A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c20.s2.2

c20.s2.2

It is very difficult to say how far Islam influenced Hindu religious thought and practice in the South. Some traits of the Hindu revival, such as the increasing emphasis on monotheism, on emotional worship, on self-surrender, on the need for devotion to a spiritual teacher, as well as the growing laxity in caste rules and indifference to ritual at least among some sects, have all been held to be in some way or other the result of Islamic influence. But these developments may well be explained from the internal history of Hinduism itself, and there is no direct evidence of the active influence of Islam on their growth. Perhaps, after all, it is not an accident that, as Eliot has observed, sects grew ‘more definite in doctrine and organization, especially among Vishnuites, as Hindus became more familiar with Islam’. As we have shown, however, there were Musalmans in plenty who, in general, were left free both to worship and to proselytize.