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50 Translating Medieval OrissaThe articulation of heterodox voices resulted in various newcultural phenomena. Several historians like Tara Chand (1976) andSatyaranarayan (1983) have analyzed the impact of Muslim presencein India and the resultant cultural practices. The Muslim presenceaccording to Tara Chand had a bipolar character. As a religion andsystem of faith, Islam was monotheistic, and in its earlier phase ithad a democratic organization not admitting any kind of hierarchylike caste, common to Brahminic practices. However, by the time itentered north India as the religion of the conquerors, its democraticcharacter had been diluted and the fraternal impulse had given wayto the logic of conquest. Thus, we witness two faces of Islam inIndia between 12 th and 15 th centuries – one preaching universalbrotherhood and equality before religion and the other practicing themarauding rule of the sword and the silencing of dissent byextermination. That is precisely the reason why the character ofIslam in the south where it was not primarily a religion of theconquistadors, is vastly different from that of the north. However,towards the last part of the 15 th century the character of Islam evenin the north underwent a change. Political compulsions fragmentedthe bonding within Islam itself. Now various groups professingIslam were struggling for power in the north and to a lesser extent inthe south. There were victors and victims within the peopleprofessing the same religion and trying to retain their hold overpower and subjects too. A new cultural practice of religioustolerance emerged because of these political compromises. Thehitherto antagonistic religions began to accommodate each other atthe ideological level. While some people professing Islamparticipated in the Hindu rituals, there were attempts at modificationof Hindu religious practices according to Islamic tenets. The Satyapiraworship and the spread of the Bhakti cult are the results of suchideological accommodation. Because of its vantage geographicallocation, Orissa was privy to the accommodative ideological shiftstaking place in both the north and the south. We have mentionedearlier that until the 15 th century, the indirect influence of Islam was