• Broadly about social and religious attitudes to Islam in north India
• Subject is Ghazi Miyan, an Indo-Islamic saint with both Muslim and Hindu followers
• Ghazi Miyan supposed to be nephew of infamous Mahmud of Ghazni
• Martyred in Bahraich in modern-day UP in 1034 CE
• Worshipped across northern India but particularly at a famous dargah in Bahraich, UP. Also has a big annual fair dedicated to him which draws thousands of Hindus and Muslims
• This book studies:
• written sources about Ghazi Miyan, in Persian, Urdu, Hindi and other regional languages
• folklore and songs and popular practices of worshipping Ghazi Miyan
• objections raised to the worship of Ghazi Miyan by both orthodox Hindus and Muslims
• Ghazi Miyan is portrayed as both foreign and Indian; as both a Muslim jihadi who smashes Hindu idols and a savior of cows and brother to Hindu women
• Book explores the factors that contributed to the making of this hybrid figure and analyzes the complex nature of Indian syncretism.

About the Author

SHAHID AMIN is former Professor of History at Delhi University and author of the award-winning Event, Metaphor, Memory: Chauri Chaura, 1922-1992.

Table of Contents:
Storyline Prominent Figures in the Cult of Ghazi Miyan Maps and Figures Preface Abbreviations 1 Introduction: Sufi and the Ghazi Part One A LIFE 2 The Hagiography 3 An Urdu Mirror of Masud 4 The Author as Hero Part Two LORE 5 Tales and the Text 6 Reproductive Anxiety 7 Zohra Bibi 8 Birth–Marriage–Martyrdom 9 Ghazi Miyan and Cowherds 10 Grey Mare, Lilli 11 Cooking for a Turkic Brother 12 Idols Part Three SHRINE 13 Altars 14 Dafalis and Servitors 15 The Bahraich Shrine Part Four COUNTER-HISTORIES 16 Sites and Cenotaphs 17 Investing the Ghazi 18 Demotic Warfare 19 Downplaying the Iconoclast? Part Five A LONG AFTERLIFE 20 Everyday Memories 21 Epilogue Appendix 1 The Ballad of Basaurhi Dafali, Recorded Near Rudauli, May 1994 Appendix 2 The Ballad of Seth Mahet, Recorded, c. 1900 by W. Hoey Appendix 3 A Poetical Description of the Ghazi Miyan Fair at Bahraich, c. 1800 by Cazim Ali Jawan Bibliography Acknowledgements Index