Description
Book SynopsisTracing the long historical encounter between Islamic and Indic civilizations, this work explores how and why such a large Muslim population emerged in Bengal.
Trade Review"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 *
Table of ContentsList 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
