As an integral part of the Din al-Islam, the presence of Sufism and Sufis in South Asia is probably as ancient as the arrival of the first Muslims in that part of the world. From an Indian perspective, the dynamic forces released by the expansion of Islam throughout South Asia compelled the Subcontinent’s religious and social elite to come to terms with the new circumstances. Yet, besides the more or less successful campaigns of conversion among South Asia’s underprivileged, perpetrated by rulers, armies and preachers alike, it was the contact between the representatives of Islam’s esoteric traditions, i.e. Sufis, and the spiritually inclined among the adherents to the Hindu dharma that proved essential in promoting contacts and dialogue between the two traditions. The latter had witnessed the reaffirmation of the Hindu dharma over Buddhism as the principal expression of India’s social, religious and spiritual culture, ‘victory’ that nevertheless implied profound re-adaptations in the inner and outer structures defining Hindu culture.