From Al-Beruni to Jinnah: Idiom, Ritual and Ideology of the Hindu-Muslim Confrontation in South Asia
Author(s)
Gaborieau, Marc
Abstract
Some countries of South Asia, particularly India and Nepal, have built for the outside world images of themselves as lands of tolerance and peaceful coexistence of all religions. These views are disseminated through political and religious propaganda. But these highly speculative views do not reflect the actual behavior of the religious communities in South Asia. Conflicts break out often; in particular the current conflict between Hindus and Sikhs in the Indian Punjab and the Hindu Tamils and the Buddhist Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. This article goes through the historical reasons for the conflicts, analyzes the idioms of opposition, superiority and confrontation, and finally studies the rise of a new ideology based on age old idiom and ritual.
