ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the vicious targeting and unabashed stereotyping of Muslims in India in the 1990s, in the context of the enveloping and insidious communalisation that characterised the period. It attempts to delve into the workings of community and gender identity by examining the events and processes in the lives of Banaras Muslim weavers, men and women, as they faced the communal conflicts in the 1990s. Hindu-Muslim relations are embedded in the materiality of the artisanal sari industry of Banaras. The Momin Ansaris who constitute the bulk of the Muslim weaving community are largely poor weavers, owning one or two handlooms, while the traders have largely been Hindu mercantile groups. The process of consolidation of community identity has been at work since the early decades of the 20th century, with the experience of recurring incidents of communal violence and pervasive communalisation only strengthening this process.
