Parallel Pathways: Essays on Hindu-Muslim Relations

by Meenakshi Jain

This work seeks to examine the state of Hindu-Muslim relations from the death of the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, to the Revolt of 1857. There is a belief in certain circles that the Revolt of 1857 was the last notable manifestation of Hindu-Muslim unity. That unity, it is argued, was thereafter systematically undermined by the divide and rule policies unleashed by the British, leading eventually to the partition of the country in 1947. By this reckoning, Hindu-Muslim integration must have been an accomplished fact in the centuries preceding the Great Revolt. Micro-level studies by scholars, however, reveal a considerably more complex reality. After an overview of India in the eighteenth century, this work examines the political culture of the Mughal successor and Muslim conquest states. The cultural dynamics of the Hindu kingdoms that arose alongside are also studied in some detail. In the nineteenth century, as the British gained political ascendancy, the Indian intelligentsia began an intense debate on the nature of Indian nationalism. The broad contours of that debate have been presented here. One controversy that occupied prominent space in the political discourse of that era was the Hindi/Urdu debate, which has also been examined. Finally, the work surveys the nature of Islam in the Indian subcontinent, specially focusing on the views of theologians, scholars and the political class.

Genres: History, Islam

352 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2010

About the author

Meenakshi Jain is an associate professor of History at Gargi College, University of Delhi. She was Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, Teen Murti. Her recent works include Parallel Pathways. Essays on Hindu-Muslim Relations (1707-1857). She is the co-author of The Rajah Moonje Pact. Documents on a Forgotten Chapter of Indian History.

Reviews

[Tall Guy]

When I choose this book to read, I thought this was about the past. What I did not know that the repercussion of the past still lingers on the present. That was an interesting insight to know and funny too know that India has been an independent country for now 75+ years and yet there is so much of our history that we do not know.

One of the good to know stuff was how it was the British rule Which defeated the Martha expansion that halted the spread of Islam in India.
Also the large hindu population was a large deterrent for the Muslim kings to convert everyone to Islam.
It also provide insights on the urdu language and how it became the language of muslim and how hindi language was been formed.

The debate on the language was then too as its now...

Sometimes to understand the present one has to go in the past and this book was insightful