Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s3.37

c17.s3.37

Unlike the Muslim saints and *darwēshes*, the Hindu Yogīs and Sanyasīs were celibates and lived a life of renunciation and austerity.⁴² Marco Polo and Ibn Battūta met such ascetics and their description shows that the Yogīs were very much in evidence all over the country throughout the medieval times,⁴³ and like the Muslim saints they seem to have enjoyed universal respect. But they did not and probably could not do any proselytising work. Being ascetics, they even kept away from the people. All the same, contact of the people with Muslim saints and Hindu Yogīs⁴⁴ helped in the evolution of Hindu-Muslim understanding as both were revered by all sections of the people.⁴⁵