ABSTRACT
In reality, most of India came under British rule only in the time of Wellesley or later, while by the beginning of the twentieth century nationalism was becoming the formative factor in Indian life and thought. The period during which British influence was paramount cannot, therefore, be reckoned at more than about a hundred years—short by comparison with the five hundred years of Muslim rule and a fleeting moment indeed in the long history of India. The uncompromising character of Islam is obvious, and in consonance with it the Muslims in India for a considerable time resisted the impact of Western education, took but little to science or industry, and hardly allowed their beliefs or their way of life to be influenced by the newcomers. India had for centuries possessed a marked cultural unity, but some dynamic force was needed to engender that group-consciousness and that communal pride on which nationality depends.
