ABSTRACT
Madanpura is a fairly prosperous locality where most of the well-to-do gaddidars and businessmen have their shops and establishments, and where they also live. Madanpura is also known for its superior quality of silk weaving. The Muslims of Madanpura are considered the elite of Banaras Muslims. The world of the Momin Ansaris of Banaras demonstrates contradictory processes: on the one hand, there is the ordinary weaver’s struggle to cling to the increasingly elusive ideal of the self-sufficient artisan and the much-valued autonomy that it guarantees, and on the other is the reality of a sharply socially and economically differentiated world, characterised by an increasing inter-dependence, though an asymmetrical one. Identity consciousness reflects how these contradictory processes are being mediated by class, location in the biradari, locality, gender and, religion. Religion has to be historicised and contextualised.
