The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 [First Edition] 9780520205079

In all of the South Asian subcontinent, Bengal was the region most receptive to the Islamic faith. This area today is ho

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The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 [First Edition]
 9780520205079

Table of contents :
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Note on Translation and Transliteration
Acknowledgments
Introduction

PART ONE BENGAL UNDER THE SULTANS
1. Before the Turkish Conquest
Bengal in Prehistory
Early Indo-Aryan Influence in Bengal
The Rise of Early Medieval Hindu Culture
The Diffusion of Bengali Hindu Civilization

2. The Articulation of Political Authority
Perso-Islamic Conceptions of Political Authority,
Eleventh-Thirteenth Centuries
A Province of the Delhi Sultanate, 1204-1342
The Early Bengal Sultanate, 1342-ca. 1400
The Rise of Raja Ganesh (ca. 1400-1421)
Sultan ]alai al-Din Muhammad (1415-32) and His Political
Ideology
The Indigenization of Royal Authority, 1433-1538
Summary

3. Early Sufis of the Delta
The Question of Sufis and Front-ier Warfare
Bengali Sufis and Hindu Thought
Sufis of the Capital

4. Economy, Society, and Culture
The Political Economy of the Sultanate
Ashraf and Non-Ashraf Society
Hindu Society- Responses to the Conquest
Hindu Religion- the Siva-Siilcta Complex
Hindu Religion- the Vaishnava Complex

5. Mass Conversion to Islam: Theories and Protagonists
Four Conventional Theories of Islamization in India
Theories of Islamization in Bengal
The Appearance of a Bengali Muslim Peasantry
Summary

PART TWO BENGAL UNDER THE MUGHALS
6. The Rise of Mughal Power
The Afghan Age, 1537-1612
The Early Mughal Experience in Bengal, 1574-1610
The Consolidation of Mughal Authority, 1610-1704
Summary

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