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Home , Shuddhi (Hinduism)

Mass Conversions to among Indian Muslims

Yoginder Sikand Manjari Katju

In cases of mass conversion of Muslims to Hinduism, the central thrust has been on their de-Islamisation rather than on their accepting the Hindu religion. The Muslim castes which have been particularly vulnerable to Hindu missionary efforts have been those which are only nominally Muslim and retain many Hindu customs and beliefs. Most of the mass conversions have occurred among Muslim Rajput groups. The Hindu missionaries, too, have shown an inordinate interest in converting the socially dominant and powerful Muslim Rajputs and not the 'lower' Muslim castes who form the majority of the Indian Muslim population. Finally, the mass conversions have mostly occurred in the backward regions of northern India where feudalism is still largely intact and where brahminism has not been challenged by assertive 'lower' castes.

THE origin of the term 'Hindu' can be traced and, in turn, the chieftains would recognise lacks a set of fundamental tenets binding to the ancient Persians who employed to the as their spiritual preceptors and upon all its followers, entry of non- refer to the inhabitants of India who were would grant them extensive landholdings as cannot be instantaneous. Hence, 'conver- unified not by belief in any single set of well as other forms of state patronage. Grad- sion' to Hinduism occurred as the result of religious doctrines but by membership in ually, the brahminical values, customs and a long process involving not the acceptance hierarchically arranged 'jatis' (castes) which beliefs would then filter down from the of any particular religious doctrine but, rather, collectively formed what was known as the chieftains to their subjects leading to their the imbibing of brahminical cultural norms ' vyavastha' (caste system). What eventual Hinduisation and their absorption legitimising the caste system, This went along today goes under the name of the 'sanatan into the caste system, mainly as sudras with the discarding of customs incompatible ' (Hinduism) refers essentially to the (untouchables and menial castes). with these cultural norms. duties and rights of individuals as members Today, however, this unorganised This gradual process of Hinduisation of castes into which they are born, the dharma Hinduisation process is being supplemented through cultural change is, however, today of each caste being different. Hence, caste, with planned and organised missionary ef- being added to by Hindu missionary groups and not any common set of religious beliefs forts of such groups as the , the which conduct 'shuddhi karan' ('purifica- and customs, forms the bedrock of the Hindu Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya tion rituals' or conversion ceremonies) of religion and social order. Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the non-Hindus, who become Hindus immedi- Unlike, for instance, Islam and Christia- Mission, etc. These outfits do not restrict ately upon the completion of the initiation nity, Hinduism lacks any creed which non- themselves merely to the propagation of rites.1 Hindus are required to accept in order to religious tenets, but also run a network of In India the closest ties that an individual enter the Hindu fold. Theoretically, since schools, dispensaries and community- has are with members of his or her own caste birth in a particular Hindu caste alone qual- service centres for many of the non-Hindu or jati. The jati is an endogamous, com- ifies one to be considered a Hindu, non- groups among whom they are proselytising. mensual unit affording security as well as Hindus cannot convert to the sanatana Traditionally, Hinduisation of non-Hindu an identity to its members. Membership of dharma. However, the spread of Hinduism groups occurred in a very gradual fashion a jati is restricted only to those who are born from the Hindu heartland of 'aryavarta' (the over a long period of time, sometimes ex- into it. It is difficult, if not impossible, for Gangetic belt of ), not only to the tending over several generations. This was a Hindu to exist in isolation from his or her rest of the subcontinent but even to far-off because it was essentially an extended pro- own particular jati. Hence conversions in Indo-China, Malaysia and Indonesia in cess of cultural transformation. In this sense, India to or from Hinduism (or any other ancient times suggests that in actual practise therefore, it would not be entirely proper to religion for that matter) generally take the it has been possible for non-Hindu groups speak of 'conversion' to Hinduism since form of mass conversions. Entire jatis con- to be Hinduised. This Hinduisation process non-Hindus admitted into the Hindu caste vert together instead of isolated individuals is, in fact, still under way among many system were not required to accept any changing their religious allegiances. Today, aboriginal and other non-Hindu groups in particular set of beliefs and customs as a pre- however,the Arya Samaj, aneo-Hindu outfit, India who are outside the pale of the caste condition. What Hinduisation did entail was arranges for both individual as well as mass system. the acceptance of certain brahminical no- conversions. Non-Hindus getting married to tions, such as the theory, belief in the Hindus now can, and, indeed, often do, HINDUISATION PROCESS supremacy of the caste and obser- convert to Hinduism through the Arya Samaj. vance of the rules of caste purity and pol- This is a very recent development, which Till recently, the process of Hinduisation lution. Non-Hindus gained entry into the the 'sanatani' (orthodox) Hindus frown proceeded in a completely unorganised fash- Hindu fold through this acculturation pro- upon since the Hindu scriptures explicitly ion. Typically, itinerant brahmin priests cess which occurred alongside their accom- proscribe inter-caste and inter-religious would venture off into non-Hindu domains modation within the caste system. marriages. and establish mutually supportive relation- Unlike, for example, in Islam, where non- The vast majority of India's over 120 ship' with the ruling chieftains of those areas. Muslim individuals and groups become million Muslims arc descendants of low- The priests would confer upon them the Muslims immediately upon their recitation caste Hindus who converted to Islam to exalted status of (warrior caste) of the Islamic creed, in Hinduism, which escape from the oppression of the higher

Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 1994 2214 castes and in search of equality and dignity. considered to be outside Hindu caste society) the conversion of a born Muslim to the Arya Rarely did individuals convert by themselves, and among Muslims and Christians cannot Samaj was reported in 1877 when Day ananda for that would have meant completely cut- be seen in isolation from the wider political performed the shuddhi of a Mus- ting off their ties with their castes. Hence, context since political considerations played lim of Dehra Dun, giving him the Hindu entire caste groups embraced Islam together a very crucial role in the entire enterprise.3 name of 'alakhdhari'.9 and then adopted a new, Islamised or Arabic This continues to be the case to this very day. The mass conversions of Muslims to caste appellation for themselves. For instance, Orthodox, or sanatani, Hindus held that it Hinduism assumed significant proportions the tantis (weavers) of Bihar began to call was not possible for non-Hindus, whom they only in the 1920s, in the backdrop of con- themselves ansaris after becoming Muslims. considered 'impure' ('ashuddh') to become certed efforts by the Muslim and Hindu elites In Punjab, the musallis bhangis (sweepers) Hindus. It was the Arya Samaj, a revivalist to inflate their numbers so as to enhance their adopted the more respectable title of Musallis. neo-Hindu outfit set up in 1875 by a Gujarati political bargaining power. The Arya Samaj In all these cases, the endogamous caste unit brahmin, Day ananda Saraswati, which broke was particularly successful among Muslim which was in existence prior to conversion, from orthodoxy in this regard. It allowed for groups which were only partially Islamised remained intact even after that. This is how non-Hindus to convert to the Arya Samaj and had still retained many of their old Hindu Muslim society in India has come to be sect through a ritual known as the shuddhi customs and beliefs. Thus, for instance, the characterised by a multiplicity of endoga- karan ('purification') ceremony.4 sheikhs of Larkana (Sind), alow half Muslim- mous caste groups. As shall be discussed 'Shuddhi' ('purity') is said to be an ancient half Hindu caste, were converted by the later on, it is the existence of castes among and central concept in Hinduism. It refers to Sukkur unit of the Arya Samaj as early as the Indian Muslims that allows for the pro- a state of ritual 'purity' needed for the per- in 1905. Similar was the case with the subrai cess of Hinduisation to operate among them. formance of one's dharma, the central com- labanas of Ludhiana (Punjab) and the ponent of which is observing the duties maiwaris of Ajmer (Rajputana), who, like HINDUISATION OF INDIAN MUSLIMS assigned by the brahminical scriptures to the Larkana sheikhs, followed a curious 10 one's caste. Since dharma has both ritual as mixture of Hindu and Islamic practices. Conversions of Hindu castes to Islam for well as social dimensions, shuddhi refers to It is interesting to note that these group social emancipation from the shackles of the the state of 'purity' required for the perfor- conversions to Hinduism organised by the caste system proceeded steadily so long as mance of both religious rites and social Arya Samaj entailed essentially the giving the Muslims were politically dominant in intercourse. up of a certain Islamic customs such as the India. Thereafter, with the establishment of burial of the dead, 'nikah', the visiting of British rule, this process slackened con- Shuddhi may be lost by 'pollution', which 'dargahs' and circumcision, rather than the siderably. In the early years of the present may occur through a death or birth in one's imparting of Hindu religious knowledge to century the British rulers began instituting household or by the touch of 'polluted' the new converts.11 This was possibly be- political reforms granting Indians a certain materials or 'impure' people. Shuddhi Karan cause the shuddhi movement was motivated measure of self-government. These new op- refers to the rite through which this 'pollu- far less by the desire to promote spirituality portunities, such as limited voting rights and tion' is considered to be removed and ritual and moral and religious values than by strong representation on local body councils, were 'purity' restored, thus enabling one to regain 5 anti-Muslim passion. apportioned among the various religious com- one's caste status. As an orthodox brahmin munities of the country in accordance with 'pundit' opines: their respective numerical proportions. The The abandonment of prohibited food, separa- CONVERSION OF MALKANAS AND JATS Hindu 'upper' caste elite, forming not more tion of contact with low persons, and living than 6 per cent of the then Indian population, in one's situation according to Varnasrama The Arya Samaj claimed to be opposed 6 represented a numerically relatively small, dharma (caste-system) is called Suddhi. to the caste system based on birth. However, yet enormously powerful, minority. In order The shuddhi karan rite seems to have been it is interesting to note, that in the case of to corner the benefits of the British-instituted formulated in the 19th century only, though the mass conversions of entire Muslims reforms, this minority group felt it imper- efforts were made to bestow upon it an groups to Hinduism a crucial component of 7 ative to enhance the Hindu numerical ancient history. It first made its appearance the Arya Samaj missionary strategy was first strength. The only way it could do so was in the context of 'upper' caste Hindus who to construct an artificial history of these by incorporating into the Hindu fold the lost their caste for having crossed the seas. groups as being the descendants of 'upper' untouchables, the aboriginals and other non- The ban on travelling abroad had been caste Hindu kshatriya warriors who were Hindu groups. The conversion of these non- imposed by Hindu scriptures for fear of forcibly converted to Islam. It then sought Hindus, therefore, clearly represented a 'upper' caste being unable to observe the to win them over by instilling in them a false political strategy to employ the power of an rules of the maintenance of caste 'purity' in pride in this constructed caste identity, prom- artificially constructed "Hindu majority com- foreign lands. With the establishment of ising them the restoration of their 'upper' munity" to bolster the fortunes of the 'upper' British rule in India many 'high' caste Hindus caste privileges if they were to de-Islamise caste Hindu minority. went to England for higher education. For themselves. All Muslims, including those of As one perceptive scholar observes, this, they were excommunicated from their 'upper' caste Hindu descent, were treated by There is hardly any region in the subconti- castes but now could seek re-admission after orthodox Hindus as 'unclean' and 'impure' nent in which 'Hindus', as they defined undergoing a 'purification' ceremony. It was ('achchut' or 'ashuddh') and hence, for themselves before Gandhi attempted to co- this newly-invented ritual that later came to Muslim castes of imputed kshatriya descent, opt or incorporate all Untouchables commu- be used to convert untouchables and other conversion to Hinduism seemed to offer a nities into the 'Hindu', fold, represented a non-Hindu groups to Hinduism. means to regain many of their caste privi- cohesive or clearly identifiable 'majority' Prior to the mass conversions of certain leges which they had lost on becoming community... The conjuring up of this con- Muslim groups by the Arya Samaj, there Muslims. Appealing to the caste sentiments cept can be seen as nothing more than another had been isolated instances of individual of Muslim groups, therefore, played a crucial attempt by one elite minority or coalitions Muslims undergoing the Arya shuddhi karan role in the Arya Samaj's missionary succes- of elite minorities to dominate all others.2 ceremony. Most of these early Muslim ses. Indeed, this remains the basic mission- Hence, the organised efforts by 'upper' conversions to Hinduism were, however, ary strategy of Hindu missionaries even today. caste Hindus to proselytise among the un- cases of Hindu converts to Islam reconvert- For instance, the present head of the Vishwa touchables (who, being outcastes, were ing back to Hinduism.8 The first instance of Hindu Parishad, asserts:

Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 1994 2215 The Muslims and Christians of this country one time or another had turned Muslims".20 mula jats. Chhotu Ram was appointed as its were made to forget their Hindu identity, The Mahasabha sought to win over the joint-secretary. yet their lesser identity is still meticulously Muslim rajputs by repeatedly playing up the Chhotu promised the mula jats that they preserved securely Till this day they can issue of their upper caste kshatriya ancestry. would be fully accepted by the Hindu jats recall from which particular caste they were That the Arya Samaj had to seek the active if they were to renounce Islam. A resolution converted and in most cases they continue co-operation of the Mahasabha suggests that was passed during the course of a meeting to maintain their caste identity. This identity despite its professed disavowal of the caste held at Rohtak on April 8, 1923, in which alone will, in the future, become the means system, the Aryas did not hesitate in making it was declared that, for them to recognise their Hindu identity, as their central missionary strategy the evok- Shuddh-Shuddha ('purified') Jats will be as a result of which the large numbers of ing of caste sentiments. fully integrated into the Jar Community. No those who have been cut off from Hinduism In the conversion of the malkanas the Jat is to discriminate against shuddh-shuddha 12 will come back into its fold. primary aim of the Arya Samaj seems to have Jats in any matter of eating, socialising or 13 The appealing to caste sentiments formed, been their de-Islamisation so as to decrease marriage alliances. as in all other similar cases, the basis of the Muslim numbers. It is also evident that the Despite Chhotu Ram's efforts to integrate most controversial of the Arya Samaj's mass Arya Samaj was not particularly concerned the Hinduised mula jats into the broader jat community, the Hindu jats seemed unwilling conversions—the shuddhi of the Muslim about instructing the new converts in the to accept them.24 The shuddhi of the mula malkana rajputs of the western districts of principles of the Arya faith. Instead, the jats, therefore, proved a failure and many of the United Provinces in the 1920s. malkanas seem to have been rehabilitated, them were reconverted back to Islam through The term 'malkana' is not a clan name, at least partially, as Hindu . As the efforts of the Ishaat-e-Quran and the but is a title derived from the word 'milkiyat' Chinmayananda Sanyasi, an activc Arya Tabligh-ul-Islam, Muslim organisations set or ownership of land. The malkanas are said missionary, admitted, up in 1923 with the aim of rescuing Muslim to have been nominally converted to Islam The malkanas do not become Arya or. jats, gujjars and rajputs who had been con- under the Afghan rulers from whom they shuddhi but go to their community (Rajput ) verted to Hinduism by the Arya Samaj.2' received extensive land grants in the Jamuna which is mainly sanatanist (orthodox)^' As with the conversion of the malkanas, tract in the neighbourhood of Agra, Mathura That the Hindu rajputs' activc role in the shuddhi movement among the mula jats, and Delhi. They claimed to be the descen- converting the malkana rajputs was spurred in which the politician Chhotu Ram played dants of the Jadun rajputs, though some of more by an interest in increasing their num- the key role, was undertaken more for poli- them are also said to have possessed Agarwal bers rather than by a genuine sense of brother- tical gain than out of any genuine spiritual 11 bania and tarkar brahmin ancestry. The hood is evident from the fact that even today commitment. Chhotu's personal interest in malkanas followed both Hindu and Muslim the Hindu rajputs refuse to inter-marry with ensuring the success of the movement lay customs, because of which they were also the malkanas. in his concern for increasing his own jat known as adhbariya ("half Hindu-half political support-base. As his biographer ob- The jats are a peasant community inhab- Muslim"). Yet in the censuses they tended serves: to return themselves as Muslims.14 Their iting north-western India, including parts of population in the 1920s was said to number present-day Pakistan. The jats of western It needs to be emphasised that Chhotu Ram several hundred thousands.15 Punjab are, by and large, Muslims, those of was not interested in the shuddhi movement, Efforts to convert the malkanas to central Punjab being Sikhs and those of the as some other Arya Samajists were, in claim- Hinduism began in the first decade of the eastern districts mostly Hindus. However, in ing back some Hindus of lower caste who present century when shuddhi sabhas were the Haryana region of the then province of had embraced Christianity or Islam in the set up at various places in the United Prov- Punjab, particularly in the Rohtak division, Haryana region. He only worried lest the inces by Bhoj Dutt Sharma of the there lived a significant number of nco- numbers of Hindu jats got dwindled by their Arya Samaj. In 1907 the Hindu rajputs of Muslim jat cultivators known as the Mula conversion. Pointing to the dwindling num the Agra division Hocked to these sabhas in jats. This community soon became the focus berof Hindu jats in the population of Punjab, 22 an attempt to convert the Muslim rajputs so of the Arya Samaj's missionary efforts. Chhotu Ram advocated wide-scale shuddhi as to thereby enhance the numerical strength By 1921, Rohtak had emerged as a major of the mula jats (Muslim jais) as one of the of the rajput community.10 By 1910, the centre of the Arya Samaj movement. Nearly ways in which it could be over come... In fact, the failure and success of the entire Rajput Sabha, which was, along with the 90 per cent of the registered Aryas of this shuddhi movement was measured by the Arya Samaj, actively engaged in the shuddhi region were drawn from among the Hindu Chhotu Ram in relation to the addition it was movement, claimed to have converted 1,052 jats. Chhotu Ram, the leading jat politician, likely to make to the total number of Hindu rajput Muslims to Hinduism.17 who had a strong base among the jat peas- jats. The numerical strength of any "com- It was, however, only in the 1920s thai the antry of Rohtak, was a staunch Arya Samaji munity" was necessary in the Punjab of dramatic mass conversions of malkanas and was the main force behind the shuddhi Chhotu Ram's days as that alone gave the of the mula jats. At his instance, resolutions began. The first of these conversion ceremo- 'Community' a leverage to make claims to were passed by various Hindu jat panchayats nies took place at Raibana, near Agra. Within the government for allocation of jobs, re- of the Rohtak division calling for the con- the first few months of 1992, over 5,000 wards, patronage, etc. Chhotu Ham's inter- version of Muslim jats. On November 12, malkanas were said to have been Hinduised est in and advocacy of shuddhi in relation and the figure rose to over 30,000 by the 1925, a resolution to the same effect was to jats alone substantiates the theory that 18 end of the year. This drive continued till passed by a massive gathering of Hindu jats he was acting not for the sake of 'Hinduism' 1927 or so, by which time it is reported that at the pi1grimage town of Pushkar near Aj mer, but 'jatism' to maintain the numerical about 1,63,000 malkanas had entered the which was presided over by Maharaja strength of jats, and to increase it, if pos- Hindu fold.,19 Bijendra Singh, the jat ruler of the Bharatpur sible. Significantly. Chhotu Ram was advo In the conversion of the malkanas, the state. By 1927, under Chhotu's influence, eating the readmission of the purified jats Arya Samaj was actively assisted by the even the jat mahasabha, the leading jat into their own jat biraderi (caste-brother- Kshatriya Upkarini Mahasabha (Rajput organisation, had become actively involved hood) not as Aryas but as jats. In fact, he Welfare Society). On August, 30 1992, the in the shuddhi movement. In the same year, resisted all attempts of the Arya jats to be Mahasabha at its meeting at Kashi under the a committee presided over by Choudhry called Aryas only.26 presidentship of Raja Sir Rampal Singh, Ghasi Ram, a member of the Punjab Council, Chhotu Ram, too, acknowledged the es- decided "to take back Hindu rajputs who at was set up to promote the conversion of the sentially political motives behind the shuddhi enterprise when he stated that:

Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 1994 2216 The very aim of the (shuddhi) movement This free borrowing of Muslim customs Chauhan, who fought several battles with the was to integrate the Shuddh-Shuddh jats by the bhangis was noted by William Crooke Muslim rulers of Delhi. According to local into the fold of the jat community so ns to who, writing in 1896, observed that, tradition, Cheeta, grandson of MeraChauhan, 27 strengthen the jats. The religion of the sweepers is a curious converted to Islam during the reign of the It should also be noted that, as in the case mixture of various faiths. Some ... profess Mughal emperor Aurang/eb (1658-1707 AD) of the malkana rajputs, the supposedly anti- to be Hindus, others Musaimans, others and his descendants came to be known as caste Arya Samaj not only sought to convert Sikhs.. cheetas, mers or merats. On the other hand, the inula jats as an entire caste group (which The bhangis of the princely state of Jodh- the other descendants of Mera Chauhan re- it would not have attempted had it really been pur in western Rajputana celebrated Muslim mained Hindus and are known as gorat merats, opposed to the caste system), but also tried, festivals such as Shab-e-Barrat, Moharrum barar mers or rawats." though in vain, to get the mula jats absorbed and the'urs of local 'pirs'. Most of them were In the early censuses, however, al I the mers into the Hindu jat caste. Had the shuddhi of followers of the cults of Sufi saints such as were classified as belonging to non-Hindu the mula jats been successful this would Zinda Pir, Lai Beg, Sujani Pir and Ghazi Pir. aboriginal tribes and even today the distinc- undoubtedly have further strengthened the Many non-Muslim bhangis of Jodhpur kept tion between Muslim and Hindu mers re- 30 caste system, a social order which the Aryas Muslim names. mains blurred. Indeed, apart from the prac- denounced in theory. The Arya Samaj began its programme of tice of circumcision and the burying of the Besides the conversion to Hinduism of dc-Islamising the Jodhpur bhangis in 1923. dead, the nominally Muslim mers are quite nominally Muslim castes such as the malkanas Its main objective was said to have been "to indistinguishable from their Hindu relatives. and the mulajats, the Arya Samaj also reached eradicate Muslim influence from their socio- Until recently, mers, irrespective of religion, out to castes on the peripheries of the Hindu religious spheres and to create a feeling of used to freely inter-marry and brahmins would caste order who, though non-Muslim, prac- Hinduism".'' The conversion of the bhangis perform their marriage ceremonies accord- tised many Islamic customs. Historically, it to the Arya Samaj fold did not in any way ing to Hindu rites. was the gradual adoption of many Muslim help in ameliorating their dismal social and Commenting on the admixture of Hindu practices by non-Muslim caste groups that economic conditions. Nor did the giving up and Muslim customs among the merorcheeta paved the way for their eventual formal of Muslim customs al all help in elevating rajputs, Lodrick notes that: conversion to Islam. The Arya Samaj sought them from the lowest rung of the caste system. Mers (Muslims) and Rawats (Hindus) shared to prevent this by campaigning against these In the wake of the partition of the sub- a common culture, inter-dined, wore similar customs and practices. This de-islamisation continent in August 1947, bloody riots broke dress and even worshipped the same Hindu among the peripheral castes was soon fol- out all over northern India in which thou- deities. Hindu mers disregard many of the lowed by their eventual conversion to Hin- sands lost their lives. In several areas, Hindus traditional Hindu prescriptions concerning duism alter undergoing the Arya shuddhi forced Muslims to choose between fleeing ablutions, ceremonial forms and food, and ceremony. to Pakistan, being slaughtered or else agree- have no compunction about eating beef or One instance of this is the Arya Samaj's ing to convert to Hinduism. Under duress any animal flesh. Many orthodox Hindus missionary efforts among the Bishnois, a scores of Muslims are said to have chosen disassociate themselves from the mer com- 2 large farming community spread over the third option.- munity, and a strong case can be made for Rajputana and the western districts of the By 1950, when India declared itself a regarding mers, whether Katat mers, Gorat United Provinces. The Bishnois had adopted republic, the communal situation had shown merat or Rawat, as a distinct group that fits several Muslim customs such as burial of the some signs of improvement. Fairly strong neither the Mouslem nor the Hindu mould.34 dead, employing the name Allah' to refer modernist and liberal political tendencies The close kinship and other social lies to God and using Muslim names and, unlike had emerged, and Hindu political outfits between the Hindu and Muslim mers, how- orthodox Hindus, they did not worship idols. such as the and the RSS ever, came in for vigorous opposition from A leading Arya missionary, Shraddhananda had been considerably marginalised. This, the Arya Samaj. Its founder, Dayananda Sanyasi, explains this by saying that: however, was not to last very long and by Saraswati, had set up his headquarters at ...having once slain a Qadi, who had inter- the early 1970s, coinciding with the emer- Ajmer, and he is said to have made the Hindu fered with their rite of widow-burning, they gence of the general crisis of the Indian state, mers of the neighbouring Masauda and had compounded the offence by embracing extreme right wing brahminical Hindu mil- Merwara regions give up the practice of 28 Islam. itancy saw an enormous upsurge. The main intermarrying with the Muslim mers.35 The Arya Samaj began working among the force behind this was the RSS, which op- The gradual drifting apart of the Muslim Bishnois in the 1920s. Gradually they were erates through a large number of frontal mers and the Rawats was further accelerated made to give up their Islamic customs and organisations working in different fields. by the introduction of the franchise and com- today they are almost a full-fledged Hindu One of the most powerful of these is the munal representation in British India as well caste. VHP, the "World Hindu Congress", floated as by the bloody events immediately before Another similar case of the Arya Samaj's in 1964, among whose main objectives is and after the independence of India in 1947.36 efforts to do away with Islamic customs the conversion of all the non-Hindus to According to Jamal Khan, president of the practised by peripheral non-Muslim castes Hinduism. Cheeta-Mcrat-Kathat Sabha of Beawar, the was that of its work among the bhangis first conversions of Muslim mer rajputs to (sweepers) of Rajputana and the Punjab. RECENT CONVERSIONS Hinduism occurred in 10 to 15 villages in From the point of view of the brahminical the Bhim tehsil of the Udaipur district in Dharmasastras (law-books), the bhangis, The most recent of the mass conversion 1947. Thereafter, strenuous efforts were made along with all other 'untouchable' groups, of Muslims to Hinduism organised by the to Hinduise the mers of Beawar. One means are considered to be non-Hindus or outcastes, VHP has been that among the Cheeta-Merat that was adopted was the instruction given since they fall outside the 'chaturvarnya', the rajput Muslims. This community numbers to Hindu school teachers by some local four-fold Hindu caste order. Hence, the over 3,00,000 and is scattered across the rajput heads of villages to change the names bhangis were largely uninfluenced by the districtsofUdaipur, Pali, Bhilwaraand Ajmer of their Muslim students to Hindu ones in brahminical ethos. They, in fact, had adopted in Rajasthan, with their biggest concentra- the official school records.37 many Islamic customs and several of them tion being in the Beawar region of Ajmer In the 1970s, the organised attempts by the had converted to Islam in search of social district. These Muslims are believed to be VHP to convert the mer Muslims were further equality and dignity. descended from the rajput king Prithvi Raj intensified. It has been alleged that since

Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 1994 2217 1975, the VHP's conversion drive in this VHP's way of ensuring that the conversion the community (i e, the Muslims of these region has been funded by a monthly grant ceremony is seen as purely voluntary.43 villages), using their abject poverty to lure ofRs3,00,000byBirlaand Company, India's The VHP claims to have converted over them with promises of employment and a largest industrial house.38 In the same year, 47,000 mers, though this number is said to higher standard of living... Not surprisingly, the Chauhan Rajput Sabha, a Hindu rajput be a gross exaggeration. In the wake of these the exertions of the RSS band bore fruit and outfit allied to the VHP, held a meeting on conversions some Islamic organisations four years ago, a sizeable number of Mus- January 19 at Kana Kheda in the Ajmer such as the Jamiyat-ul-Ulema-i-Hind, the lims, as many as 12 each from the villages district which was attended by Hindu Rajasthan Dini Talimi Sangh and the Muslim of Allahpur and Sujjan alone, took to Hin- duism. Chauhan rajput heads of several villages. In United Forum of Pali are said to have step- The report goes on to add that the ruling its resolution it appealed to the Muslim ped up efforts to bring the mers back to BJP, too, had a hand in these conversions, Chauhan mers to abide by the following Islam. and that; decisions of the sabha; The conversions among the mers, quite ...it (the BJP) has begun to take direct in- expectedly, caused great concern to Muslim (1) Circumcision should be done away with. terest in the operation. On October 18, a (2) Keeping in mind the glory of our caste, leaders and a leading Indian Muslim poli- party delegation led by two MPs from the marriages of our children should be tician, Syed Shahabuddin wrote to the govern- Hathras, Dr L B Rawal and Mr Suresh Anand, performed in Hindu style by circum- ment seeking its opinion in the matter. In participated in a pujan ('worship- bulation of fire. response, the home ministry, in its letter ping of weapons') ceremony at Sujjan. The (3) On the death of any Chauhan, no fakir December 29,1983 to Shahabuddin, opined ceremony was organised by the Saraswati (Muslim mendicant) should be called that the Cheeta-Merats who had come under Shishu Mandir, a school run by the RSS- and nor should the fatiha be recited. the influence of the VHP had only thereby sponsored Vidya Bharati mission. At the (4) Since we are the descendants of Prithvi "re-affirmed their ".44 The ceremony, the MPs, according to eyewit- Raj Chauhan, to maintain the glory of choice of the phrase "re-affirmation of faith" ness accounts, gave impassioned speeches our caste we should give our children instead of "conversion" was too significant extolling the virtues of the kshatriya (rajputs) only Hindu titles and surnames such as to be ignored. and stressed that the adoption of the kshatriya Singh, Raj, Chand, Kumar, Lai, Ram, The VHP claims to have converted over dharma was the only path to salvation. etc."' 20,000 Muslims in the remote Kutch district Since Sujjan is an overwhelmingly Muslim As is evident from this resolution, the de- of northern Gujarat, though this is certainly village, the purpose of the visit by the BJP's Islamisation of the Muslim mers, and their a gross exaggeration. It is now said to be MPs, according to the report, "could only acceptance of certain Hindu customs and eyeing the 5,00,000 strong Maul-e-Salaam have been to secure more conversions".46 cultural norms, rather than a concern for their girasiya rajput Muslims of central Gujarat, The dramatic rise in recent years of the BJP spiritual and social development, forms the who still retain many Hindu customs.45 in Indian politics has ominous portents for core of the conversion drive among them. Muslims in many parts of India live in con- the future of the Indian Muslims. It is likely The VHP is reported to have made several stant fear of attacks by Hindu mobs in which, that if this party were to come to power at films on Prithvi Raj Chauhan and Baba especially in recent years, the policeis known the centre, efforts to convert the Muslims to Ramdeo Ji, another Chauhan hero whom to play an extremely partisan role, often Hinduism would receive a tremendous im- Muslim rajputs also revere, which are reg- actively assisting the Hindu rioters. Height- petus. After all, the late M S Golwalkar, the ularly screened in mer Muslim villages. ened insecurity has driven some Muslims to head of the RSS of which the BJP is the Through these films the VHP is seeking to enter Hinduism to protect their lives and political wing, had declared that the Indian propagate a distorted history of the ancestors property. Hasmukh Patel, a leading VHP Muslims must, of the mers as having been forcibly convert- functionary from Gujarat, explains his out- 40 ... either adopt the Hindu culture and lan- ed to Islam by the Muslim rulers. fits success in winning Muslim converts by guage, must learn to respect and hold in Taking advantage of the abject poverty of stating that: reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no the mers, the VHP is said to be attempting We promise the both swabhiman (self-re- idea but those of the glorification of the to win them over by the liberal distribution spect) and salamati (security) if they con- Hindu race and culture, i e, of the Hindu of rice and clothes. It has set up free dispen- vert.46 nation, and must lose their separate exist- saries in the Muslim mer-inhabited hamlets Seen in the context of the repeated bloody ence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay of Shyamgarh, Chana and Kharkhedi in anti-Muslim progroms that periodically rock in the country, wholly subordinated to the Ajmer district as well as schools, hospitals Gujarat, this promise to grant Muslim con- Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving and creches in other mer villages of the verts security seems but a veiled threat of no privileges, far less any preferential treat- Beawar region.41 violence being unleashed against Muslims ment—not even citizen's rights49 The process of persuading the Muslim if they fail to convert. mers to convert to Hinduism is said to take The VHP is said to have converted some CONCLUSION several months and it involves organising 200 Muslims of the mir caste of musicians (ceremonies at which hymns are sung in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in early 1993. It is The Hindu missionary enterprise seems and sermons are delivered) and meetings in also said to be attempting to convert half a more of a politically-inspired movement which the VHP's version of the history of dozen Muslim castes in central Gujarat who rather than a purely religious undertaking. the mers is narrated.42 Before the actual still have not discarded many of the Hindu In all the cases of the mass conversions of conversion itself, villagers are made to sign customs of their ancestors.47 Conversions of Muslims to Hinduism the central trust has a joint letter addressed to the VHP which Muslims to Hinduism arc also said to have been on theirde-Islamisation rather than on invariably states that they want to give up occurred in some states ruled by the Bharatiya their accepting, in any real sense, the Hindu their Muslim customs at a ceremony in which Janata Party (BJP), the right wing Hindu religion. This is not merely due to the ab- they shall take a solemn oath to adhere to party. Thus, in 1992 the rajput Muslim sence of a set of fundamental tenets in the 'pure kshatriya dharma', the rules of inhabitants of eight villages in the Hathras Hinduism, but primarily because the Arya social conduct appropriate to members of the district of Uttar Pradesh were converted by Samaj and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Hindu rajput warrior caste. The letter is said Arya Samaj and the VHP. According to a missionaries seem more concerned with to always end with a request to the VHP to report in a leading English language daily: weaning Muslims away from Islam than with make arrangements to screen films on Prithvi ..over the past many years, volunteers of the spiritual instruction and development of Raj Chauhan. A letter of this sort is the the RSS have been systematically raiding their converts.

Economic and Political Weekly August 20, 1994 2218 Muslim castes which have been particu- 3 A leading Hindu Punjabi leader, Lala Lajpat ment Printing Press, Calcutta, 1896, p 267. larly vulnerable to Hindu missionary efforts Rai, writing in The Tribune of Lahore on 30 ShyamLal, 'Sanskritisationand Social Change have several features in common. They are December 13, 1924, stated that, "The Prin- among the Bhangis in Jodhpur' in Indian generally only nominally Muslim and still ciple of Shuddhi has now been accepted by Journal of Social Work, Vol 34, No 1, 1973, retain many Hindu customs and beliefs. Most the Hindu Sabha, and I am free to confess p 39. that the idea at the back of this decision is of the mass conversions haveoccurred among 31 ShyamLal, \Social Reform Movement among partly political partly communal and partly Muslim rajput groups. The malkanas, cheeta the Bhangis of Western Rajasthan' in Eastern humanitarian" Anthropologist, Vol 32, No 2, 1979, p 101 merats, Maul-e-Salaam girasiyas and the 7 4 See Rajeshwar, Paravartan Kyo aur Kaise 32 See Partap C Aggarwal, 'The Meos of meos are all of rajput origin, and the mula (Hindi) ('Conversion: Why and How?'), New Rajasthan and Haryana' in Imtiaz Ahmed jats, too, claim kshatriya ancestry. In con- Delhi, Suruchi Prakashan. 1992. The author (ed), Caste and Social Stratification among verting to Hinduism many rajput Muslims is the former head of the south Delhi unit of the Muslims, New Delhi, Manohar, 1973. were perhaps attracted by the promises given the RSS and served for many years as the p 25 for an account of forced conversions and to them of their being restored the 'upper' president of the Delhi wing of the VHP. The killings of meo rajput Muslims by Hindus and caste privileges due to them as descendants book is an account of shuddhi by one who royal authorities in the princely states of of members of the rajput kshatriya com- claims to have performed many conversions Bharatpur and Alwar in 1947. munity. of non-Hindus. 33 Deryck O, Lodrick, 'A Cattle Fair in Rajasthan' 5 See JTF Jordens, 'Reconversion to Hindu- in Current Anthropology, Vol 25, No 2, April The Hindu missionaries, too, seem to have ism: The Shuddhi of the Arya Samaj' in GA 1984, p 221. exhibited an inordinate interest in converting Oddie (ed), Religion in South Asia, New 34 Ibid, p 221. the socially dominant and powerful Muslim Delhi, Manohar, 1977 for a detailed treatment 35 V K Vashishtha, 'Arya Samaj Movement in rajputs, since the entire shuddhi movement of the issue. Rajasthan during the 19th Century' in S C was largely undertaken to bolster the for- 6 Shriman Mehta Ramachandra Ji Shastri, Malik (ed). Dissent, Protest and Reform in tunes of the entrenched Hindu 'higher' castes. Patiton Ki Shuddhi Sanatan Hat {'Shuddhi Indian Civilisation, Indian Institute of Ad- of the Backward Classes is Ancient') Lahore, On the other hand, there have been few vanced Study. Simla, 1977, pp 229-30. Arya Pradeshtk Pratinidhi Sabha, 1908, p 76. instances of mass conversions to Hinduism 36 Lodrick, op cit, p 221. 7 See Seunarine, op cit, pp 29-31 37 Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi, 'The Story of among the 'lower' Muslim castes, who form 8 Kenneth W Jones, Arya Dharm Hindu Con- Muslim Conversions in Rajasthan' in Radi- the majority of the Indian Muslim popula- sciousness in Nineteenth Centur)' Punjab, ance, September 20-26, 1992, p 7. tion. This is perhaps due to the fact that the New Delhi, Manohar, 1972, p 131. 38 Ibid, p 7. Hindu missionary outfits, being upholders 9 Jordens, op at. p 147. 39 Ibid, quoted on p 6. of the brahminical caste order, have not 10 Ibid, p 152. 40 Ibid, p 6. shown great concern for the spiritual salva- 11 Jordens observes that, "In the extant reports 41 Ibid, p 7. tion and the social upliftment of the lower there is a noticeable absence of any reference 42 Sreekant Khandekar, Rajasthan: Conversion to the religious instruction of converts, shuddhi castes. Further, since the Hindu missionary Convulsions', India Today, June 30, 1986, was not a rite that presupposed an inner p 143. organisations promise to rehabilitate Mus- reinforced by instruc- 43 Ibid, p 143 lim converts into the caste to which their tion to foster a new interior life. It was a rite 44 Quoted from a letter dated December 29, Hindu ancestors originally belonged, few of access... A change in the individual's (neo- 1983 from the Home Ministry of the Govern- 'low' caste Muslims would be willing to Hindu's) religious life is not a question pri- ment of India to Syed Shahabuddin, MP, enter the Hindu fold since that would mean marily of inner conversion, hut rather the Muslim India, Vol II, No 14, February 1984, being once again accommodated at the lower acquisition of the right of entry into the p 55 rungs of the caste system as untouchables manifold sects, panths. orders and sabhas and 45 India Today, February 28, 1993, p 100. 50 the right of access to the very heart of ortho- and . 46 Ibid, The India Today report quotes a certain doxy—the and the Vedic rites," (op cit, It is also worth noting that these mass Abdul Rashid Mir, now Prakashbhai, a P 154) scooter mechanic of Ahmedabad, who ex- conversions have mostly occurred in the 12 Quoted in Rajeshwar, op cit, p ix plained his conversion to Hinduism by say- backward regions of northern India where 13 Mushirul Hasan, Nationalism and Communal ing, "We want our sons to be secure in the feudalism is still largely intact and where Politics in India 1885-1930, New Delhi, future " brahminism has not been challenged by Manohar, 1991, p 21 Of. 47 Ibid, p 100. assertive 'lower castes as elsewhere. In 14 Jordens, op ( it, p 158 48 Vidya Subrahmaniam, 'Muslims in Western regions such as southern India, where 15 Horst Kruger (ed), Kunwar Mohammad UP—Spectre of Conversions Haunts a Mi- Muslims are fairly well-educated and where Ashraf An Indian Scholar and Revolu nority', The Statesman, New Delhi, April 10, 'upper' caste Hindu communalism has been, tionarv, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, Berlin. 1992. 1966, p 350, to a great extent, countered by low caste anti- 49 M S Golwalkar, We, or Our Nationhood 16 M Hasan, op cit. p 237 Defined, Bharat Publications. Nagpur, 1939, brahminical militancy, few conversions to 17 Jones, op cit, p 131. pp 47-48. Hinduism among Muslims have been report- 18 M Hasan, op at. p 210. 50 As for those Muslim converts to Hinduism ed. There have, in fact, been no instances of 19 Seunarine, op cit, p 37 who were not aware of the caste of their any major mass conversions of Muslims 20 Ibid, p 37. Hindu ancestors, the Hindu Mahasabha, the outside the orthodox brahminical heartland 21 Quoted in Seunarine, op cit, p 37. leading orthodox Hindupolitical organisation, of northern India. 22 Prem Chowdhry, Punjab Politics- The Role proposed that a new Varna or broad caste of Sir Chhotu Ram, New Delhi, Vikas, 1984, category, in addition to the existing four varnas be created to accommodate them. Notes p 121. 23 Ibid, quoted on p 121. Thus N C Chatteijee, delivering the presiden- 1 J F Seunarine, Reconversion to Hinduism 24 Ibid, p 122f. tial address at the Hindu Mahasabha's 30th through Suddhi Madras, Christian Literature 25 Ibid, p 121. general session at Bhopal on December 28, Society, 1977. See pp 100-105 for a detailed 26 Ibid, p 122. 1952 asserted that, "We should not neglect description of the actual conversion cere- 27 Ibid, quoted on p 122. Shuddhi and Sangathan (Hindu unity) and mony. 28 Shraddhananda Sanyasi, Hindu Sanghathiin, we should declare all converts to Hinduism 2 Robert Eric Frykcnburg, 'Fundamentalism Kurukshetra Gurukula, Kurukshetra, 1924, who cannot be fitted into their old families and Revivalism in South Asia' in James p 36. as belonging to the Mahasava Varna" (see Warner Bjorkman (ed), Fundamentalism, 29 W Crooke, The Tribes and Castes of the N C Chatterjee, Presidential Address, All Revivalists and Violence in South Asia, New North Western Provinces and Oudh, Vol 1, India Hindu Mahasabha, New Delhi, 1952, Delhi, Manohar, 1988, p 39. Office of the Superintendent of the Govern- p 19)-

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