Spiritual Life in Colonial Bihar and Patna

by

Using James Buchanan’s early statistics to geographically visualize Hindu religious breakdowns.

Ned Herrington
Ned Herrington

Ned Herrington ’22 is a Government major and QAC minor from Washington, DC and the Sidwell Friends School ’17. On campus he is a co-chair of the Honor and Community Standards Board and a Captain of the sailing team. Ned is planning to attend law school after taking one or two year off to work hopefully somewhere abroad.

Abstract: From 1811-1814 British botanist James Buchanan conducted a thorough survey of the India colonial states of Shahabad, Patna and Gaya, and Bhagalpur. Some of his most complete data regards the religious breakdowns the regions districts with a level of detail and statistical precision that was rarely seen at the time. Professor Pinch charged me with building digital maps of the regions in Buchanan’s time in ArcGIS Pro and then taking the compiled religious data and visualizing it in an informative manner. The final maps provide fascinating hints at the relative religious influence of different Hindu sects and gurus and the nature of spiritual life in colonial India.

Poster:

BiharPoster

Live Poster Session:
Thursday, July 29th 2:45 PM EDT

https://wesleyan.zoom.us/s/96710158751