Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is a detailed description of the history and sociology of a Barelwi madrasa, located in the qasba of Mubarakpur, Eastern Uttar Pradesh. It describes the locale, which is Mubarakpur, in an attempt to capture the ethos of the place and to try to understand the way in which the development of madrasas has shaped the local history and memory of Mubarakpur. The book establishes that education and more so religious education is hardly a neutral enterprise. It explores the effects of madrasa pedagogy on its students. The book focuses on how the students learn to adjust to their new environment, away from their homes and within the madrasa. It also describes how notions of discipline and respect for authority are internalised by the students so as to make it part of their habitus.