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Religion was an important identity marker in the early modern world. Whether in
the East or the West, people distinguished themselves, among other things, with
their adherence to a particular religion. In Europe, after Reformation in the early
sixteenth century, the religious identities had got more sharpened and the Christian
world was divided between the Catholics and the Protestants. Reformation
strongly influenced the religious identities of European travellers and when they
came into contact with the Indian religious beliefs and practices, they were
“confronted with their own struggle for orientation. . . . and the pattern for
describing foreign religions was [thus] the pattern of differences between
Catholicism and Protestantism.”1 While in India, Hinduism and Islam were the
two dominant religions, though there were other minor religious denominations,
like Budhists, Sikhs, and Parsees etc.
The article is mainly concerned with the European representations of Islam and
Hinduism in India. Focussing on the sixteenth and seventeenth century travel
accounts of Europeans to India, it argues that these perceptions were strongly
shaped by their belonging to Christian faith and their experiences of Europe. Most
of European travellers considered Christianity as the only true religion and passed
judgements on the Hindus and Muslims from a pure Christian perspective. They
did not speak about them “without consigning them to eternal perdition.”2 This
perception naturally resulted in their biased understanding of Indian religions. It is
also a fact that some travellers were devoted missionaries and one of the principal
motives of their travel to India was to convert the local population to Christianity.
It cannot be denied that early European travellers at places provided valuable firsthand information about the religious practices of Indians. However, their general
perceptions were full of religious prejudice and revealed their lack of knowledge
and understanding of Indian religions.
Faraz Anjum. (2017) ISLAM AND HINDUISM IN THE EYES OF EARLY EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS TO INDIA, Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan, Volume 54, Issue 1.
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