Social Gradation and Inter-Ethnic Stratification among the Muslims of Darjeeling Himalaya

Abstract

The Muslims of Darjeeling Himalaya an a mosaic of diverse ethnic groups. They are divided into a number of segments and social groupings, and a notion of hierarchy or social gradation on the basis of purity is observed among them; though theoretically, Islam advocates an egalitarian social order. The present paper helps us to dispel an established monolithic believe regarding the social and cultural homogeneity of the Indian Muslims, and come to prove the differences in their religious ideologies, cultural practices, and ethnic characters. The covert (i.e., Islamic ideology based on textual Islam), and overt, (i.e., local traditions or lived Islam) aspects of the society have also been examined, as an existing phenomena, as the Muslim society of Darjeeling Himalayan town is deeply fragmented into various social orders. An effort has been made here to sketch an account of the social stratification of the Himalayan Muslims through an extensive field work in the Himalayan town of Darjeeling, West Bengal.