DELINEATION AND WARPING OF ISLAM AND HINDUISM IN BISCOE’S TRAVELOGUES

Abstract

The paper aims to trace the delineated and warped representation of Hinduism and Islam in Tyndale Biscoe’s Character Building in Kashmir and Kashmir in Sunlight and Shade. Such writings were often associated with the empire and the writers sent back to their lands their progress over the orients in form of letters, diaries, memoirs etc and were later on published into books. Such writings of the colonial era have been studied widely after the publication of Edward Said’s magnum opus and were accused of the Eurocentric perspective of the colonial master.

Missionaries have been traversing the globe ever since the inception of Christianity for reverting pagans and heathens into their faith. However, during the colonial period, religion became a tool in hands of missionaries which was used to create a sense of inferiority in ‘others’ to get people as well as their lands. During the British colonial rule in India, many Christian missionaries visited British Indian Empire and travelled through the lengths and breadths of the country.