Identities of Composite literary tradition during the Sultanate of Delhi: A study of Amir Khusrau and Kabir in the making of Indian heritage (Published)
The history of Medieval India had long been interpreted on two grounds basically, – the age of destruction of Indian civilization by the central Asian invaders; and the growth of composite culture. But the above terms reflect contradictory sense because if the advent of foreigners fully eliminated India’s glorious past then how could there be an amelioration of cultural assimilation during our period of study. In this regard, communalist modern scholars of this period can be held responsible, who sought to disseminate unscientific viewpoints on both Hindu and Muslim superiority, or at best with a so-called notion of “community crisis”. In fact, it is not even so hard to identify the biasness of Marxist scholars who set up a dominance in medieval Indian history writing by excluding many impartial treatments. However, as a chief offshoot of this composite tradition the mystic literary practice had thrived out of Bhakti and Sufi movement, which imparted the idea of love and devotion for God, simultaneously emphasized the harmonious social relationship through the spiritual promulgation of human relationship with extra-mundane world. This paper has attempted to describe the literary aspects of Delhi Sultanate period, by which the composite cultural scenario can be discernible in the making of Indian heritage, and tried to evaluate several subsided corners of this subject. As a part of my discussion, therefore, I have decided to provide a critical analysis about the two most prominent mystic authors of this age- Amir Khusrau and Kabir.
Keywords: Amir Khusrau, Delhi, India, Kabir, Mystic, Sultanate