EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT AND CHRISTIANITY: A STUDY OF EMERGING SOCIO-CULTURAL DIMENSION IN THE MID-SEVENTEENTH CENTURY MUGHAL BENGAL (1650-1700 AD)

Abstract

This work brought a new dimension of cultural diffusion in the mid-seventeenth-century Mughal Bengal, highlighting the growth of European settlement and the spread of Christianity. There has been an established notion in the history of medieval Bengal that focused mostly on the relationship between Hindus and Muslims as a part of syncretism or composite culture. However, hardly any study has been conducted on the role of European settlement in the process of social and cultural diffusion. The discussion of this work is based on four fundamental aspects: firstly, the European settlement and spread of Christianity; secondly, a theological discourse between Hinduism and Christianity as reflected in a vernacular text; thirdly, the creation of new linguistic and cultural identity among the native converted Christians of Bengal; fourthly, Job Charnock and his relation with native Bengali society. This work used contemporary accounts of foreign travellers, vernacular texts, and secondary missionary and colonial records.