Mughal Administration c12.s3.2

c12.s3.2

The religious atmosphere of India was quivering with electricity in the first half of the 16th century. Chaitanya and Nanak preached and converted during this period, and their new creeds, by supplying the exact spiritual needs of the age, became realm-conquering movements within India. Other movements, deviating from the old orthodox faith, also arose in India, as has been clearly shown by Blochmann in the Introduction to his translation of the *Ain-i-Akbari*, Vol. I, particularly the Mahdavi sect, *i.e.*, men on the look out for a new Mahdi or Supreme spiritual guide. [The Mahdavi sect lingered in Bijapur well beyond the middle of the 17th century and still flourishes in Gujrat.] *Ency. Isl.* iii. 111.