EMB-101: Emergence of Bangladesh

Class – 3,4

From Origins of Bengal Sultanates to the Battle of Polashi (1204-1757) :

Society, Religion and Politics
 Overview of the Class

• Rise and expansion of Islam in Bengal

• Accommodation of Islam in Bengal
• Bengal under the Delhi Sultanate
• Bengal under Mughal rule
• Understanding North-Indian Hegemony
• Quasi-independent Bengal
• The Footprint of the British in Bengal
• The Battle of Polashi

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 Backdrop of Muslim Rule in Bengal
• Formation of Bengal Delta was an ongoing process from the very ancient period
• Bengal, a floodplain land, became the hub for new settlement and human migration
• It was naturally accommodative instead of being stubborn
• Combination of various races, religions, cultures and customs
• North-Indian hegemony was not a religious factor; rather was a part of the expansion of imperialism
(happened in Maurya rule, Gupta rule, Pala rule, Sena rule, even during the Muslim period)
• The conversion/adoption/accommodation of religion was rarely/not done by force
• Ancient/medieval kingdoms/regional powers rarely attacked the people of other religions, they rather
attacked the kings of the same belief/other beliefs for expansion of kingdom.
• For instance, after the death of Bakhtiar Khilji in 1206 (he was killed by his officer), there was a clash
even amongst the disciples of Bakhtiar for regional power.
• Siraj Ud Daula was also toppled by a Muslim, Mir Jafar.
• Therefore, common Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist people did not have any involvement in this process of
power transfer.
- Rajat Roy, Polashir Shorojontro o Sekaler Somaj (Conspiracy of Polashi and the society of the then Bengal)
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 Root and Route of Islam in Bengal
• Ikhtiar-Ud-Din Muhammad-Bin Bakhtiar-Khilji conquered Bihar in 1203 and Gaur in 1204
but Islam reached ancient Bengal in 8th century
• Silver coin of Harun-ar-Rashid, an Abbasid Caliph, has been found at Paharpur which
was issued in 788. Historians argue that it was either carried by a sea farer Arab
merchant (as cited by Abdul Momin Choudhury*, Abdul Karim**) or by a Sufi (Islamic
preacher), as cited by Enamul Haque***.
• Therefore, it is evident that Islam reached ancient Bengal as early as eighth century,
which was three Hundred years before the conquest of Bakhtiar Khilji.

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Conventional theories of Islamization in India/Bengal:
1. Religion by sword

Criticism: If there was mass forcible conversion, then the growth of Muslim population was supposed to be more in
Sultanate period, but during five hundred years of Muslim rule, Hindu population remained much higher than Muslims. Even it
continued till the mid of British era.
Furthermore, Census in British period shows that the number of Muslims in Eastern Bengal and Western Punjab were much
more higher than Delhi which was the powerful center of Muslim rule. It had only 10-15% Muslims compared to Hindus.
As the 1901 Census of India put it:
None of these [eastern] districts contains any of the places famous as the head-quarters of Muhammadan rulers. Dacca
was the residence of the Nawab for about a hundred years, but it contains a smaller proportion of Muslims than any of the
surrounding districts, except Faridpur. Malda and Murshidabad contain the old capitals, which were the center of Musalman rule
for nearly four and a half centuries, and yet the Muslims form a smaller proportion of the population than they do in the
adjacent districts of Dinajpur, Rajshahi, and Nadia.

- Census of India, 1901, vol. 6, The Lower Provinces of Bengal and Their Feudatories (Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1902), 156
– Eaton, The rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier: 1204-1760

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Conventional theories of Islamization in India/Bengal:
2. Religion by immigration: Migrated, married and settled
Criticism: A large number of immigrants came from Arab, Persia and other countries but the number does not seem to be higher than mass
conversion because most of the immigrants settled down in the city areas

3. Religion by patronization: Happened in many cases, many upper caste Hindus also accepted Islam
Criticism: Similar counter-arguments of the 1st one because there was less possibility of being patronized from the periphery where conversion
mostly happened.

-Why did the Muslim population increase faster in British era despite their miserable condition?

4. Religion by social liberation: Getting rid of the domination of upper class Hindu/caste system. Partially true but it also did
not influence the mass conversion. If that was the case , then the Eastern Bengal and Western Punjab were supposed to have less conversion
than upper-Gangetic area. In reality, those orthodox Hindu areas, had less conversion In ancient or medieval era, Islam mostly emerged as a
religion of monotheism against polytheism instead of fraternity against caste system.

-Why did the Muslim population increase faster in British era despite their miserable condition?

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 Root and Route of Islam in Bengal
“Many early Bengali saints, whose shrines are located in a large arc extending from the
Twenty-four Parganas and Khulna Districts in the south, through Noakhali, Comilla and
Sylhet Districts in the east, are associated with the clearing of the jungle and the teaching of
wet-rice agriculture, along with, of course, the preaching of Islam. It appears, then, that in
this earliest phase of the Islamization of Bengal Muslim pioneers took part in the settlement
of this land, and that some of them actually organized the indigenous peoples for purposes of
clearing the land for rice cultivation. Overtime, these same indigenous peoples seem in turn
to have sanctified those pioneers by whose hands they had become integrated in to an
expanding agrarian economy.”
Richard M. Eaton, cited in the Islamic Heritage of Bengal (Edited by George Michell), Page-26

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 Root and Route of Islam in Bengal
• Therefore, Islamization happened due to immigration and mass conversion influenced by various
reasons.
• Sufis, Saints and Ulemas played the most important role in the mass conversion process
• The conversion happened from Buddhism and both among upper and lower class Hindus
• It took nearly a millennium to form the majority of Muslims in Bengal or today’s Bangladesh
• This increase became clearly visible in the census of 1872-1941. As J. A. Vas , quoting the census Report
of 1901, states:
“The Mohammedan population is growing at a relatively much greater rate than the Hindus. This is not due to conversion, of which
very few are recorded. The greater fecundity of Mohammedans is explained by the prevalence of polygamy and widow marriage, the lesser
inequality between the ages of husband and wife. The greater nutritiousness of dietary and their greater material prosperity” (District
Gazetteer, Rangpur, 1911, p,44)

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Root and Route of Islam in Bengal

Muhammad Abdul Rahim, Social and Cultural History of Bengal (1201-1576), Vol-1, p.59)
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 Bengali language and literature
The evolution of Bengali from Sanskrit and Arab-Persian languages

Ma-Huan, a Chinese traveler visited Bengal in 1433 commented: “although

Persian was spoken by some in the Muslim court, the language in universal use
is Bengali”.
- Richard M. Eaton, cited in the Islamic Heritage of Bengal (Edited by George Michell), Page-29

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 Muslim Conquest of Bengal

Bakhtiar Khilji issued coins by using both Sanskrit and Arabic

• Muslim conquest happened in Bihar in 1203, and in Nodia and Lakhnauti in 1204
when Sen king Lakshman Sen was defeated by Bokhtiyar Khilji, a military officer
of Ghurid dynasty of North India
• Though the Muslim conquest took place in 1204, the people of Bengal came in
contact with Muslim people and Islam at least in the 8th century.
• Therefore, at least a slow pace of conversion and naturalization was already
going on.

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 Initial Stage of Muslim Rule

Coins issued by Iwaj Khilji

• Six years of internal conflict

• Ghiyas-Ud-Din Iwaz Khilji (1212-1227), a Governor of Delhi Sultan Iltutmish (a ruler of Mamluk dynasty)

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 Bengal under Delhi Sultans
• North Indian Hegemony continued
• Bengal was a province of Delhi up to 1338
• Bengal used to be known as the city of rebellion due to its frequent revolt against Delhi Sultans

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 Suggested Readings
Required Reading:
• Salahuddin, A. F. (2004). Bangladesh National Culture and Heritage. Dhaka : IUB. Pages: 95-115

Recommended Readings:
• Sengupta, N. (2011). Land of Two Rivers. India: Penguin Books
• Eaton, R. M. (1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier: 1204-1760. Chapter 2. USA: UCL Press.
• Ahmed, R. (ed.). (2001). Understanding Bengal Muslims. Oxford University Press.

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