4 SOCIAL SCIENTIST nuances require further exploration. The representation in turn had an impact on what have been described as the multiple new communities which came to be established. The newness was not because they were invariably alien, but because there was a departure from the existing pattern of communities. The newness of these communities requires investigation and this links the study of the first millennium A.D. with that of the second. The continuities did not have to be literal but could have been conceptual and while the nature of change in some situations was new in others it could well have followed earlier patterns. The definition of the Muslim community extends to all those who claim adherence to Islam and the adherence is said to be demonstrated by a clearly stated belief and form of worship, which through conversion confers membership in a large body of believers, a membership which also assumes the egalitarian basis of the association. The perspective of the court chronicles of the Sultans and theMughals was that'of the ruling class and this perspective is now seen as broadly endorsing the above definition and reinforcing the projection of a Muslim community, a perspective in which the Hindu— as defined by such literature—was seen as the counterpart. It is as well to keep in mind that this is the current interpretation of these texts and although some may conform to the view from the windows of power, not all do so. Therefore, although sometimes carrying some political and even theological weight, this view was nevertheless limited. As the articulation of a powerful but small section of society it needs to be juxtaposed with other indicators. The notion of a Hindu community evolves from a geographic and ethnic description gradually giving way to religious association. The Hindu community is more difficult to define given the diverse nature of belief and worship making it the amorphous "Other" of the Muslim community in some of the court chronicles. The crystallisation of this perception occurs when erstwhile Vaisnavas, Saivas, Lingayats and others, begin to refer to themselves as Hindus. Communities of the subcontinent have in the past been diverse, with multiple identities and the attempt to force them into unchanging, static entities, would seem to contradict the historical evidence. With the modern connotation of a religious community, both terms have come to include, even in the interpretation of the historical past, all manner of diverse societies across the subcontinent, for some of whom convergence with the formal religion is of recent origin, if at all. The idea of two, distinctive, segregated civilisations, the Hindu and the Muslim, in conflict with each other was assumed in colonial scholarship. Thus James Mill, differentiated the Hindu civilisation from the Muslim, which gave rise to the period isation of Indian history as that of the Hindu, Muslim and British periods. It crystallised the concept of a uniform, monolithic Hindu community