SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is a study of some aspects of Hindu-Muslim relationships in India between 1876 and 1892. These years have been chosen because within them a decisive shift in those relationships occurred. The first chapter first shows Hindus and Muslims in harmony in their political relationships, and ready, down to 1885, to act conjointly in defence or pursuit of common interests. The second chapter traces the growth of ill-feeling between the two communities, and examines the social and political roots of that ill-feeling. The third chapter examines a series of important communal riots which occurred between 1885 and 1892, seeks to establish their causes, and shows how they helped harden ill-feeling into settled and divisive hostility between the two communities.