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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Infonnadon Company 300 North Zed) Road, Ann Aibor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 MUSLIM INDIA IN ANGLO-INDIAN RCTION DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Benazir Durdana, M.A. **** The Ohio State University 1997 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor David Riede, Adviser Professor Mark Conroy Professor Cathy Shuman Adviser Department of English UMI Number: 9731614 UMI Microform 9731614 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyright by Benazir Durdana 1997 ABSTRACT British political ascendancy in India was achieved by the defeat of an alternate imperial presence, that of the Mughuls. During the next two centuries, Indian Muslims continued to present a complex front of strength and disempowerment and British power was sustained in a hostile environment by constant vigilance. Not the least of the strategies employed to maintain political control was verbal abasement, which existed alongside military action, diplomacy, economic exploitation and social manipulation to demonstrate British superiority. The British attitude towards Indian Muslims was further influenced by the long history of rivalry between Islam and the West. The combined impact of such deep-seated cultural antipathies and the contemporary political needs of imperialism led the British to depict Indian Muslims as a particularly ignoble and dangerous community. This image often conflicted with the larger historical role played by Muslims on the sub-continent, as well as with specific personal interactions between British and Muslim individuals. Philip Meadows Taylor, Rudyard Kipling and E. M. Forster have all observed Muslim India closely but all three writers have allowed cultural prejudice to influence their work. This contradictory outlook, sometimes conscious and sometimes unconscious, has worked itself into a curiously dual portaiture of Indian Muslims in Anglo-Indian fiction. At a superficial level, duality exists as a common personality trait in Muslim characters. At a deeper level, duality marks the divided perception aimed at Muslims by Anglo-Indian writers and results in a complex amalgam of sentiments: hostility, codescension, loathing, fear, fascination and envy. Anglo-Indian fiction merges pluralities of the Islamic experience into a monolithic pattern, which is dehumanized at the same time to serve the interest of polarization. However, in sharp contrast to an intention to polarize Muslim identity as one totally opposed to the western psyche, the authors' duality of perception actually exposes hidden affinities between the two cultures and betrays inherent conflicts in the western self-image. The ideological traps in building such polarities are particularly evident in the characterization of Muslim women in Anglo-Indian fiction, where the combined effects of culture and patriarchism throw into relief hidden contradictions of value. The diminution of Indian Muslims in Anglo-Indian fiction is therefore tied to a built-in strategy of denial. The need for denial is dictated specifically by the dynamics of a latent fraternity between the two cultures. This denial of fraternity operates both ways; the tropes of denial embedded in the discourse of British imperialism is countered by the denial implicit in the desecularised Islamic discourse adopted by Indian Muslims as a step towards political freedom. The legacy of colonialism survives today as a split in the Indian Muslim community. Opposite patterns of disavowal are being adopted, one defensively against the West and the other introspectively against religion. The tumult over Rushdie's alleged desecration of Islam has paradoxically raised scholarly consciousness about the religion, both among Muslims and non-Muslims. In the reverse dynamics of present, post-migratory global culture, such a consciousness may well look back at the role of Muslim intellectuals in colonial India. lU In memory of my father, who showed me the enlightened face of Islam IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my adviser. Professor David Riede, for conducting my project from halfway across the world, with all the difficulties that has entailed. He has consistently provided me with expert critical opinion, prompted new directions of inquiry and encouraged me through periods of desperation. This work would not have been possible without his support. I am grateful to Professor Ruth Lindeborg for taking a keen interest in my subject. She has read through my drafts repeatedly and meticulously, identifying weaknesses in thought and argumentation, and suggested various improvements. The present structure of this dissertation owes much to her critical advice. I must thank Amina Shafiqullah, Firdous Azim and Fakrul Alam for giving me access to their personal collection of fictional and critical works. In the absence of a well-equipped research library, this was of invaluable assistance to me. Thanks are also due to Sonia Nishat Amin, who introduced me to one of the lesser-known Bengali novels I have used in my discussion. My writing would have been greatly impoverished were it not for the efforts of my brother Asheque, cousin Hedayet and nephew Rurrunan who procured many hard to find books for me. I am indebted to my son, Faiyaz, for guiding me through the intricacies of word processing. In the final stages of formatting and printing, I was helped by my nephew, Shoeb. Last but not least, I must thank my husband, Zakaria, and daughter, Farah, for freeing me from all domestic obligations so that I could concentrate my efforts on the writing of this dissertation. VTTA June 21, 1952.......................................................................... Bom - Dhaka, Bangladesh 1976..................................................................................................B. A. - Smith College 1985.......................................................................................M. A. - University of Alberta 1977-Present............................................................................Faculty, Dhaka University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract.................................................................................................................................ii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments................................................................................................................v Vita.......................................................................................................................................vi List of Abbreviations.......................................................................................................... x Chapters 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... I 2. Historicization of the Image of Islam During British Rule in India .......................24 3. Overlooking Pluralities: Subject and Perspectives................................................ 50 4. Dehumanization of Muslim Characters ................................................................... 77 5. Portraying Muslim Women: Purdah as Defense and Strategy ............................ 109 6. Unwilling Brothers: Gestures of Alienation ......................................................... 159 7. Desecularization of Islam as Counter-Denial.......................................................188 8. Between Deference and Disavowal: The Colonial Text of Embarrassment 223 Epilogue ....................................................................................................................253 Notes................................................................................................................................ 262 Glossary ...........................................................................................................................270