The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c19.33

c19.33

With its highly unsettled conditions the Memeluke Sultanate could boast of no great cultural activity. More than a century was to elapse before Muslim letters found its bearings in the new environment and exhibited, under the Tughluqs, a vigorous, creative spirit. What was produced in the 13th century had necessarily trans-Indian tradition behind it; Indian ideas and life could enter but little in the Muslim’s intellectual make up. The new phase was to be started by the great Amir Khusrau whose contribution to the Indianization of Muslim culture was many sided. The use of Hindi poetical imagery and themes, his admiration and addition to India’s music, and his spirited defence of Indian cultural values, are only a few of the services of this versatile poet, the first great creative writer of Muslim India¹. The spirit of the greatest medieval Muslim savant al-Beruni breathes through his writings, but while the latter’s pleading for scientific appreciation of Indian philosophy and sciences evoked little response from his contemporaries, Khusrau’s genius held out a living example in the domain of *belles lettres* which caught on and went to enrich the culture-content of medieval India.