Mughal Administration c17.s3.1

c17.s3.1

Fourthly, Hunter and some other European writers have held that the monotheistic or at least anti-Brahman and anti-caste movements among the Hindus in the middle ages were due to the influence of Islam. But we have to bear in mind that all the higher thinkers, all the religious reformers, all the devout *bhaktas* among the Hindus from the remotest time, have proclaimed the principle of monotheism and recognized the one supreme God behind the countless deities of popular worship. Therefore, it is not historically true that Islam taught the Hindus monotheism. What really happened was that these dissenting movements among the Hindus of mediæval India received a great impetus from the presence of the Muhammadans in our immediate neighbourhood. The example of Islamic society acted as a solvent on Hindu prejudices.