Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/304

 BENGAL.

294 not in the

great

most numerous.

madans

Muhammadan

are very slightly in excess of

contained

the

the

that

capitals

Musalmans

In Dacca, long their seat of government, the earlier

capital,

Hindus

Gaur, the



in

Maldah

are

Muham-

District,

which

Muhammadans form

only

46 per cent, of the population ; in Murshidabad, 48 per cent. ; in Patna they form 12 per cent., and even in Patna city itself not more than 24 per cent. On the other hand, apart from the Districts already mentioned, in Eakarganj, Tipperah, and Maimansingh they constitute two-thirds of the population; and in Dinajpur, Rangpur, Nadiya, Khulna, Jessor, and Faridpur, more than one half. Mlierever the Muhammadans form the bulk of the population in Bengal, it will be found that they are the cultivating classes of the people, while the upper and mercantile classes are Hindus, and the very low classes are semiHindus, probably for the most part aboriginal in blood. All the sailors

Muhammadans. The number of Muhammadans in Behar is comparatively small. They chiefly belong to the upper orders, and live in towns such as Patna, Barh, and Behar. The great body of the cultivating classes in Behar are still Hindus. The fabric of Hinduism was too firm in the north to be shaken by the Musalmfin invasion, and the new faith of the eastern Districts are

produced few converts.

Although aboriginal

tribes are

in Behar, they probably did not during the era of

still

to be found

Musalman conquest

form so large a percentage of the population as in the delta of Bengal. Swept on before the earlier Aryan tide of immigration, large numbers of them had been exterminated, or driven dowm the Gangetic valley, or The Aryan element in Behar fled into the wilds of Chutia Nagpur. was thus left to itself, and seems to have consolidated its position sufficiently to be able to resist the shock of a proselytizing faith like Islam. In Bengal Proper this was not the case. The Muhammadans found Hinduism there resting on weak foundations, and with but a The Aryan element feeble hold on the great bulk of the inhabitants. from the north, so far from displacing the children of the soil in Lower Bengal, only held its own by frequent importations of fresh Brahman blood from Upper India. Thus it happened that, when the Musalman conquerors of Hindustan invaded the lower delta with the sword and They proclaimed the Koran, they were not altogether unwelcome. equality, and broke down the trammels of caste. In Lower Bengal, Hinduism succumbed, and great masses of the people embraced the faith of

Muhammad.

—

Europeans and Eurasians The Census of 1872 returned the Europeans and non-Asiatics within the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal (including Eurasians) at 37,414. Their number, according to the Census of 1881, was 39,473. In regard to their local distribution .

among

the

four

Provinces

of

the

Lieutenant

-

Governorship,

the