History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c8.s17.14

v1.c8.s17.14

One of the most startling facts brought out by the census, is that about one-third of the population of Eastern Bengal are Muhammadan—25,500,000, out of 74,750,000—while in the United Provinces the Muhammadans are scarcely more than 1-6th—4,567,000 among 25,430,000; and in Madras little more than 1-15th. It thus looks more like a matter of feeling than of race; it seems that as the inhabitants of Bengal were Buddhists, and clung to that faith long after it had disappeared in other parts of India, they came in contact with the Moslim religion before they had adopted the modern form of Vaishnavism, and naturally preferred a faith which acknowledged no caste, and freed them from the exactions and tyranny of a dominant priesthood. The Muhammadan religion is in fact much more like Buddhism than are any of the modern Hindû forms, and when this non-Aryan casteless population came in contact with it and they were free to choose, after the mysterious evaporation of their old beliefs, they adopted the religion most resembling that in which they had been brought up. It is only in this way that it seems possible to account for the predominance of the Moslim religion in Lower Bengal¹ and in the Panjâb, where the followers of the Prophet outnumber the Hindûs, in the proportion of 3 to 2, or as 14,000,000 in a population of 20,300,000.