Buddhism, Islam and the religious economy of colonial Burma

Abstract

Bringing to light the first known Urdu primary source on Islam in colonial Burma, this essay examines the polemical encounter with Buddhism in the years surrounding the Third Anglo–Burmese War. Using the model of religious economy, the Urdu Sayr-e Barhma is contextualised amid the religious pluralisation and competition that accompanied colonisation as a multitude of religious ‘entrepreneurs’ and ‘firms’ rapidly entered the colony. Among them was the Indian Muslim author of Sayr-e Barhma, which provided a detailed account of the history, language and theology of Burman Buddhists and included an account of a public debate which, it claimed, culminated in the conversion of the Thathanabaing (Primate). Against the long-standing historiographical emphasis on the economic roots of anti-Indian sentiments in colonial Burma, this essay points to the religious dimensions of these enduring antagonisms.

Building Burma: Constructing Rangoon's Urban Influence on Citizenship and Nationhood

“…Green, “Buddhism, Islam and the Religious Economy of Colonial Burma,”; Saha, “Madness and the Making of a Colonial Order in Burma”; Amrith and Harper, “Introduction”.…”

“…Amrith, Crossing the Bay of Bengal ; Amrith and Harper, “Introduction.”; Green, “Buddhism, Islam and the Religious Economy of Colonial Burma.”; Lewis, “Print and Colonial Port Cultures of the Indian Ocean Littoral: Penang and Rangoon.”; Saha, “Madness and the Making of a Colonial Order in Burma.”…”