Religion Unbound:
Evolving Identities in India
A multi-day lesson created under the direction of the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project.
Karna Cruz
Hannah Archambault
Teacher Leader, UCBHSSP
Graduate Student, South and SE Asian Studies
Mt. Diablo Unified School District
University of California, Berkeley
Find online: ucbhssp.berkeley.edu/globalhistory2015
2015 © UC Regents
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Unit Overview
This lesson was created for the third session in the Movement of Ideas in Global History series, cosponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Institute for South Asia Studies. This
seminar series aims to provide classroom teachers with background knowledge to contextualize
historical content, along with learning strategies to help students access and analyze primary and
secondary sources as they study the past. In this lesson, we have included a mix of excerpted academic
sources and source material specifically created for secondary classrooms. This program is supported
through a grant from the UC Berkeley Area Studies Programs: Institute of European Studies, Institute of
East Asia Studies, Institute of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, Institute for Southeast Asian
Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and the Institute for South Asia Studies.
As a result of collaboration between a classroom teacher and a doctoral student from the Department of
South and Southeast Asian Studies at UC Berkeley, UCBHSSP, through this lesson, endeavored to
introduce multiple sources to explore evolving political, religious, and ethnic identities in colonial India.
-----------------------------------------------LESSON OVERVIEW
Historical Context: Prior to the imposition of British colonial rule, the Mughal Empire ruled an area that
encompasses modern-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Under the minority Muslim rule of the
Mughals, power was shared by elites from diverse religious traditions. The introduction of British
colonial power ushered in a new model of politics. The Rebellion of 1857 marked a culmination of dissent
from all quarters of Indian society – elites, peasantry, Hindu, and Muslim – as Indians from all
backgrounds found common cause against colonial rule. In the crackdown by the British that followed,
the Mughal Empire was disbanded. Across North India, both religious and secular architecture associated
in the British imagination with Mughal authority was destroyed and thousands of people were executed.
In the decades following the rebellion, the British secured their authority by presenting themselves as
benign protectors of a fractured state, and by representing India’s former rulers, the Mughals, as antiHindu bigots. Additionally, the British introduced a national census, pursued racially and religiously
biased recruitment strategies, as well as language and education policies. These practices worked
together to formulate a newly politicized conception of communal identity. By the beginning of the 20th
century, as nationalist sentiment began to gain steam, anxieties about the Indian National Congress led
the British to seek strategic association with Indian Muslim leaders and exploit Muslim concerns over
matters of minority representation. The Muslim League was founded in 1906, and during World War II,
Britain’s ‘divide and rule’ strategy culminated in the cultivation of the Muslim League as Britain’s ‘loyalist’
ally against the Indian National Congress. In the immediate post-war period, this laid the groundwork for
the actualization of the League’s demand for an ill-defined ‘Pakistan,’ eventually imagined as a
territorially defined homeland for the subcontinent’s Muslims. Despite partition, both India and Pakistan
were founded as multi-ethnic and multi-religious states. Today, India’s population is approximately 12%
Muslim, and Pakistan retains a significant Hindu minority.
Lesson Periodization: Students should be able to trace the perspective of British colonialists and
Indians with regard to identity over the course of the 19th -- and into the 20th -- century.




Beginning in the 16th Century - Pre-Colonial Mughal Empire
19th Century - The British Colonial Gaze
Mid-19th Century - The Rebellion of 1857
Late 19th/Early 20th Century - The Emergence of Identity Politics
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Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Unit Overview
Unit Topic: Emerging Nations Post-WWII
Lesson Topic: Partition of India
Lesson Focus Question: How was British colonial rule responsible for the partition of the Indian
subcontinent into the post-colonial states of India and Pakistan?
Lesson Teaching Thesis: The Mughal Empire ruled an area that incorporates modern-day India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Under the minority Muslim rule of the Mughals, power was shared by elites
from diverse religious traditions. Under British colonial power a new model of politics was imposed,
which began to more firmly categorize Indian sub-groups. Indians resisted British colonial rule,
culminating in the Rebellion of 1857 when people from all aspects of Indian society – elites, peasantry,
Hindu, and Muslim – came together in opposition of colonial rule. In the crackdown that followed, the
British targeted the Mughal Empire and Muslims. They destroyed buildings were destroyed and executed
people. By the beginning of the 20th century, nationalist sentiment began to gain steam. Britain’s ‘divide
and rule’ strategy, begun through its categorization of different cultural groups who internalized these
imposed distinctions, triumphed with the creation of the Muslim League in 1906. By World War II, some
Muslims sought a separate state to preserve their community’s interests. When India, led by the Indian
National Congress, gained independence from Britain, the new state of Pakistan, imagined as a
‘homeland’ for Indian Muslims, was also established.
Lesson Components
Part 1: Pre-Colonial Mughal Empire
 Secondary Text Excerpt
 Sentence Deconstruction
Part 2: The British Colonial Gaze
 Historic Photographs
 Perspective Analysis
Part 3: The Rebellion of 1857
 Secondary Text Excerpts
 Analysis of Pace of Change
Part 4: The Emergence of Identity Politics
 Maps and Secondary Text Excerpts
 Jigsaw: Multiple Causes
Lesson Assessment
 Writing Question: How was British colonial rule responsible for the partition of the Indian
subcontinent into the post-colonial states of India and Pakistan?
 Writing Frame
2
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Standards
History-Social Science Content Standard:
10.4 Students analyze patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism in at least two of the
following regions or countries: Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Latin America, and the Philippines.
10.9 Students analyze the international developments in the post-World World War II world.
9-12 Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills:
Chronological and Spatial Thinking:
1. Students compare the present with the past, evaluating the consequences of past events and
decisions and determining the lessons that were learned.
Common Core Standards: Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 9-12:
Reading: Informational Text
RI.10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending
to such features as the date and origin of the information.
RI.10. 2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an
accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
RI.11-12.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves
matters uncertain.
Common Core Standards: Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies 9-12:
WL. 10. 2. Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific
procedures/experiments, or technical processes.
b. Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions,
concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s
knowledge of the topic.
c. Use varied transitions and sentence structures to link the major sections of the text, create
cohesion, and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.
3
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Resources
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ahmed, Dr. Syed. The Last Days of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in Burma. 31 May 2012.
Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar. From Plassey to Partition. Himayatnagar, Hyderabad:Orient Blackswan Private
Ltd., 2004.
Bartholomew, J.G. Imperial Gazetteer Atlas of India. Oxford University Press, 1909. Annotated by Fowler
& fowler for Wikipedia History of Pakistan, 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India
Graseck, Susan, ed. Indian Independence and the Question of Pakistan. Watson Institute for International
Studies: Brown University, 2005. www.choices.edu
Hali, Altaf Husain. Shikwa-e-Hind, (1888). Included in A. Jalal. ‘Exploding Communalism: The Politics of
Muslim Identity in South Asia’ in S. Bose & A. Jalal (eds.) Nationalism, Democracy & Development: State
and Politics in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998. (Included in Appendix.)
Padukone, Neil. Beyond South Asia: India's Strategic Evolution and the Reintegration of the Subcontinent
(Bloomsbury Publishing: New York) 2014. Available through https://books.google.com/books.
Watson, J. Forbes and John William Kaye. The People of India. Waterloo Place SW: London, 1868.
https://archive.org/details/peopleofindiaser01greauoft
4
Mini-UNIT MAP
Last Unit/Standard
The World Since 1945: The Cold War
Mughal Empire- A multiethnic state, coexistence of
religious and cultural
groups was encouraged
 Religious groups in
administration

Current Unit/Standard
The World Since 1945:
Developing Nations
INDIA (10.9 and 10.10)
Next Unit/Standard
The World Since 1945: Developing Nations:
Africa
Is about
Colonial practices and
beliefs led to the division
of religious coexistence
and the partition of India
and Pakistan
Equality and
opportunity for elites
Rebellion of 1857: Turning Point
 Not an isolated rebellion
British colonialism brings
categorization
 Muslims as natural leaders to
British
 Ethnographic study of different
groups

Several peasant rebellions earlier (18011849) poverty, oppression

British idea that 1857 was Muslim
conspiracy – Mughal emperor figurehead

Muslims bear brunt of British retaliation,
property and opportunities are seized
British Census
 British codify distinctions

Indians internalize
distinctions

Reduced opportunities in
education and trade create
fear for Muslims


Creation of Muslim League
Partition initially used for
leverage, but idea leads to
last minute creation of
Pakistan
Focus Question: How was British colonial rule responsible for the partition of the Indian subcontinent into the post-colonial states of India
and Pakistan?
Teaching Thesis: The Mughal Empire ruled an area that incorporates modern-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Under the minority
Muslim rule of the Mughals, power was shared by elites from diverse religious traditions. Under British colonial power a new model of
politics was imposed, which began to more firmly categorize Indian sub-groups. Indians resisted British colonial rule, culminating in the
Rebellion of 1857 when people from all aspects of Indian society – elites, peasantry, Hindu, and Muslim – came together in opposition of
colonial rule. In the crackdown that followed, the Mughal Empire and Muslims were targeted. Buildings were destroyed and people were
executed. By the beginning of the 20th century, nationalist sentiment began to gain steam. Britain’s ‘divide and rule’ strategy, begun
through its categorization of different cultural groups who then internalized these externally imposed distinctions, triumphed in the
creation of the Muslim League in 1906. By World War II, some Muslims sought a separate state to preserve their community’s interests.
When India, led by the Indian National Congress, gained independence from Britain, the new state of Pakistan, imagined as a ‘homeland’
for Indian Muslims, was also established.
5
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The Pre-Colonial Mughal Empire
Sentence Deconstruction: The Mughal Empire
Summary Question: How were the Mughals able to successfully govern the mulit-ethnic subcontinent for
two centuries?
Directions: Read the excerpted text below. Circle the actors and underline the actions. Then complete
the chart. As you read the text and fill out the chart, pay attention to the author’s argument as to how the
Mughal Empire, which was led by members of the Muslim minority, ruled a multi-ethnic state.
When the Mughal Emperor Babur (d. 1530), a Turkish-speaking monarch originally from the Fergana
valley in modern-day Uzbekistan, seized power in northern India in 1526, he found himself presiding
over a diverse society. Rajput, Jat, Afghan, Turkish, and other elites controlled regional states, peasants
worked India’s rich agricultural countryside, and Jain, Hindu, Muslim and other merchant groups
controlled long-distance trade that linked the subcontinent to markets across Central Asia, Southeast
Asia, Africa and Europe. Over the next two centuries, Babur’s descendants ruled over a multi-ethnic and
multi-religious Indian empire of up to 150 million people. The Mughals cultivated a shared Indo-Persian
culture, within which the use of the Persian language, regardless of ethnicity or religion, granted
educated people access to shared cultural practices that incorporated both Indic and Islamicate elements.
The Mughals cultivated allegiances with local groups like the Hindu Rajputs, both by marriage alliances
and by allowing these rulers to practice regional political autonomy. The Mughal state was primarily
concerned with ensuring a stable environment for trade and agriculture, and rarely interfered in the dayto-day government of local authorities, thus allowing for the flourishing of diverse regional cultures.
Source: Hannah Archambault, “The Mughal Empire,” (UCBHSSP: 2015).
6
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The Pre-Colonial Mughal Empire
Sentence Deconstruction: The Mughal Empire
Time Marker
When
in 1526
Actor – Who?
the Mughal Emperor Babur (d.
1530), a Turkish-speaking
monarch originally from the
Fergana valley in modern-day
Uzbekistan,
He [Mughal Emperor Babur]
Action – What’s happening?
Rajput, Jat, Afghan, Turkish,
and other elites
Jain, Hindu, Muslim and other
merchant groups
Over the next
two centuries,
[The Mughal Emperor] Babur’s
descendants
The Mughals
The Mughals
The Mughal state
Who governed the subcontinent? __________________________ How long did they govern? ___________________
What other groups exercised authority? _______________________________________________________________________
Summary Question: How were the Mughals able to successfully govern the multi-ethnic subcontinent for
two centuries?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The Pre-Colonial Mughal Empire
KEY
Sentence Deconstruction: The Mughal Empire
Time Marker
When
in 1526
Over the next
two centuries,
Actor – Who?
the Mughal Emperor Babur (d.
1530), a Turkish-speaking
monarch originally from the
Fergana valley in modern-day
Uzbekistan,
he [Mughal Emperor Babur]
Action – What’s Happening?
seized power in northern India
Rajput, Jat, Afghan, Turkish,
and other elites
controlled regional states
Jain, Hindu, Muslim and other
merchant groups
controlled long-distance trade that linked the
subcontinent to markets across Central Asia,
Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe.
Babur’s descendants
ruled over a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Indian
empire of up to 150 million people.
The Mughals
cultivated a shared Indo-Persian culture, within
which the use of the Persian language, regardless of
ethnicity or religion, granted educated people access
to shared cultural practices that incorporated both
Indic and Islamicate elements.
cultivated allegiances with local groups like the
Hindu Rajputs, both by marriage alliances and by
allowing these rulers to practice regional political
autonomy.
The Mughals
The Mughal state
found himself presiding over a diverse society.
was primarily concerned with ensuring a stable
environment for trade and agriculture, and rarely
interfered in the day-to-day government of local
authorities, thus allowing for the flourishing of
diverse regional cultures
Who governed the subcontinent? The Mughals
How long did they govern? 200 years
What other groups exercised authority? Elites - Rajput, Jat, Afghan, Turkish; Merchants: Hindu, Jain,
Muslim
Summary Question: How were the Mughals able to successfully govern the multi-ethnic subcontinent for
two centuries?
The Mughals were not originally from India, but they ruled a multi-ethnic society there. Although the
Mughals governed India, they shared authority with leaders from other cultural backgrounds who
controlled trade, practiced religious autonomy, and were provided access to leadership roles through a
shared language and cultural practices.
8
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The British Colonial Gaze
Analyzing Primary Sources: Exploring the British Perspective
Historical Context: These photos are part of a multi-volume collection of photos taken by a British
anthropologist in the 1850s and 1860s and portray the people of many cultural groups and occupations
on the Indian subcontinent. By cataloguing people in this way, the British began increasing the
distinctions among people living on the Indian subcontinent based on their religious and cultural
background in a way that the people themselves had not differentiated before.
Directions: Use the two photographs and accompanying information from The People of India by J.
Forbes Watson and John William Kaye (1868) to make an argument about British perspectives of the
people of India.
Group
Characteristics
Perspective
What is the name of the
group represented?
What physical and non-physical
attributes are used to describe the group?
What did the British
think about this group?
Reflection/
Questions
Summary Question: Based on the photographs, what was the British perspective of the people of India?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The British Colonial Gaze
Directions:
1) Examine the staging of the photographs and read the accompanying text.
2) Underline words that reveal how the British felt about the people of India and how they distinguished
between groups.
Source 1
Source 2
“They are well made and active men; possessing the thick lips, high
cheekbones, and spread nose of the Bheed, Cole, and other hill tribes,
and nearly beardless; quiet, inoffensive, cheerful, intelligent, and
obliging; timid, cowardly towards mankind, but leave when confronted
with wild animals.
They are industrious cultivators, and enjoy their existence
unfettered by caste; they eat beef, kid, pork, poultry, drink a spirit called
pachui, and have no objection to a hearty dance; but, on the other hand,
do not refuse to eat even snakes, ants, frogs, and field rats, when better
diet is scarce. The Sonthal women are fat and short, and though not
pretty according to the European idea of beauty, have a very pleasing
expression of countenance. The men are generally five feet six inches in
height, and weigh about eight stone.”
“The complexion and mode of lift of the Domes indicate the
difference of this race from all the other classes of people residing in
Behar.
There are no means of obtaining any information any information
which may throw light upon their early history; suffice it to say that the
Hindoos admit their claim to antiquity. Their designation in the Shastras
is Sopackh, meaning dog-eaters.
They are found in every village in Behar, though they have fixed
habitations nowhere.
They profess the Hindoo religion, and worship Babe, Sookdeo, and
the Debee. They eat the food prepared by all the Hindoo castes, excepting
Dhobee (washerman) and Chamar (shoemaker).
They make bamboo baskets, mats, and chicks, or blinds, by which the
earn about two annas per diem; but are so fond of drinking, that they
spend nearly the whole of it in spirits, and lead a most miserable life,
little better than that of a mendicant or Finqueer.”
Source: J. Forbes Watson and John William Kaye, The People of India, (Waterloo Place SW: London), 1868.
10
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The British Colonial Gaze
Analyzing Primary Sources: Exploring the British Perspective
KEY
Historical Context: These photos are part of a multi-volume collection of photos taken by a British
anthropologist in the 1850s and 1860s and portray the people of many cultural groups and occupations
on the Indian subcontinent. By cataloguing people in this way, the British began increasing the
distinctions among people living on the Indian subcontinent based on their religious and cultural
background in a way that the people themselves had not differentiated before.
Directions: Use the two photographs and accompanying information from The People of India by J.
Forbes Watson and John William Kaye (1868) to make an argument about British perspectives of the
people of India.
Group
Characteristics
Perspective
What is the name of the
group represented?
What physical and non-physical
attributes are used to describe the group?
What did the British
think about this group?
Well-made, active men
Quiet, ineffective, cheerful,
intelligent
Cowards to men, brave with
animals
Little consequence
of threatening
British rule, not
worthy of ruling
Wanderers; Dog-eaters
Stuck in the past
Simple life
Waste money
Abuse alcohol
Low status, less
than the British,
not modern
Sonthal
Dome Hindu
Outcast
Reflection/
Questions
Summary Question: Based on the photographs, what was the British perspective of the people of India?
The British highlighted differences among the people of India through systems of classification. In this
source set, they identify traits that were likely to not be valued by the British or that the British would not
fear as a challenge to their authority.
11
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The Rebellion of 1857
Compare & Contrast: A Turning Point - The Rebellion of 1857
Historical Context: Indians from all economic and cultural backgrounds resisted British colonial rule.
Scattered, locally-based uprisings took place throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1857,
soldiers (sepoys) launched a rebellion that spread among many different groups and locales. The Mughal
emperor, who had governed a multi-ethnic pre-colonial state, was recruited to serve as the
representative of this anti-British movement.
Directions: Annotate the following three excerpts of secondary text. Underline words that help explain
the rate of change. Then, using the three passages, complete the compare and contrast organizer.
Early Uprisings
The Rebellion of 1857
Time Frame
Participants
Leaders
Cause(s)
Consequence(s)
Rate of Change
Who were the groups opposing British rule? __________________________________________________________________
What group(s) did the British blame? __________________________________________________________________________
A turning point is an event in history that alters the pace and direction of change. If the 1857
Rebellion is viewed as a turning point with relation to the position of Muslims on the subcontinent of
India, what changed as a result of this uprising?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
12
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The Rebellion of 1857
Excerpt 1: Peasant Uprisings As for the leadership of these peasant rebellions [from 1801-1849], it came from
the ranks of the rebels themselves. Since the leaders belonged to the same cultural world of the peasants and
tribals whom they led, they could provide more effective leadership. The mobilization took place along community
lines . . . . The colonial rural societies experienced varying degrees of tension between class, cast, ethnic and
religious groups, which were articulated in a violent condition of oppression and poverty in the countryside.
Religion in many cases provided the bond of unity among the poorer classes and the leaders were the holy men
who promised a new millennium to be achieved through supernatural means. . . . . The holy leaders referred to the
loss of a moral world and thus expressed the anxieties of the peasants in religious idioms [language]. Religion thus
provided legitimacy to their movements. In such revolutionary messianism [divine inspiration], the charismatic
leaders were thought to be endowed with magical power; their empowering was thus an act of God. The rebellion
was therefore divinely ordained and legitimized through reference to a higher authority. This provided both an
ideology as well as motivation for peasant action.
Excerpt 2: The Sepoy Rebellion . . . In the following days [after the hanging of Mangal Panday] incidents of
disobedience, incendiarism [burning of property], and arson were reported from the army cantonments [camps]
and Ambala, Lucknow, and Meerut [areas with larger Muslim populations], until finally the Meerut sepoys
[soldiers] started the revolt on 10 May [1857]. They rescued their arrested comrades who had previously refused
to accept the new cartridge [covered in animal lard], killed their European officers and proceeded to Delhi
whereon 11th May they proclaimed the aging Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar the emperor of Hindustan . . . .
Another contentious issue about the revolt of 1857 is its nature, and the debate over it started almost
instantaneously as it happened. Some contemporaries thought it was a Muslim conspiracy to restore the Mughal
empire . . . .
Source: Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, From Plassey to Partition, Himayatnagar,
Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. (2004).
Excerpt 3: The Last Days of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in Burma [S]epoys and cavalrymen from
Meerut numbering 300 rode into Delhi in the morning and massacred Christian men, women and children they
could find in the city, and proclaimed Bahadur Shah [the 82 year old Mughal emperor] as their leader and emperor.
Bahadur Shah gave his blessing to the sepoys . . . . They have looked upon him as the source of honour, and, more
than this, he [was] the rallying point. . . . Within 4 months the uprising was crushed by the British with a strong
hand. Poets and princes, mullahs and merchants, Sufis and scholars were hunted down and hanged. Palaces,
mosques, shrines, gardens and houses of Mughal Delhi were destroyed. The properties of the Muslims were
confiscated. All the leaders of the uprising were either killed or drove out of India.
13
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
The Rebellion of 1857
Source: Dr. Syed Ahmed, The Last Days of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in Burma, 31 May 2012.
KEY
Compare & Contrast: A Turning Point - The Rebellion of 1857
Historical Context: Indians from all economic and cultural backgrounds resisted British colonial rule.
Scattered, locally-based uprisings took place throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1857,
soldiers (sepoys) launched a rebellion that spread among many different groups and locales. The Mughal
emperor, who had governed a multi-ethnic pre-colonial state, was recruited to serve as the
representative of this anti-British movement.
Directions: Annotate the following three excerpts of secondary text. Underline words that help explain
the rate of change. Then, using the three passages, complete the compare and contrast organizer.
Early Uprisings
The Rebellion of 1857
Time Frame
1801-1849
1857
Participants
Peasants
Soldiers [and others join in as well]
Holy men
Mangal Panday/Soldiers/Mughal
Emperor
Oppression and poverty
Hanging of Mangal Panday, new
cartridges greased in fat
Series of isolated uprisings with no
major change.
Upper class and religious leaders
persecuted and killed, buildings
destroyed – target Muslim elite, seize
Muslim property, lrebellion leaders
eaders exiled or killed.
Slow/Gradual
Fast/Abrupt/Immediate
Leaders
Cause
Consequence
Rate of Change
A Turning Point: The 1857 Rebellion
Who were the groups opposing British rule?
What group(s) did the British blame?
Peasants as well as soldiers.
Mughals and Muslims
A turning point is an event in history that alters the pace and direction of change. If the 1857
Rebellion is viewed as a turning point with relation to the position of Muslims in South Asia, what
changed as a result of this uprising? Though a number of groups participated in the rebellion, the British
targeted the Muslim leaders. Though the Mughal emperor served as a leader, for all the rebels, the British
viewed him as a leader of Muslims and blamed this group for the uprising.
14
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Emergence of Identity Politics
Corroborating Sources: A Muslim Minority Identity
Historical Context: Muslims had been one of a number of religious and cultural groups on the Indian
subcontinent. Under colonial rule, identity categories became more fixed. As independence neared, the
categories imposed by the British created division among diverse people who a century earlier had lived
amicably and shared power.
Directions: Read one of the text excerpts or the set of maps and respond to the summary question based
on the evidence provided. Take notes on the answers given about the other sources in order to create a
synthesized argument.
Summary Question: How did the size of the Muslim population influence how they envisioned their
position in India?
Source 1
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source 2
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source 3
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Synthesis of arguments: ___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
15
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Emergence of Identity Politics
Summary Question: How did the size of the Muslim population influence how they envisioned their
position in India?
Source 1:
In India, under British rule, the nature of identity changed in a way that would ultimately have an
important impact on the events leading to independence. In 1871, the British conducted the first all-India
census, which categorized all Indians by their religion. Historians believe that the use of these categories
created images, for both the British and Indians, of large communities united by a common definition that
transcended all differences. This contributed to the development of political communities and separate
electorates. Historians also connected these developments to the growth of religious reform movements
among Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs.
Source: Ed. Susan Graseck, Indian Independence and the Question of Pakistan
(Watson Institute for International Studies: Brown University, Rhode Is.), 2005.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Summary Question: How did the size of the Muslim population influence how they envisioned their
position in India?
Source 2:
Increasing sectarianism [attention to differences within a group] led even moderate Muslim leaders to
grow wary of working with [the Indian National] Congress. Some feared that a representative democracy,
like Great Britain’s, would not work in India. They believed the Hindu majority would overwhelm the
Muslim minority. Some also felt that the Muslims had fallen behind Hindus in formal education, which
was now based upon English instead of Persian. Muslims also participated far less in commerce, industry,
and local government.
Source: Ed. Susan Graseck, Indian Independence and the Question of Pakistan
(Watson Institute for International Studies: Brown University, Rhode Is.), 2005.
16
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Emergence of Identity Politics
Summary Question: How did the size of the Muslim population influence how they envisioned their position in India?
Prevailing Religion:
Hindus
Prevailing Religion:
Muslims
Prevailing Religions:
Buddhists, Sikhs, & Jains
Source: J.G. Bartholomew. Imperial Gazetteer Atlas of India. Oxford University Press, 1909.
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Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Emergence of Identity Politics
Corroborating Sources: A Muslim Minority Identity
KEY
Historical Context: Muslims had been one of a number of religious and cultural groups on the Indian
subcontinent. Under colonial rule, identity categories became more fixed. As independence neared, the
categories imposed by the British created division among diverse people who a century earlier had lived
amicably and shared power.
Directions: Read one of the text excerpts or the set of maps and respond to the summary question based
on the evidence provided. Take notes on the answers given about the other sources in order to create a
synthesized argument.
Summary Question: How did the size of the Muslim population influence how they envisioned their
position in India?
Source 1: The introduction of the census by British colonial agents sharpened distinctions among
cultural groups in India. As the British began to cite distinctions among groups, members of those groups
began to see themselves in a new way. Muslims would begin to see their identity as distinct from that of
others. And other Indians would also see themselves as different from Muslims.
Source 2: Muslims began to fear -- based on their numerical size within India, decreased role in economic
ventures and local government, and low rates of formal schooling – that their political voice would be
overshadowed by the newly defined Hindu majority.
Source 3: According to these British-developed maps that show the ability to map groups through the
data they collected, Muslims were concentrated in the north, whereas Hindus were located throughout all
of India. In present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, Muslims were 20-50% of the population, but they lived
in much smaller numbers throughout the rest of India. In the areas that Muslims were most concentrated,
other religions -- such as Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains – also resided, though in smaller numbers and
concentrations.
Synthesis of arguments: These three sources provide evidence that Muslims felt increasingly
marginalized in India. British categories hardened distinctions among groups. As individuals began to
organize politically around religious categories, Muslims worried that their rights and traditions would
not be protected in an independent India.
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Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Emergence of Identity Politics
Multiple Causes: A Separate State
Historical Context: The British government pitted the Muslim League against the Indian National
Congress. The Muslim League was founded in 1906 to protect minority interests. This “divide and rule”
strategy culminated during WWII when the Muslim League was cultivated as a “loyalist” ally against the
Congress. In the immediate post-WWII period, the League gained crucial electoral support from Indian
Muslims and pressed for the creation of a separate Muslim-led state.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah [leader of the Muslim League] sought to use the “Pakistan question” as a way to
gain leverage against the Indian National Congress rather than create a separate nation-state; Great
Britain wanted to create a buffer state between India (and the Arabian Sea) and the Soviet Union to give
the western bloc greater strategic depth in the emerging Cold War; and Jawaharlal Nehru [leader of the
Indian National Congress] resisted compromise with the Muslim League, initially dismissing it as a fringe
group with little backing, though it later came to win massive electoral support. All these factors
ultimately influenced the creation of “The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
Source: Neil Padukone, Beyond South Asia: India's Strategic Evolution and the Reintegration of the Subcontinent
(Bloomsbury Publishing: New York) 2014.
Leader/Country
Perspective on Pakistan
________________________
________________________
Summary Question: According to the text, what were some of the factors that led to the partition of
Pakistan?
18
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Emergence of Identity Politics
KEY
Multiple Causes: A Separate State
Historical Context: The British government pitted the Muslim League against the Indian National
Congress. The Muslim League was founded in 1906 to protect minority interests. This “divide and rule”
strategy culminated during WWII when the Muslim League was cultivated as a “loyalist” ally against the
Congress. In the immediate post-WWII period, the League gained crucial electoral support from Indian
Muslims and pressed for the creation of a separate Muslim-led state.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah [leader of the Muslim League] sought to use the “Pakistan question” as a way to
gain leverage against the Indian National Congress rather than create a separate nation-state; Great
Britain wanted to create a buffer state between India (and the Arabian Sea) and the Soviet Union to give
the western bloc greater strategic depth in the emerging Cold War; and Jawaharlal Nehru [leader of the
Indian National Congress] resisted compromise with the Muslim League, initially dismissing it as a fringe
group with little backing, though it later came to win massive electoral support. All these factors
ultimately influenced the creation of “The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Source: Padukone, Neil. Beyond South Asia: India's Strategic Evolution and the Reintegration of the Subcontinent
(Bloomsbury Publishing: New York, 2014).
Leader/Country
Perspective on Pakistan
Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, leader of the
Muslim League
Gain leverage in
Indian National
Congress
Great Britain
Buffer state between
USSR and India
Jawaharalal Nehru
Did not take it
seriously
The creation of
Pakistan
Summary Question: According to the text, what were some of the factors that led to the partition of
Pakistan?
Although Muslim leaders, like Muhammad Ali Jinnah, used the idea of a separate state as leverage in the
arguments for an independent India and Jawaharal Nehru dismissed the argument as inconsequential,
the British saw the usefulness of a separate state to serve as a buffer between India and the Soviet Union,
giving the idea greater legitimacy.
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Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Charting Perspective
Pre-Writing Chart: British and Indian Perspectives
Pre-Colonial Conditions
(Mughal Empire)
Emerging British Rule
The Rebellion of 1857
Late 19th/Early 20th c.
British
Perspective
Indian
Perspective
Summary Question: How did Indian identities evolve under British colonial rule?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Charting Perspective
KEY
Pre-Writing Chart: British and Indian Perspectives
Pre-Colonial Conditions
(Mughal Empire)
British
Perspective
Indian
Perspective
Emerging British Rule
The Rebellion of 1857
Late 19th/Early 20th c.
British begin to categorize
Indians and see them as less
than British.
Caused by Mughal emperor,
who, because he was
Muslim, was seen as a
leader of only Muslims in
British eyes. Felt a
heightened need to stop the
opposition, particularly,
among Muslims.
The Mughal emperor was
the last leader of a multiethnic subcontinent. Indians
expressed shared
grievances against British
rule with the emperor as a
symbolic leader of all.
British tried to play
different religious groups
off of each other to maintain
control.
Diverse communities lived
under local political regimes
linked to the Mughal
Empire.
Different cultural groups
begin to see themselves
according to the identities
reinforced by the British
through the census, etc.
Begin to organize politically
along religious lines.
Summary Question: How did Indian identities evolve under British colonial rule?
While the Mughals governed a multi-ethnic state that allowed elites from many cultural groups to maintain power and allowed for the
expression of different cultural practices, the British attempted to create more fixed identity categories. Ultimately members of the different
cultural groups internalized the categories reinforced by the British colonial government and began to organize along these lines.
21
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Lesson Assessment
Lesson Focus Question: How was British colonial rule responsible for the partition of the Indian
subcontinent into the post-colonial states of India and Pakistan?
Directions: Using the writing frame below, answer the focus question. Be sure to include evidence and
analysis from your organizers to support your answer.
Thesis Statement:____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Evidence (Pre—Colonial):___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Analysis:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Relevance: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Evidence (Colonial Rule):____________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Analysis:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Relevance: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Concluding statement (Late 19th/Early 20th): _____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
22
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Appendix – Additional Resources
Shikwa-e-Hind
by Altaf Husain Hali (1888)
Farewell O Hindustan, O autumnless garden
We your homeless quests have stayed too long
Laden though we are today with complaints
The marks of your past favors are upon us still
You treated strangers like relations
We were quests but you made us the hosts
....
You gave us wealth, government and dominion
For which of your many kindness should we express gratitude
But such hospitality is ultimately unsustainable
All that you gave you kept in the end
Well, one has a right to one’s own property
Take it from whoever you want, give it to whoever you will
Pull out our tongues the very instant
They forgetfully utter a word of complaint about this
But the complaint is that what we brought with us
That too you took away and turned us into beggars
....
You’ve turned lions into lowly being, O Hind
Those who were Afghan hunters came here to become the hunted ones
We were convinced that adversity would befall us in time
And we O Hind would be devoured by you
So long as O Hindustan we were not called Hindi
We had some graces which were not found in others
....
You’ve made our condition frightening
We had some graces which were not found in others.
Source: Altaf Husain Hali, Shikwa-e-Hind, (1888). Included in A. Jalal. ‘Exploding Communalism: The Politics of Muslim Identity
in South Asia’ in S. Bose & A. Jalal (eds.) Nationalism, Democracy & Development: State and Politics in India (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1998) pp. 76-103.
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Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Appendix – Additional Resources
British Indian Empire: 1909
Prevailing Religion: Hindu
Source: J.G. Bartholomew. Imperial Gazetteer Atlas of India. Oxford University Press, 1909.
24
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Appendix – Additional Resources
British Indian Empire: 1909
Prevailing Religion: Muslim
Source: J.G. Bartholomew. Imperial Gazetteer Atlas of India. Oxford University Press, 1909.
25
Religion Unbound: Evolving Identities in India
Appendix – Additional Resources
British Indian Empire: 1909
Prevailing Religions: Buddhists, Sikhs, & Jains
Source: J.G. Bartholomew. Imperial Gazetteer Atlas of India. Oxford University Press, 1909.
26