Page:Monier Monier-Williams - Indian Wisdom.djvu/24

 now form about one-sixth (or, according to the last census, about forty-one millions) of the entire population, a large number of them are supposed to be the descendants of Hindus converted to Islam1.

1 The total number of Muhammadans in the Bengal provinces alone is 20,664,775—probably more than in any other country of the globe; so that if England had merely these provinces, she would stand at the head of all Muhammadan powers, ruling more Mussulmans than the present representative of the Khalifs himself (see p. xxxv, note i). The great bulk of Indian Muhammadans are Sunnls (see p. xlii), very few Shi'as being found in Bengal, or indeed in any part of India (except Oude, and a few districts where there are descendants of Persian families). It is noteworthy that in Behar the mass of the people is Hindu, and singularly enough it is not in the great Mogul capitals of Bengal, such as Dacca, Gaur, and Murshidabad, that the Muslims are most numerous, but among the peasants and cultivating classes. Sir George Campbell has remarked that in Bengal the Musalman invasion found Hinduism resting on weak foundations. Its hold on the affections of the people was weak. The Aryan element was only able to hold its own by frequent importation of fresh blood from Tipper India. Hence it happened that when the Muslim conquerors invaded the lower Delta with the sword and the Kuran, they were not wholly unwelcome. They proclaimed equality among a people kept down by caste. Hence in Bengal great masses became Muhammadans, being induced to embrace Islam by the social elevation it gave them. In the North-west provinces and neighbourhood of the great Mogul capital Delhi, where the Hindus have always been more spirited and independent, there are only about four million Muealmans. In the Paujab, however, there are nearly -nine millions and a half.

One grand distinction between Islam and Hinduism is, that the former is ever spreading and seeking converts, whereas the latter, theoretically, can never do so. A Brahman is born, not made. Practically, however, any number of persons may form themselves into a new caste by community of occupation, and the Brahmans of the present day are ready to accept them as Hindus.