New Religion Old Traditions

Though within the recent generation the number of villages on the island had expanded to more than ten, the new maharaja had been too busy fighting a civil war. More and more, it seemed, had sought ways to escape the brutalities of the civil war to settle on this remote island.

It was trendy at those times to convert to Islam in comparison to the old fashioned, corrupt and decaying empires in that region. Islam was also the language of scholars, rich merchants and smart looking people.

Therefore, people tended to convert to the new religion but retaining their pantheistic traditions.