‘Living Together in Difference’: Religious Conflict and Tolerance in Pre-Colonial India as History and Discourse

Abstract

Asim Roy focuses on religious conflict and tolerance in pre-colonial India as history and discourse. The position of the Muslim communalists was essentially premised on the logic of the 'two nation theory,' which they perceived as holding true of Hindu-Muslim relations since the dawn of Indo-Muslim history. The British rulers, in turn, suspicious at first of the fanatical, aggressive and rebellious orientation of the Muslims, gradually shifted their position and broadly sought explanations in the essentially religious mores of the Indian societies, making the people of that community easy prey for religious and communal propaganda and conflict throughout history. The intrusion of such malevolent political designs into the arena of professional historical research has proved immeasurably harmful for the Indian minorities and the country as a whole. Still, Hindutva politics and propaganda have led to an engagement of sorts with medieval India.