The Foundations of the Composite Culture in India

Contents: Preface. 1. Assimilating features of Indian culture. 2. Early Arab contacts and the advent of Islam in India. 3. In search of equivalence : interaction between Sufism and Hinduism. 4. Sufi ideals, Sufi institutions and the impact of Sufis on Indian society and culture. 5. The Bhakti and Sufi Movements. 6. The efforts of Muslim rulers for unity and harmony. 7. The syncretic cults : Blending of Hindu-Muslim elements. 8. Mutual influences on social and religious life. 9. Glimpses of composite Indian culture. 10. Epilogue. Bibliography. Index.

"In the present work, The Foundations of the Composite Culture in India, the focus of the author is the process of establishment of Hindu-Muslim unity as a result of historical, social and cultural factors over a period of ten centuries. Traversing this era, he reveals how the Muslim rulers contributed to such harmony, and how the two cultures exchanged and accepted each other's tenets in order to enrich and formulate a composite Indian culture. With the objective of exploring the foundations on which the composite culture of India rests, the author examines the contribution of Sufism which inherently connotes syncretism and tolerance - as well as the simultaneous rise of the Bhakti Movement in medieval India." (jacket)