Medieval Indian Culture: 

(1) Religion: In the sphere of culture, the medieval period witnessed a great synthesis of traditions. The Bhakti and Sufi movements in the religious sphere are examples of this. The Bhakti movement which stressed on oneness with god through personal devotion came very close to the everyday lives of ordinary people. It stressed on purity and devotion rather than rituals and sacrifices. It questions the caste system and the authority of the Brahmans. The Sufi saints also stressed on devotion and love as the only way to realise the divine. They preached tolerance and compassion. They lived lives of austerity and shared the sorrows and anxieties of the common masses. As a result, their influence over the masses with Hindus and Muslims was very strong. There was also a lot of interaction between the Sufi and Bhakti saints and exchanging philosophical ideas took place. Both traditions in fact acted as a bridge between the two communities of Hindu and Muslims.

(2) Language and Literature: In the area of language and literature the trend of synthesis is also witnessed. Though classical languages like Persian and Sanskrit flourished, the really remarkable development was in the growth of regional languages. Several regional languages like Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Rajasthani and Gujarati attained a level of maturity and came to be used in literary composition. The Ramcharit- manas of Tulsidas, The Padmavat of Malik Muhammad Jayasi, the Mangala Karyas of Bengali poet like Manik Duta and Mukundaram, the compositions of Alaol in Bengali and those of Eknath and Tukaram in Marathi became famous during this time.

(3) Art and Architecture: Art and architecture also flourished during medieval time:

(a) Painting: Under the Mughals, painting was organized in the royal Karkhanas and painters were on the government payroll. The Mughal school of painting represented a complete assimilation of the Persian and Indian styles. This was to some extent a result of the fact that the artists of this school brought with them elements of the various traditions to which they belonged like, Rajputana, Gujarat, Malwa, etc.

(b) Architecture: (i) Another fascinating aspect of cultural life in medieval India is visible in its Indo-Islamic architecture. It is characterised by the adaptation of Indian resources, expertise, motifs, designs, etc. to Persian styles. New features like the arch and the dome were combined with the use of Hindu motifs like the bells, swastika, lotus and kalash (water pot).

(ii) The Qutub Minar, the Alai Darwaza and various monuments of the Tughlaq period like the tomb of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq are fine examples of architecture during the Delhi Sultanate period.