Britain’s Indian census counted religion more thoroughly than its own census.

Evidence

Although some European states had begun to develop demographic tools to better understand their populations by this time, the British were creating a more thorough and expansive census for its Indian territories than they exercised at home. The first all-India census (1872) and the several city and provincial counts that preceded it each required those polled to give their religion. The resulting numbers alarmed Britons because the population of Muslims exceeded their expectations. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 90

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: why did British colonial census collect religion in India when the home census did not, and how did that asymmetry structure imperial knowledge?
• XREF: connects to: British census counted Untouchables as Hindu, making their defection numerically threatening.; British census data on Muslim numbers amplified Anglo-American fears. — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear:…, 90; British rule deliberately fanned caste and communal divisions in India (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• British census data on Muslim numbers amplified Anglo-American fears. #builds-on (0.70) — Peter Gottschalk and Gabriel Greenberg, Common Heritage, Uncommon Fear, 90
• British rule deliberately fanned caste and communal divisions in India #complicates (0.25)