A poet and musician of exceptional talent, Khusro, a Turk born on the subcontinent, was a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, the Sufi mystic. While delighting in the Sultanate’s expansion and Islam’s spread, Khusro called ‘Hind’ or India his ‘motherland’ and, even with its Hindu majority, ‘a paradise on earth’. He thought that Muslims might find much to admire if they penetrated the heart of the seeming idol-worshipper.
