The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v2.c29.2

v2.c29.2

My first and most serious difficulty sprang from the insufficiently known fact that while the Hindu period of Bengal history, in almost every part of it has been worked over by a large number of modern scholars producing fruits of a high standard,—the Muslim period, except for a few reigns still remains unexplored ground, and we are still encompassed by almost the same mist of tradition and the deceptive light of pious frauds, which baffled Captain Charles Stewart when he attempted the first History of Bengal in English 130 years ago. Even the chronology of many of the early Muslim rulers of Bengal is still unsettled, as their coins are so few and so badly executed that their dates cannot be read with certainty. This want of modern research has been most acutely felt in respect of the social, economic and cultural history of mediaeval Bengal, the only exception being the studies in Vaishnavism, which, however, relate to the Mughal period. The students of our province's economic history have concentrated their attention on the British period and the late 17th century British trade in Bengal, while in respect of the rest of the country's history during the Muslim period, the surface has been hardly scratched.