The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c15.16

c15.16

As regards religion, the Hindus were accorded the status of an allied people, *dhimmis*, from the very beginning of Muslim rule.⁸ Legally, they were allowed full religious freedom except in one particular direction; they were not permitted to build new temples without previous sanction. In actual practice, there is no instance on record when this permission was withheld. If temples were destroyed, it was in newly conquered towns and territories which had refused to submit. Temples built without permission were sometimes demolished. In certain areas the Hindus demolished mosques and converted them into idol temples : naturally when they were conquered again, these buildings were reconsecrated as mosques and given to Muslims.¹ The Hindus practised their religion openly and with ostentatious display ; the private feelings of mighty sultans were not allowed to interfere with this policy of toleration.² The distant villages and small towns could do as they pleased ; " even in the capital and the provincial centres, the idols were publicly worshipped, the rites of Hinduism fully practised, the doctrines of their faith maintained in their entirety by the Hindus, who had idol temples and decorated their idols, and on the occasion of their festivals went out in procession, dancing, singing and playing music,"³ Even the more puritanical of the sultans could hear the conch-shells and bells of idol temples in their secluded palaces.⁴ The right to preach Hindu doctrines was fully acceded.⁵ Fīrūz Shāh, however, punished some Brahmans for converting Muslims. On the other hand, there is the classic example of Kabīr brought up as a Muslim accepting the spiritual leadership of a Hindu. Chaitānya, the great Vaishnava reformer, converted a number.