- Responses to the Conquest Hindu Religion- the Siva-Siilcta Complex Hindu Religion- the Vaishnava Complex 5. Mass Conversion to Islam: Theories and Protagonists Four Conventional Theories of Islamization in India Theories of Islamization in Bengal The Appearance of a Bengali Muslim Peasantry Summary PART TWO BENGAL UNDER THE MUGHALS 6. The Rise of Mughal Power The Afghan Age, 1537-1612 The Early Mughal Experience in Bengal, 1574-1610 The Consolidation of Mughal Authority, 1610-1704 Summary 7· Mughal Culture and Its Diffusion The Political Basis of Mughal Culture in Bengal The Place of Bengal in Mughal Culture The Place of Islam in Mughal Culture The Administration of Mughal Lawthe Villagers' View West Bengal: The Integration of Imperial Authority The Northern Frontier: Resistance to Imperial Authority East Bengal: Conquest and Culture Change 8. Islam and the Agrarian Order in the East Riverine Changes and Economic Growth Charismatic Pioneers on the Agrarian Frontier The Religious Gentry in Bakarganj and Dhaka, 1650-1760 Summary 9· Mosque and Shrine in the Rural Landscape The Mughal State and the Agrarian Order The Rural Mosque in Bengali History The Growth of Mosques and Shrines in Rural Chittagong, 1666-1760 The Rise of Chittagong's Religious Gentry The Religious Gentry of Sylhet Summary 10. The Rooting of Islam in Bengal Inclusion Identification Displacement Literacy and Islamization Gender and Islamization Summary 11. Conclusion Appendix 1: Mint Towns and Inscription Sites under Muslim Rulers, 1204-1760 Appendix 2: Principal Rulers of Bengal, 1204-1757 Select Bibliography Index
Richard M. Eaton is Professor of History at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the author of The Sufis of Bijapur (1978).
Reviews for The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760
For the study of Islam in Bengal, [The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1207-1760] is . . . the most important book to appear to date, and it deserves to be read by all historians of India and the Islamic world. * International History Review * Enormously rich and insightful. * American Historical Review * Magnificent. . . . Eaton has provided something unique in Indo-Islamic studies. . . . [He] ranges over the important aspects of that community's history, whether political and social, or cultural and religious. . . . This study must rank among the finest contributions to South Asian scholarship to appear for some while. * CHOICE * Richard M. Eaton takes up two original questions and provides answers that should remain definitive. * International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies *
