Religion and Social Transformation in Medieval India: The Religio-intellectual Movements under Marxist Historiographical Lens in Pakistan

Abstract

This study examines religious and social change in medieval India from the perspectives of three Pakistani historians from Marxist and progressive historiographical traditions: Sibte Hassan, Mubarak Ali and Kazi Javed. It poses questions about the articulation of material injustices by religious movements, the narration of religious reform and intercultural contact by these historians, and how their views differed from Pakistani Muslim nationalist history. The study covers Ismaili-Qaramatiyya, Bhakti, Sikh, Roshaniyya, Mehdavi and Mujaddidi movements and Akbar’s sulh-i kul policy and subsequent Muslim revivalist movements. It is based on a qualitative, comparative reading of the published writings of the historians. This paper contends that a materialist lens shows the links between economic grievances, class inequalities, political power and religious languages of protest. The essay also points out the major differences in the progressive tradition. Javed gives analytical emphasis on philosophical ideas, cultural interaction and syncretism. Hassan puts emphasis on social structure and economic interests. Ali puts emphasis on common people and the limits of reform movements. Their readings challenge narratives focused on the continuity of Muslim communities and the preservation of a distinct religious identity. However, a material explanation is not enough to explain the many institutional, intellectual and spiritual goals of these movements. The comparison of the methods thus shows the limits of interpretation of Marxist historiography and its corrective significance. The paper concludes that medieval South Asian religion is best conceived not as a straightforward theological history nor as an unproblematic reflection of economic concerns, but as a sphere of faith, political contestation, cultural translation and social negotiation all at once. The discussions still have relevance today.

Keywords: Historiography; Marxism; medieval India; Bhakti; Sufism; Sikhism; Mehdavi; Mujadadiya; Orthodoxy; liberalism; religious reform; social history

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23613020