Historical geography of religious competition in India in the 20th – early 21st century

  • Stanislav A. Gorokhov Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30 Spiridonovka Street, 1 building, Moscow 123001, Russia
  • Ruslan V. Dmitriev Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30 Spiridonovka Street, 1 building, Moscow 123001, Russia
  • Ivan A. Zakharov Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30 Spiridonovka Street, 1 building, Moscow 123001, Russia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33581/2520-6338-2023-1-28-37

Abstract

To determine the level of competition we made an assumption that one religion replaces another as a result of a cyclical change (cycle of the religious competition) in the proportion of adherents and the value of the modified index of confessional fractionalisation. The competition between Indian religions, Islam and Christianity in India increased quite slowly during the 20th century due to differences, firstly, in the mechanisms of their expansion and, secondly, in the territorial confinement of the latter. At the first stage all religions spread by expansion diffusion (Islam – through large cities in Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Kerala and Delhi; Christianity – through the countryside in the North-East of the country, in Sikkim, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, partly in Odisha; Indian religions – in Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Puduchcheri and Goa). Christianity retained this mechanism, while Islam spread after that to new territories (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, etc.) by diffusion of movement. The landscape of Indian religions has changed the vector, passing through the separation of contraction to compression due to the abandonment of previously developed areas. The main regions of religious competition at present are the Amritsar – Rajkot – Bhubaneswar triangle where the still powerful Indian religions are competing with the rising Islam, and the North-East of the country, where Indian religions have already almost been supplanted by Christianity, but Islam is quickly gaining followers.

Author Biographies

Stanislav A. Gorokhov, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30 Spiridonovka Street, 1 building, Moscow 123001, Russia

doctor of science (geography), docent; leading researcher

Ruslan V. Dmitriev, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30 Spiridonovka Street, 1 building, Moscow 123001, Russia

doctor of science (geography); leading researcher

Ivan A. Zakharov, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30 Spiridonovka Street, 1 building, Moscow 123001, Russia

PhD (geography); senior researcher

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Published
2023-01-25
Keywords: India, religious competition, Indian religions, Islam, Christianity
Supporting Agencies This research has been supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 19-18-00054-П).
How to Cite
Gorokhov S. A., Dmitriev R. V., Zakharov I. A. Historical geography of religious competition in India in the 20th – early 21st century // Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 2023. 1. PP. 28-37.
Issue
No 1 (2023): Journal of the Belarusian State University. History
Section
World History

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