Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c4.s2.t3.8.2

c4.s2.t3.8.2

To enumerate but a few representative names: Lalla in Kashmir, Nanak in the Punjab, Kabir in the Upper Gangetic plains, Vidyapati Thakur in Bihar and Orissa, and Chaitanya in Bengal, are the great prophets of the popular religion of Hindustan during our time.² The songs of numerous others are given in the sixth volume of Macauliffe's work, while some new poems are being slowly brought to light by the Visva-Bharati and other Indian periodicals. I have deliberately excluded from the present study a more detailed examination of the writings of Muslim Sufis in Hindustan. The Sufis in general are so conventional in their treatment, that they show a more or less complete detachment from the life of common people and their spiritual wants. They fight shy of recognizing the social changes which a closer association and mutual interaction of Hindus and Muslims were bringing about in Muslim society. As a matter of fact, the Sufis lived in more intimate touch with the social currents of life than any other class among the Muslims, but they found themselves between two stools, facing danger from opposite directions. They were dissatisfied with the whole of orthodox Muslim life, but they did not dare to question the power of the theologians who led the people, covering themselves with the rigid interpretation of the Muslim dogma.