BENGAL.
294 not in the
great
most numerous.
madans
Muhammadan
are very slightly in excess of
contained
the
the
that
capitals
Musalmans
In Dacca, long their seat of government, the earlier
capital,
Hindus
Gaur, the
in
Maldah
are
Muham-
District,
which
Muhammadans form
only
46 per cent, of the population ; in Murshidabad, 48 per cent. ; in Patna they form 12 per cent., and even in Patna city itself not more than 24 per cent. On the other hand, apart from the Districts already mentioned, in Eakarganj, Tipperah, and Maimansingh they constitute two-thirds of the population; and in Dinajpur, Rangpur, Nadiya, Khulna, Jessor, and Faridpur, more than one half. Mlierever the Muhammadans form the bulk of the population in Bengal, it will be found that they are the cultivating classes of the people, while the upper and mercantile classes are Hindus, and the very low classes are semiHindus, probably for the most part aboriginal in blood. All the sailors
Muhammadans. The number of Muhammadans in Behar is comparatively small. They chiefly belong to the upper orders, and live in towns such as Patna, Barh, and Behar. The great body of the cultivating classes in Behar are still Hindus. The fabric of Hinduism was too firm in the north to be shaken by the Musalmfin invasion, and the new faith of the eastern Districts are
produced few converts.
Although aboriginal
tribes are
in Behar, they probably did not during the era of
still
to be found
Musalman conquest
form so large a percentage of the population as in the delta of Bengal. Swept on before the earlier Aryan tide of immigration, large numbers of them had been exterminated, or driven dowm the Gangetic valley, or The Aryan element in Behar fled into the wilds of Chutia Nagpur. was thus left to itself, and seems to have consolidated its position sufficiently to be able to resist the shock of a proselytizing faith like Islam. In Bengal Proper this was not the case. The Muhammadans found Hinduism there resting on weak foundations, and with but a The Aryan element feeble hold on the great bulk of the inhabitants. from the north, so far from displacing the children of the soil in Lower Bengal, only held its own by frequent importations of fresh Brahman blood from Upper India. Thus it happened that, when the Musalman conquerors of Hindustan invaded the lower delta with the sword and They proclaimed the Koran, they were not altogether unwelcome. equality, and broke down the trammels of caste. In Lower Bengal, Hinduism succumbed, and great masses of the people embraced the faith of
Muhammad.
—
Europeans and Eurasians The Census of 1872 returned the Europeans and non-Asiatics within the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal (including Eurasians) at 37,414. Their number, according to the Census of 1881, was 39,473. In regard to their local distribution .
among
the
four
Provinces
of
the
Lieutenant
-
Governorship,
the
