Religious Encounter, Contradictions and Social Crisis in Cooch Behar (1872–1950)

This article analyses the discourses on the social crisis in borderland Cooch Behar between 1876 and 1950. Some historians in this issue observed that ‘centuries of contact between the two communities (Hindu and Muslim) were bound to result in a mutual understanding’ in this region. However, after the arrival of the orthodox upper-class Muslims and the formation of the Muslim League and other fundamentalist organisations, tensions and various violent activities have been conducted by orthodoxies in Cooch Behar. Islamic fundamentalism in the decade of Indian independence was very much active and frequently perused their activities against the Indian integration of Cooch Behar. In this line, this article aims to examine the process of deterioration of Hindu–Muslim religious composite and syncretism culture that turned into social contradictions and crises in the 1940s. Yet unused historical archival records from the National Archives of India and West Bengal State Archives are the key sources for this study.