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104 Jaina Religion: Its Historical Journey of Evolution
with gaining power and wealth, as they knew that their ernpire could stay only if the authority of Islam was established. Thus, for spreading Islam in this country, Muslim rulers gave sufficient amount of comforts to the people. Along with its establishment Islam came in contact with other Indian faith. Indian thinkers started paying attention to the cultural and religious aspects of Islam. As a consequence, Indian masses found Islam as a simple and natural way of devotion free from rituals. Due to this mutual contact a new class of saints appeared in this country, which liberated Hindu religion from rituals and gave it a natural and simple style of worship. We see, that in 14ih, 15th and 164 centuries, not only did Nirguņa form of worship evolve but became a prominent form of devotion or worship.
In that period not only were Indian masses seized with casteism and classism, but in the field of religion also there was so much influence of rituals that the spiritual element became subordinate and rituals became predominant. Having established their political authority the Muslim rulers blinded by fanaticism began to ruthlessly destroy temples and idols and to build mosques with the material of the broken temples.
The masses, seeing their temples and idols being reduced to rubble and the great stories woven
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