Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s3.t3.21

c7.s3.t3.21

As we have excluded from the present survey the study of modifications in the Muslim rituals and prayers, we shall confine ourselves to the enumeration only of those festivals which were introduced into the orthodox Muslim Calendar. Among the festivals that were officially recognized by the State was the popular Persian festival of *Nau-roz*, to which we had occasion to refer earlier in our treatment. The *Nau-roz* was a spring festival. It was usualy celebrated in large gardens and riverside parks with music and flowers.¹ On the whole its observance was confined to the upper classes of Muslims who were very closely associated with the Sultan. It has more or less died out now in Hindustan.² The Mughal Emperor Humayun was the first monarch who forbade its observance, professedly under religious influence. The usual State banquet on the day of *Nau-roz* was, however, retained.³