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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. X. 



that the tradition very nearly expresses the truth. Under the 

 Afghan dynasties, while the great provincial governors were 

 always Muhammadans, the local administration would appear 

 to have been in a great measure left in the hands of Hindu 

 chiefs who paid tribute and owed allegiance to the Sultan of 

 Delhi. It is tolerably certain that little attempt was made 

 at proselytising under the free-thinking Akbar. It would 

 appear, however, that during his reign and those of his 

 immediate successors the character of the administration 

 changed considerably — a more direct and centralised control 

 being substituted for an almost purely feudal system. The 

 change gave the people Musalman governors in the place of 

 Hindus, and must have greatly facilitated the systematic 

 persecution of the infidel which was instituted by Aurangzeb, 

 by far the most fanatical and bigoted, and probably the first 

 who was a bigot, among the emperors of Delhi. The local 

 traditions tell us that in many cases the ancestor of the 

 present Musalman branch of a village community adopted 

 Islam, in order to save the land of the village from confisca- 

 tion." And he continues : — " In the eastern portion of the 

 Punjab the faith of Islam in anything like its original 

 purity was till quite lately to be found only among the 

 Saiyads, Pathans, Arabs, and other Musalmans of foreign 

 origin, who were for the most part settled in towns. The 

 so-called Musalmans of the villages were Musalmans in little 

 but name. They practised circumcision, repeated the kalimah, 

 or Muhammadan profession of faith, and worshipped the 

 village deities. But after the mutiny (1857) a great revival 

 took place, Muhammadan priests travelled far and wide 

 through the country, preaching the true faith and calling 

 upon believers to abandon their idolatrous practices. And 

 now almost every village in which Musalmans own any con- 

 siderable portion has its mosque, often a dome only, while 

 all the grosser and more open idolatries have been dis- 

 continued. But the villager of the East is still a very bad 

 Musalman. A peasant saying his prayers in the field is a 

 sight almost unknown, the fasts are almost universally 



