The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c19.41

c19.41

It is hardly necessary to stress that such diffusion of and devotion to literature pre-supposes a high level of general education and the existence of widely patronised educational establishments. Among the first institutions established in any newly occupied place was a madrasah, while every mosque housed a primary school. There were privately run schools as well as state-financed seminaries. Iltutmish founded a richly endowed college at Delhi named after his eldest son Nasiruddin; another was at Multan called the Firozi madrasah⁴. The Khalji conquerors in Bengal established similar institutions. Barani speaks of a large number of eminent professors teaching in colleges all over the kingdom¹. Under the Tughluqs, the capital alone is said to have possessed a thousand madrashs and two thousand muktabs (attached to mosques)² a statement which give a comparative indication of the state of affairs under their Memeluke predecessors.