Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s1.8

c5.s1.8

Muslim society was on the eve of still greater changes. With the fall of Mada’in, the ancient capital (Ctesiphon) of Chosroes, and the transfer of the seat of the Caliph to Baghdad, Persian ideas began to flow in, changing the face of Islam in course of time. On coming into contact with the Persians, the Arabs discovered the political traditions of an ancient people, their extremely practical nature as contrasted with the traditions of Arabia which led to many civil wars in a short time and caused so much trouble, and the facility with which the world they had conquered was ready to assimilate them. It is intelligible how the Muslims came to assimilate the old doctrine of Persian imperialism and fell an easy prey to the culture of their conquered people.¹ In their eager fascination, they did not stop to pick and choose from Persian ideas : they adopted them wholesale in every sphere of life. In political administration, they took over the principles, the organization of various departments, the personality of the Persian monarch—the seraglio, the eunuchs, the slaves and attendants, the State ceremonials, the dresses and royal symbols—the principles of military organization and equipment, the tactics of war, in fact every administrative detail of value ; in social manners they borrowed all the Persian ideas of social pleasures and amusements namely the chase, the games of polo and chess, wine, music, songs and the spring-festival of Nau-ruz ; in mental culture, they assimilated all the Persian ideas not excluding the science of the interpretation of dreams (Ta'bir) and the divination of the Magi.² Of all these ideas the most significant was the theory of divine right of the Persian Kings. From the centre of Baghdad these ideas spread to Ghazni, as to other parts of the Muslim world and made their way from there onto the Indian plains. At Ghazni—to which we may look for the source of the political ideas of the Sultans of Delhi—even the official titles of some of the heads of departments were the same as those at the ancient Persian Court.³ The crown which Sultan Mas'ud wore was only a replica of that of the Chosroes in Ctesiphon⁴; in fact, the whole outlook of the Ghazanawid monarchs and their character and function was in no way very different from that of the ancient Persian Sassanians. In other respects this national Persian tradition found its best poetical expression in the celebrated epic of the Shah-nama which was composed under the patronage of the Ghazanawid court. Herein the legendary heroes of ancient Persia live for ever in the immortal pages of a follower of Muhammad.