Religious Interactions in Mughal India

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Hindu-Muslim interactions in medieval and early modern India have been mostly studied in monolithic or antagonistic terms. This volume not only explores the multiplicity within a given religious tradition but also focuses on the exchanges across the various religious communities in north India from AD 1500 to 1800—thereby presenting a panoramic view of religious interactions during the period broadly regarded as Mughal.

Drawing on a wide range of sources, the essays in this volume focus on Islamicate and Hindu traditions in their interactions with one another. They interrogate the idea of ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ as polarized religious identities existing from the moment Muslims entered north India in the eleventh century, and discuss the close intertwining of religious traditions with political power, while also highlighting the diversity of traditions in active conversation with one another.

Given the contentious nature of Hindu-Muslim relations today, a fresh study of these traditions in their regional and temporal specificities, along with a renewed attempt to closely interrogate the language employed in describing them, is vital toward contesting contemporary "clash of civilizations" narratives in South Asia as well as elsewhere.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Munis D. Faruqui

Munis D. Faruqui is Associate Professor, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California-Berkeley. His research focuses on the Muslim experience in South Asia, especially during the Mughal period.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vasudha Dalmia

Vasudha Dalmia is Professor of Hindi and Chair of the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California at Berkeley. She has researched and published widely on Hinduism, colonial and post-colonial Hindi literature, medieval Indian religiosity, and modern Indian theatre. Her book, The Nationalization of Hindu Traditions: Bharatendu Harischandra and Nineteenth Century Banaras, examines the life and writings of a major Hindi writer of the nineteenth century as the focal point for an examination of the intricate links between politics, language, culture, religion and nationality.