Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c7.14

c7.14

Under the Tughlak monarchs⁵ (1325-1413) Muhammadan education in India seems to have made considerable progress. It was encouraged by Ghiyās-ud-dīn Tughlak; and his successor, Muhammad Tughlak, is said to have been a man of great learning who gave great encouragement and help to scholars. But his good intentions and efforts were to a great extent spoiled by the wild scheme he projected of building a capital at Daulatābād and compelling all the inhabitants of Delhi to migrate to the new city. This caused great misery, which was hardly alleviated by the citizens being allowed to return to their old homes when the scheme fell through. This was a great set-back to Delhi as a centre of education and learning, as it became bereft of its scholars. It was some time before it could recover. Fīrūz Tughlak was more successful in his attempt to found a new Delhi, which he called Fīrūzābād. This city became famous as a literary centre, and Fīrūz, who was himself an educated man, gave great encouragement to scholars, and bestowed gifts and pensions upon them.¹ Like some of the Muhammadan sovereigns of India before him he had a special interest in educating young slaves, though he carried it to a further extent than any of his predecessors. It is said that he maintained no fewer than eighteen thousand of these lads, and large sums must have been spent by him for their support and education. He had some of them apprenticed to craftsmen, while others were set to learn the Korān or the art of copying manuscripts. In the inscription which Fīrūz placed upon a mosque in his capital of Fīrūzābād, he mentions ² amongst his other good works the repair of schools and the alienation of revenue for their support. The Muhammadan historian Ferishta says ³ that Fīrūz built no less than thirty colleges with mosques attached. In the college which he founded at his capital students and professors all lived together in the institution, and stipends and scholarships were given for their support. It is evident that under this sovereign considerable advance must have been made in the education of Muhammadans. The invasion of Taimūr (1398), with its horrors of bloodshed and rapine, must have been as great a set-back to education as it was to the political power of the Delhi kingdom. In the time of Sayyid Alā-ud-dīn, Badaun became a great centre of learning,⁴ and under Sikandar Lodī, Agra, which had been made the capital by his predecessor, also came into prominence as a literary centre.⁵ Sikandar insisted on all his military officers having a literary education.