Colonial and Post-Colonial Identity Politics in South Asia: Zaat/Caste Among Muslims (Routledge Studies in South Asian History)

Colonial and Post-Colonial Identity Politics in South Asia analyses the colonial and post-colonial documentation and caste classification among Muslims in India, demonstrating that religion negotiated with regional social customs and local social practices while at the same time fostering a shared religious belief. The central question addressed in this book is how different castes assert their identity for classification and how castes encountered colonial documentation.Identifying the colonial context of the documentation of castes among Muslims, and relying on colonial documentation in various census reports, gazetteers, government or police records, ethnographic studies, and travelogues, the author demonstrates the sheer diversity of attempts and castes among Muslims.The book deconstructs how under Colonialism Muslims were categorised into three broad but overlapping categories - Ashraf, Ajlafs, and Arzals - and that Muslims were categorised into Asiatic, Non-Asiatic, Foreign, Mixe