Rajiv Bhagat
Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Fellow in the Humanities
2007—2008 Forum on Origins
Rajiv Bhagat
South Asia Studies, English
Origins of Hindu-Muslim Communal Antagonism and Harmony in Gujarat, India
The 2002 riots in my family’s state of Gujarat were not the origins, but merely the culminations of Hindu-Muslim Communalism that had plagued both the state and the larger Indian subcontinent for several hundred years, far before partition in 1947. The primary goal of my project is to first isolate and uncover the origins of Hindu-Muslim community antagonism and conversely the origins of Hindu-Muslim peaceful coexistence in the history of Gujarat and the larger Indian subcontinent. I then plan to adapt this historical research to fit into my peace education program curriculum for Hindu and Muslim youth in the city of Rajkot in Gujarat, to help improve current deteriorating relations between the two communities.