When an observer attempts to describe a work of art of another culture to which he is an alien, the comment cannot but acquire features of a transposition. This is resented by one who looks at it from inside. Edmond Buchet, the art critic, comments on the art of Elephanta: At Elephanta already, the worshippers of Shiv needed the light of torches to reach the sanctuary. The three-headed Divinity permitted himself to be guessed, rather than looked at in the depth of the recess bedecked with jewels, symbols of astonishing powers. At Kailash, the taste of power, of movement and of violence sometimes turns into a search of the horrible, even of the macabre.-----As Kabir says: 'Beside themselves with joy, the life and death dance to the rhythm of this music. The humanity dances in the midst of these cries of laughter and anguish. (LHomme Createur, Buchet/Chastel, Paris, 1975, p 186) We should not mind this intrusion of death into what could be a perfectly normal state of life. One imagines death is not so repellant in a system where it is only a passage from one existence to another, as is the case in the Hindu religious belief. Firaq writes: Maot aik geet raat gati thhi, Zindigi jhoom jhoom jati thhi. Even so, Buchets description already conceptualises the scene in a different way. On the other hand, when Maulana Hasrat Mohani, the Muslim-Communist rebel and a distinguished Urdu poet, speaks of his devotion to Sri Krishnji and prays to him to accept Hasrat in Mathura, he brings the Hindu and Muslim systems of mysticism closer to each other, without fear of being accused of polytheism. He writes: Kutchh hum ko bhi ata ho ai Hazrat-e-Krishn, Aqleem-e-sukhan aap kay zair-e-qadam hai khaas, Hasrat ki bhi qubool ho Mathura main haazri, Suntai hain aashiqon pay tumhara karam hai khaas. I have taken the above paragraph from an article by Mujib Rizvi, according to whom, Hasrat had, later, gone to Mathura and had stated: In my devotion to Hazrat Sri Krishn (peace upon him), I am following the tradition of the love of the Divine taught by my spiritual guide, who is actually the teacher of spiritual guides, Hazrat Abdul Razzaq Bansvi, may the blessings of God be upon him. (as quoted in Peechhay Phhirat Kahat Kabir Kabir, by Mujib Rizvi, Pub. Dilli Kitab Ghar, Delhi, 2009, p 79) Arabs took Sufism from the neo-Platonism of the Greeks. It was greatly developed by the Iranians, who themselves had a Greek mystical tradition. Brought to India, it was allied with the Hindu mysticism to create the Bhagti movement, which dominated the spiritual scene in northern South Asia right into the nineteenth century. The masterpieces of Hindi literature, Jaisis Padmavat and Tulsis Ramayan are the products of this movement. Dara Shikoh was also influenced by it, as were Faizi and Abul Fazl. The great majority of the saints buried in South Asia, who are said to have converted hundreds of thousands of Hindus to Islam, also used this philosophy in their missionary efforts. Therefore, those who may be preparing to ex-communicate Maulana Hasrat posthumously should understand that, whereas there were political and other differences between the Muslims and the Hindus, Sufism, with its great commitment to humanism, was always drawing them closer on the spiritual plane. n The writer is a retired ambassador.