উনিশ শতকে জাতিতত্ত্বের আলোচনায় বাঙালি মুসলমান সমাজ/ The Bengali Muslim Society in Nineteenth-Century Ethnographic Discourse

Abstract

In the 19th century, British colonial administration began systematic ethnographic study of India through Buchanan-Hamilton, later developed by Dalton, Sherring, and brought to full form by James Wise, William Hunter, and Herbert Risley. Census operations became a key tool for this ‘caste’ and ethnic classification project, and Bengali Muslims became a central subject of this inquiry.

        The first census of 1830 (Dhaka) and later the 1872 Bengal census revealed something the British did not expect: districts like Chittagong, Noakhali, Pabna, and Rajshahi had Muslim populations of 70% or more. This unsettled colonial officials, since prior assumptions held that Hindus were the majority in Bengal. Two competing explanations emerged -

1. Conversion theory: Officials like Beverley and Risley argued that large numbers of low-caste Hindus (Chandals, Rajbanshis) and Buddhists converted to Islam to escape the oppression of Hindu caste hierarchy.

2. Migration/ descent theory: James Wise and elite Bengali Muslims (such as Khondkar Fazle Rabbi) rejected this, arguing that Bengali Muslims were largely descendants of migrants from Arabia, Persia, Central Asia, and northern India.

        The essay describes two social strata within Bengali Muslim society -

Ashraf — claiming foreign descent, using titles like Syed, Sheikh, Mughal, Pathan, holding higher social status.

Atraf — of local origin, organized by occupation (weavers/ Jolha, fishmongers/ Nikari, oil-pressers/ Kalu, barbers/ Hajam, etc.), occupying lower social rank.

        Ashraf groups maintained social distance from Atraf communities, and certain occupations (like weaving) were considered degrading for an Ashraf to take up. Occupational hierarchy also existed within the Atraf group itself — tailors and bookbinders were considered more respectable than fishermen or indigo workers.

        The essay outlines several factors behind Islam's spread in Bengal - political patronage from Muslim rulers, construction of mosques and madrasas, missionary work by Sufi saints, intermarriage between Muslim migrants and local women, and the appeal of escaping caste-based discrimination. Scholars like Richard Eaton, Asim Roy, Sonia Nishat Amin, and Rafiuddin Ahmed are cited to show that Bengali Islam developed a distinct syncretic character — a blend of external Islamic ideology and local Bengali culture, which Momtazur Rahman Tarafdar called a ‘regional form of Islam’.

        Muhammad Mohar Ali's estimate that conversion accounted for over 15% of the local population across five hundred years supports the view that both migration and conversion processes operated together — no single theory fully explains the demographic and cultural formation of Bengali Muslim society.