REL 40.07 Hindus and Muslims in India
Hindu nationalist rhetoric in India today claims that India has always been an inherently “Hindu state,” and that “Hindu” and “Muslim” are two distinct, mutually exclusive, and oppositional identities locked in a relationship of eternal conflict. These claims raise a host of difficult questions: Was there any such thing as a collective “Hindu” identity prior to the arrival of Islam? What was the relationship between “Hinduism” and “Islam” during the medieval period? To what extent was British colonialism responsible for creating “Hindu” and “Muslim” identities in the modern period and then projecting them into the past? This course will examine “Hindu” and “Muslim” identities in both medieval and modern India. Open to all.