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Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c10: Book I

Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c10

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English

Book I

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CHAPTER I.

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THE HOUSE OF GHAZNĪ.

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WE shall begin with Sulṭān Maḥmūd and review *seriatim* the work of Muhammadan sovereigns, noticing at the same time all relevant facts bearing on the educational and literary history of the period.

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Sulṭān Maḥmūd, notorious as an iconoclast, had one great redeeming feature in his character. He was a great patron of learning and a staunch friend of learned men. But a bigoted Musalmān as he was, he did not care to encourage the learned men of any other faith, or to foster the education of the people of any other persuasion.

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It need hardly be pointed out that it was at his capital at Ghaznī that he showered the largest portion of his munificence; and so to the Hindus, the darker aspects of his character were better known than the brighter. The name of Maḥmūd has become with them a synonym for bigotry, cruelty and rapacity combined. A Hindu who hears of his seventeen successive invasions of India, of his destruction of Hindu temples and images of gods and goddesses, of the numberless

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PROMOTION OF LEARNING

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people he massacred and put to cruel death, of the havoc and horror he created and of his plunders and devastations, does naturally paint him in the blackest dye. In justice, however, to this Sulṭān some of the redeeming qualities of his head and heart should be properly and adequately emphasized.

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The following anecdote related by Ḥamdullah Muṣtaufī, the author of the *Tārīkhi-Guzīdah*, is very suggestive:

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“Maḥmūd’s features were very ugly. One day regarding his own face in a mirror, he became thoughtful and depressed. His Wazīr enquired as to the cause of his sorrow, to which he replied, ‘It is generally understood that the sight of kings adds vigour to the eye, but the form with which I am endowed is enough to strike the beholder blind.’ The Wazīr replied, ‘Scarcely one man in a million looks on your face, but *the qualities of your mind* shed their influence on every one.’” ¹

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¹ Elliot iii, p. 63.

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To make an impartial estimate of Maḥmūd’s qualities, it is necessary to describe these “qualities of mind” which are less known than the sterner aspects of his character.

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Maḥmūd’s large-hearted munificence for the encouragement of learning is well worthy of record. The *Guzīdah* ² mentions that annually he bestowed upon learned men and poets the princely sum of 400,000 *dīnārs*. But his zeal for education was not confined to the mere support of learned men:

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² *Ibid.*, iii, p. 63.

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it also founded institutions for the permanent promotion of learning. In the neighbourhood of the magnificent mosque of marble and granite, richly furnished with carpets and candelabra, and ornaments of gold and silver,—the mosque which received the endearing appellation of Celestial Bride—

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"was founded a University supplied with a vast collection of curious books in various languages. It contained also a museum of natural curiosities. For the maintenance of this establishment, he appropriated a large sum of money besides a sufficient fund for the maintenance of the students and proper persons to instruct youths in the arts and sciences."¹

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¹ Briggs' Ferishta vol. i, p. 61.

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Ferishta, moreover, adds the interesting piece of information that 'Unṣurī, the scholar who was profound as a scientist, well-versed in all the learned languages, great as a philosopher, and as a wit and a poet, the greatest of his age—the man who acted to Maḥmūd as a censor of literature, was appointed as a professor of the University of Ghaznī. His versatile talents no doubt made him quite fit for the post which he was selected to adorn.

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The establishment of this University and the encouragement of *belles lettres* and learned men was somewhat of an expiation for the ill-gotten hoard of wealth acquired by plunder and bloodshed. Within a short time, the city of Ghaznī became an attractive resort of literary men, poets, philosophers

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and scientists, which made it a most renowned centre of learning, as it was at the same time fast becoming a great civic centre adorned with beautiful works of architecture and sculpture, with public buildings and private palaces, with mosques, porches, fountains, aqueducts, baths and reservoirs. The city rose to be as famous as a Bologna or a Padua of Mediæval Europe. Of the many learned men of genius and eminence who shared the munificence of the Sulṭān, one was 'Utbī who composed the *Tārīkhi-Yamīnī*, which was an account of the descendants of Subuktigīn. Another was 'Uzeerī Rāzī, a native of Persia, who on one occasion received a present of 14,000 dirhams from the Sulṭān for a short panegyric. Asadī Ṭūsī, a native of Khurāsān and a poet of great fame, was the master of Firdausī. The Sulṭān often requested him to undertake the *Shāh-Nāmah*, but he excused himself on the ground of his old age. However, when Firdausī fled from Ghaznī, he entreated Asadī to supply a part of the *Shāh-Nāmah* consisting of 4000 couplets. Munuchiḥr, a noble of Balkh, was also famous for his wit and poetry, and lived at the royal court.¹ 'Unṣurī, the greatest poet of his age, a great philosopher, scientist and linguist, whom we have already mentioned in connection with the University of Ghaznī, was a great panegyrist of Maḥmūd, writing quite a crop of odes and

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¹ *Ferishta* vol. i, pp. 89 ff.

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quatrains in his praise. A curious story relates that the Sulṭān—

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“having one night in a debauch cut off the long tresses of his favourite mistress, was much concerned in the morning for what he had done. He sat, he rose, he walked by turns, and his attendants were alarmed to approach him. The philosopher ’Unṣurī accosted him with some extempore lines which so pleased the king that *he ordered his mouth to be thrice filled with jewels*. Calling then for wine, he sat with the poet and washed down his grief.” ¹

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, p. 91.

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’Unṣurī was appointed by the Sulṭān to superintend literature, and no work could be brought before Maḥmūd without his approval. Four hundred poets and learned men as also the students of the University of Ghaznī acknowledged him as their master who was invested with the recently created dignity of a poet-laureate, able by his verdict to open the way to royal favour for rising talents.² Aṣjudī, who was a powerful poet and a pupil of ’Unṣurī, composed a Qaṣīdah lauding the virtues of his patron on the occasion of the sacking of Somnāth, as also Farrukhī, another pupil of ’Unṣurī who amassed great wealth through the generosity of the monarch, of which he was deprived by robbers on his way to Samarqand, were also of the number of learned men patronized by him. Nor must I omit to mention in this connection the name of the famous poet who has been the subject of an anecdote that has been iterated, times out

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² Preface to Alberuni’s *India*, by Sachau, p. 1.

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of number, by historians to exemplify Maḥmūd’s literary ardour. I mean the author of the *Shāh-Nāmah*,—the immortal Firdausī, who was attracted to Maḥmūd’s court by the fame of his liberality and charged by the Sulṭān with the difficult task of completing the historical poem left unfinished by Daqīqī whose life was cut short by a servant. The death of Firdausī, as well as his appointment by Maḥmūd, took place in an equally curious way, which may well repay a detailed narration ¹—

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¹ Vide *Ḥabībul-Siyar* of Khundamīr, Elliot iv, 188 ff., and *Ferishta* vol. i, pp. 89 ff.

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“It is written in the books of the learned authors that during the first years, Firdausī took great pleasure in versification. It happened one day that he received ill-treatment from somebody and went to Ghaznī to lodge his complaint to Sulṭān Maḥmūd. On arriving near the city, he saw three men conversing together in a garden and the poet talked with them, hoping they would help him in the matter for which he came. The men said that they were the Sulṭān’s poets and that they did not talk with anybody who was not a poet—(the three men being ’Unṣurī, Aṣjudī and Farrukhī) and took into their society only that man who could add a fourth verse to the three verses they would recite.”

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When Firdausī heard this, he consented to supply the complementary verse, and the readiness with which he did so, astonished the poetic trio and made him one of them. He achieved his immediate object, and was introduced to the Sulṭān whose discerning eye did not fail to appreciate the merits of the poet. Having afterwards been appointed to compose the *Shāh-Nāmah*, he wrote a thousand

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verses for which the Sulṭān gave him 1000 dīnārs, when they were shown to him for approval. When Firdausī finished the poem, the verses amounted to 60,000, and he expected to get a dīnār for each verse. The Sulṭān, however, on the advice of a few persons of mean disposition sanctioned only 60,000 dirhams to be given to Firdausī as his remuneration. This amount was brought to the poet when he was just coming out of a bath. He was so much disappointed at the reward which fell so short of his ambition that he gave a third of the sum to the bath-keeper, another third to a sherbet-seller who had brought him some beverage, and the rest to the person who brought the money.

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Firdausī was stung to the quick by the Sulṭān’s injustice, which dashed all his hopes, and a literary man as he was, he avenged this wrong in a literary way. He composed about 40 verses which hurled a biting satire at the Sulṭān, incorporated them into the Shāh-Nāmah, and fled to Ṭūs, his native city, to be out of reach of the power he attacked. One day, some time after this incident, Aḥmad bin Ḥasan Maimandī, who was also one of the poets who enjoyed the Sulṭān’s patronage, was out a-hunting with the Sulṭān, and having come close, repeated several verses out of the Shāh-Nāmah, which were exceedingly applauded. Being asked by Maḥmūd whose poetry it was, Ḥasan answered that it was composed by Firdausī. The Sulṭān

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repented of his neglect of the incomparable poet and ordered his men to take 60,000 *dīnārs* at once to Ṭūs and ask the poet’s pardon. In the *Bahāristān* it is written that when these presents came in at one gate of Ṭūs, the coffin of Firdausī was carried out at the other. An only daughter was his heiress. She refused to accept the presents when offered to her, saying—

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“I have enough wealth to last me to the end of my days. I have no need of this money.”

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The daughter’s answer was indeed well worthy of the high-souled father.¹ The Sulṭān built a *caravansarai* with that money in the neighbourhood of Ṭūs, characteristically loath to appropriate for himself the sum once given away as reward to a deserving man, and anxious to apply it to the original purpose *cy près*.

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¹ Vide *Ḥabībul-Siyar* of Khundamīr, Elliot iv, pp. 190 ff.

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Magnanimous towards literary men as he was, his literary bias dominated on one occasion his martial instincts and made his zeal for war yield to dictates of peace; in 1023 A.D., he invested the fort of Gwalior, and after a while Nanda Roy, its chief, willing to conclude peace, sent out 300 elephants without riders, for the Turks to seize and take them.² Ferishta has a somewhat different version of this event and says that Nanda had intoxicated the elephants with drugs in order to put the bravery

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² *Ṭabaqāt-i-Akbarī*, Elliot ii, p. 467.

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of the Sulṭān’s troops to the test, and also adds that along with these presents, which were surely of doubtful benefit to the Sulṭān if they were actually in the state mentioned by Ferishta, were offered a few other presents also.¹ Whichever account be true, it appears that the Sulṭān could not have been propitiated, had it not been for a complimentary poem sent to him at the time. Its poetry was so much admired by the learned men of India, Arabia and Persia attached to his Court, and Maḥmūd was so much pleased with it that in return he conferred on Nanda the government of 15 forts, among which was the strong fort of Kālañjar. This was indeed a rare example in all history, of the triumph of poetry and literature, the victory of idealism, and it speaks volumes in favour of the man through whom this triumph and this victory were achieved.

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, pp. 66, 67.

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We have thus seen that Maḥmūd, who is popularly known for his militarism and plunder, was also a great patron of Muhammadan learning and, indeed, in the words of our historian Ferishta, “ no king had ever more learned men at his Court ”² than Sulṭān Maḥmūd.

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² Ibid., p. 32.

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Maḥmūd also bequeathed to his successors his own zeal for education. The House of Ghaznī throughout maintained its reputation for its

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patronage of learning. The successor of Sulṭān Maḥmūd was

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“generous to prodigality particularly to learned men, of whose company he was so fond that many were induced to come from all parts to his Court. Among the most celebrated, we must reckon Anwar Khān Khwārizmī, a great philosopher and astronomer who wrote an excellent treatise upon astronomy called *Mas’ūdī*, in reward for which he was presented with an elephant’s load of silver. Abū Muḥammad Nasāhī was a man of eminent learning in his age; he wrote a book entitled also *Mas’ūdī*, in support of the doctrine of Abū Ḥanīfah, which he presented to the king. In the beginning of his reign, Mas’ūd built many mosques, and endowed several *colleges and schools* which he caused to be erected in the different cities of his dominions.” 1

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In Mas’ūd we find a worthy successor of Maḥmūd, maintaining the traditions of his father, erecting magnificent public buildings including *schools and colleges*, making provision for their maintenance by rich and adequate endowments, keeping up the attractiveness of Ghaznī for learned men, paying particular attention to diffusion of learning, and placing its benefits within the easy reach of the general public by establishing educational institutions in the several cities of his large dominions. Mīrkhund, the author of the *Rauẓatul-Ṣafā*, informs us that he was very fond of the company of the learned, whom he obliged in manifold ways; for which, many an author dedicated to him his book. “During his reign,” on the evidence of the same authority, “so many

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¹ *Ferishta* vol. i, pp. 113, 114.

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colleges, mosques and religious edifices were built in the various parts of his dominions that it is impossible to enumerate them.”¹ For the unstinted liberality of this Sulṭān towards the learned and the cause of learning, we have the testimony of the famous savant Alberuni who flourished at this time. He could not rise in the good graces of Sulṭān Maḥmūd most probably for the political antagonism that existed between him and Maḥmūd’s chancellor Maimandī. And so, like Firdausī, he took a literary man’s mild revenge upon the Sulṭān by accusing him of “having failed in the duties of a protector of art and science imposed upon him by his royal office,” and by lavishing his praise upon his successor, in whose *régime* he could obtain his full share of royal protection and encouragement.²

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¹ *Rauẓatul-Ṣafā* by Mīrkhund, Elliot iv, pp. 138, 139.

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² *Vide* Preface to Alberuni’s *India* by Sachau.

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From the writings of Alberuni, we can get an insight into the rapid progress that Arabic and Persian literatures were then making in laying under contribution the rich store of knowledge imbedded in both Sanskrit literature and Greek. Indian mathematics and astronomy, astrology, philosophy, medicine and pharmacology were favourite subjects of study with the Muhammadan scholars, and translations of Indian works including a large portion of narrative literature into Arabic

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and Persian were fast being made by these energetic and inquisitive students.¹

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¹ *Vide* Preface to Alberuni's *India* by Sachau.

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The next Sulṭāns who came successively after Masʿūd to sit on the throne of Ghaznī were not noted for their literary zeal. Ferishta on the authority of the Jāmiʿul-Ḥikāyāt informs us that Sulṭān Ibrāhīm who came after them was of a religious disposition and used to hear lectures regularly on his favourite subjects of religion and morality from Imām Yūsuf Sajāwandī; and on such occasions, he showed, in a remarkable degree, patience and resignation with which he used to bear the reproofs of his moral tutor. He was not certainly *a sovereign* in the eye of the guardian of his moral self, and both the pupil and the preceptor acted accordingly.

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This Sulṭān excelled in the art of fine writing cultivated in the East by the Muhammadan Emperors as a separate subject of study requiring particular attention, and like many a Musalmān monarch before and after him, sent two copies of the *Qurʾān* which he had transcribed with his own hand during his leisure hours to Mecca and Medina as presents to the Caliph to be deposited in their respective sacred libraries.²

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² Ferishta vol. i, p. 137.

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The next Sulṭān, Bairām bin Masʿūd, was possessed of an uncommon thirst for knowledge.

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He infused new blood into the literary world by his ardent promotion of literature, and liberal and open-handed patronage of learned men. Of the many literary men who flocked to his Court, the names of Shaikh Niẓāmī and Sayyid Ḥasan Ghaznawī (the former being the author of the *Makhzani-Aṣār* dedicated to the Sulṭān his patron and both of them being poets and philosophers of widespread fame), are worthy of note. The Sulṭān caused several works in foreign languages to be translated into Persian, among which was the Indian book *Kalilah-Damnah*.¹ This work along with a chess-board had been sent as a present by an Indian king to Naushīrawān, the Persian monarch, by whose wazīr Buzurchimihr it was translated into Pahlawī from the Sanskrit original. It was afterwards rendered into Arabic by Ibn-ul-Muqliyā in the reign of the famous king Hārūn-al-Rashīd; it was from this Arabic version that Sulṭān Bairām ordered it to be translated into Persian. The work was accomplished, but it bristled with Arabic words and was full of Arabic poetry for which it had to undergo a subsequent transformation at the hands of Maulānā Ḥusain Wā’iẓ Kāshifī in the reign of Sulṭān Ḥusain Mīrzā Khwārizmī, and it then got the new title of *Anwari-Suhailī*.²

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¹ An adaptation of the Indian tales of the *Pañchatantra*.

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² (For the whole para.) vide *Ferishta* vol. i, pp. 149, 150, and C. Huart’s *History of Arabic Literature*, p. 211.

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We have now done with the House of Ghaznī, which, as we have seen, counted among its members several Sulṭāns having marked literary predilections and applying the resources of the state to the promotion of learning.

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CHAPTER II.

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THE HOUSE OF GHŪR.

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WE now reach the period of the House of Ghūr, under which learning did not fare so well as it did under the House of Ghaznī. The first chapter of Ghūrī history is associated with the vandalism of ’Alāuddīn Ghūrī, under whose orders, the city of Ghaznī, perhaps the noblest and the most beautiful in the whole of Asia at the time—

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“was given up for three, and some say seven, days to flame, slaughter and devastation. All the superb monuments of the Ghaznevite kings were demolished and every trace of them effaced, except the tombs of Maḥmūd, Mas’ūd and Ibrāhīm; the first two of whom were spared for their valour and the last probably for his sanctity.”¹

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¹ Elphinstone (9th ed.) pp. 348, 349.

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The real founder, however, of Ghūrī greatness was Muḥammad Ghūrī, better known for his conquests which surpassed those of Sulṭān Maḥmūd than for his devotion to letters. In the interim of more than half a century, we have a period of chronic war and unrest, and so far as literary matters are concerned, it might be called a very dark epoch. But as unrest was gradually settling down, we find Muḥammad turning his thoughts towards the literary progress of his

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dominions; but it should be remembered that these efforts were all marked by a religious exclusiveness which looked to the progress of the Muslim subjects alone. While he was at Ajmere, Muḥammad Ghūrī, it is related by Ḥasan Niẓāmī,¹ “destroyed the pillars and foundations of the idol temples and built in their stead mosques and colleges, and the precepts of Islām and the customs of the Law were divulged and established.”

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¹ Tājul-Ma’āsir by Ḥasan Niẓāmī, Elliot ii, p. 215.

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In his zeal for conquests and the spread of Islām, in the hurry and bustle of battles and the consequent mental preoccupations, he did not forget his duty towards the peaceful cause of education.

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Besides his work at Ajmere, Ferishta records his work of private tuition undertaken in respect of some of his Turkey slaves. Says he:

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“Muḥammad Ghūrī having no children except one daughter, took pleasure in educating Turkey slaves whom he afterwards adopted. Four of these slaves besides Quṭbuddīn became great princes, of whom Tājuddīn Yaldūz was one.”²

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² Ferishta vol. i, p. 200.

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Three of these were in possession of extensive governments at the time of Muḥammad’s death: Quṭbuddīn in India, Yaldūz in Ghaznī, and Naṣīruddīn Qubāchah in Multān and Sindh.³ It appears that in the instruction of these *protégés* of his, he used to combine a literary education with a training in the difficult art of practical government, which was essential to princes.

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³ Elphinstone, p. 360.

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CHAPTER III.

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THE SLAVE DYNASTY.

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THE House of Ghūr was succeeded by the Slave Dynasty. Its founder Quṭbuddīn received his early education in a school at Nishāpūr where he became proficient in Persian and Arabic, and acquired also some knowledge of science.¹ When he came to power in India, he was already known for his literary tastes and scholarship. Muhammadan learning was promoted by the establishment of hundreds of mosques which like the churches of Mediæval Europe were centres of both religion and learning. But Quṭb set the unhappy example of destroying Hindu temples and raising mosques on their foundations, which was so ruthlessly followed by his Lieutenant Bakhtiyār Khiljī.²

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, pp. 189, 190.

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² *Tājul-Ma'āsir* by Ḥasan Niẓāmī, Elliot ii, pp. 222, 223.

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The destructive work of Bakhtiyār with its tragic details throws some light on the state of indigenous learning which was being jeopardized by the alien power. The first object of attack was the *monastic university at Bihār* which was then teeming with Buddhist students and monks, and

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was well-equipped with libraries.¹ The atrocities of Bakhtiyār did not leave a single scholar alive. The massacres at Bihār were followed by the destruction of Nadīyā which was then both the political and intellectual capital of Bengal. Bakhtiyār then made partial amends for his destructive work by his construction of mosques, colleges and monasteries in the different parts of the country for the spread of Muhammadan learning.²

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¹ Raverty’s *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī* by Minhājus Sirāj, p. 552; *Ṭabaqāt-i-Akbarī* MS. in ASB by Niẓāmuddin Aḥmad, p. 46; *Tārikhi-Manṣūrī*, MS. in ASB by Sayyid ’Alī Ḥusainī-i-Bilgirāmī, p. 96.

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² *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣiri* by Minhājus Sirāj, Elliot ii, pp. 306-309; Raverty, pp. 559, 560.

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The next king Altamash with his political preoccupations does not seem to have given much thought to the encouragement of learning. There are, however, proofs that he was liberal³ and that Delhi continued to be the resort of learned men. There sought refuge the most learned Persian poet and philosopher of his age, Amīr Kūḥānī,⁴ who fled from Bukhārā when it was sacked by Changīz Khān to the court of Delhi, which was sufficiently attractive to draw him thither for asylum and protection; and during his stay there, he wrote a great many poems. Again, Naṣīruddīn, the author of the popular collection of historical anecdotes in Persian, lived at the Sulṭān’s court,

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³ *Vide* Raverty’s *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī*, p. 588.

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⁴ *Ferishta* vol. i, p. 210.

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receiving his encouragement and patronage.¹ Moreover, the choice of Fakhr-ul-Mulk, formerly wazīr of the Caliph of Baghdād for 30 years and much renowned for his wisdom and learning, as the Sulṭān’s prime minister shows that Altamash had a discerning eye and was not slow to recognize literary merit. We further learn that a *madrasah* was built by this monarch and that this edifice fell into a dilapidated condition in the time of Sulṭān Fīrūz Tughlaq more than a century afterwards; and Fīrūz, with his characteristic liberality shown in educational matters, rebuilt the college and furnished it with sandal-wood doors.² Lastly, Altamash faithfully discharged the duty of giving a sound education to his son Maḥmūd, for whom a separate arrangement was made at Loni befitting his position.³

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¹ Nūruddīn Muḥammad ’Ufī was the full name of the author—*Ferishta* vol. i, p. 212.

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² *Futūḥāt-i-Fīrūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, p. 383, and also Calcutta Rev. lxxix, p. 59.

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³ Raverty’s *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī*, p. 670.

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Sulṭānah Raẓiyah, the gifted daughter of Altamash, on whom devolved the difficult task of government and who fills a high place in the illustrious roll of Indian women-rulers, owed her success, in no small degree, to her education. Ferishta records that she was well-versed in the *Qur’ān*, which she could read with correct

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pronunciation.¹ She was a patron of the learned.² During Raẓiyah's reign, we hear of a college at Delhi called the Mu'izzī College. When the heretics Kirāmitah and Mulāḥidah attacked Delhi in two bodies, one of them passing through the Bazar-i-Bazzāzān (the bazar of the cloth-merchants) entered the gateway of the aforesaid college under the supposition that it was the Jāmi' Masjid and fell upon the people on both sides with their swords.³

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, p. 217.

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² Vide Raverty's Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī, p. 637.

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³ Ibid., p. 646.

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The next two reigns of Bairām and Mas'ūd are educationally unimportant except for the patronage of Sirāj, the author of the Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī, who was appointed the principal of Nāṣiriyyā College and superintendent of its endowments.⁴

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⁴ Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī, Elliot ii, p. 344 ; Raverty, p. 667.

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The next Sulṭān Naṣiruddīn occupies an important place in literary history. He was himself a scholar and during the long period of twenty years that he ruled found ample opportunities for advancing education. Even when a sovereign, he lived the life of a student and a hermit—a trait of character so rare in a king, and was in the habit of purchasing his food with the sale-proceeds of the products of his penmanship.⁵ A copy of the Qur'ān

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⁵ Ferishta vol. i, p. 246.

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transcribed by this sovereign with great taste and elegance was shown by Qāẓī Kamāluddīn to Ibn Baṭūṭah when he visited India about a century after.¹ A scholar as he was, he respected and encouraged scholarship. He rose to be a great patron of Persian literature, and the celebrated *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī*, which is so much drawn upon by historians for information regarding India and Persia, was written at his Court and took its name from the Sulṭān.

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¹ *Ibn Baṭūṭah*, Elliot iii, p. 593.

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At this time, there seems to have existed a college at Jalandhar, in the hall of which the prayers for the ’Īd-i-Aẓḥā were said by the followers of Ulugh Khāni A‘ẓam on their journey back to Delhi after a successful expedition.²

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² Raverty’s *Ṭabaqāt-i-Nāṣirī*, pp. 678, 679.

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Naṣīruddīn was followed by Balban who was also a great friend of literature, and his Court was a resort of many learned men. This was partly due to the then political condition of India and some of the neighbouring countries. It was at this time that Changīz Khān was ravaging Khurāsān and other places which made more than fifteen princes seek an honourable asylum at Delhi. Allowances befitting their position, and palaces were assigned to each of them, and it was upon this fact that Balban used to pride himself, whenever he had occasion to speak of this incident. In the retinue

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of these princes were some of the most illustrious men of learning of that time. The Court of the Indian Sulṭān was, therefore, at once a centre of learning and wealth.¹

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, pp. 251, 252, 258, 259.

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A remarkable feature of Delhi at this time was the abundance of its literary societies. Prince Muḥammad,² the eldest son of the Sulṭān, was a youth of very promising talents and evinced great taste for literature. He himself made a choice collection of poems extracted from the most celebrated authors. This work contained twenty thousand couplets which were esteemed the most select specimens then extant. This prince, with his marked literary tastes, took the lead in the formation of literary societies. Amīr Khusrau the famous poet was the tutor of this prince and used to preside in the prince’s literary society; the place chosen for the meeting of the members of this society was the prince’s palace.³

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² An account of his education is given in the *Nuh-Sipihr* of Amīr Khusrau (6th sphere), Elliot iii, p. 565.

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³ *Ibid.*

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There was another society inaugurated by the second son of the Sulṭān named Kurrā Khān Baghrā. Musicians, dancers, actors and story-tellers (qiṣṣāḥgus) were the members of this society and used to hold their sittings frequently at the prince’s palace.⁴ The Amīrs followed suit. Within

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⁴ Ferishta vol. i, pp. 252, 258.

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a short time, various societies were formed in every quarter of Delhi.¹ The Imperial House thus set a fashion in these refined amusements, which was fraught with possibilities of great good to the country at large.

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, pp. 252, 258.

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The reputation of the royal Court in the literary world was kept at its high level, mainly through the patronage and literary tastes of prince Muḥammad. The Court of this prince was frequented by the most learned and accomplished men of the time. His attendants used to read to him the *Shāh-Nāmah*, the *Dīwāni-Sanā'ī*, the *Dīwāni-Khāqānī*, and the *Khamsah* of Shaikh Niẓāmī. Learned men discussed the merits of those poets in his presence.²

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² *Tārīkhi-Fīrūz-Shāhī* by Ẓiyāuddīn Barnī, Elliot iii, pp. 109, 110.

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Besides Amīr Khusrau the tutor, the prince had several other literary companions, among whom may be mentioned the name of Amīr Ḥasan, also a great poet. The prince delighted to honour the two poets and marked his appreciation of their merits by grants of lands and proper allowances.

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The literary ardour of this worthy scion of the Royal House expressed itself in the importunity with which he used to invite learned men to come to his Court and live there in the midst of all the

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advantages of literary life that a generous prince could shower on them. At Lahore, he visited Shaikh 'Uṣmān Turmūzī the most learned man of that age, but no presents or entreaties could prevail on him to remain out of his native country Tūrān. He twice sent messengers to Shīrāz to invite Shaikh Sa'dī the famous Persian poet, and forwarded with them some presents and also money to defray the expenses of the journey. His intention was to build a Khānqāh (monastery) for him in Multan and endow it with villages for its maintenance. The poet through the feebleness of old age was unable to accept the invitations, but on both the occasions, sent some verses in his own hand and made his apologies in writing, commending also in high terms the abilities of Amīr Khusrau the President of the prince's learned society.¹

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¹ Tārīkhi-Fīrūz-Shāhī of Ziyāuddin Barnī, Elliot iii, p. 110; Ferishta vol. i, p. 259; Ṭabaqāt-i-Akbar-Shāhī, MS. in the Bohār Collection of the Calcutta Imperial Library, p. 76.

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The prince was very fond of the company of the learned and could not forego it even in his military expeditions, in one of which he was killed and Khusrau taken prisoner.

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The attitude of Sulṭān Balban towards the literary world was no less commendable. The advice which the Sulṭān gave, on one occasion, to prince Muḥammad shows that the monarch respected learned men and also realized the great

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help they could render to Government if only their wisdom were adequately utilized. He said—

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“Spare no pains to discover men of genius, learning and courage. You must cherish them by kindness and munificence that they may prove the soul of your councils and instruments of your authority.”¹

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¹ *Ferishta* vol. i, p. 267.

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Again, his unique conduct in showing respects towards learned men on his return to Delhi from his successful expedition to Bengal reflects much credit on him. After conferring dignities upon Fakhruddīn Kutwāl, who had ruled Delhi with much wisdom and ability during his absence for three years, he visited *the learned men at their own houses* and made them rich presents.²

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² *Ibid.*, p. 265.

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In the long reign of Sulṭān Balban extending about twenty years, many an eminent and learned man flourished at Delhi. Besides the persons mentioned, there were Shaikh Shakarganj, Shaikh Bahāuddīn and his son, Shaikh Badruddīn ’Ārif of Ghaznī the philosopher, the pious and learned Quṭbuddīn Bakhtiyār Kākī, Sayyid Maulā and many others eminent in various branches of science and literature.³

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³ *Ibid*, p. 271.

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Delhi had been gradually rising in eminence through the attention of the Sulṭāns as a centre of learning and a resort of learned men. At the

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present moment, its literary position was so great that it inspired a few verses of Amīr Khusrau, in which he declared with just pride that Delhi could now successfully compete with Bukhārā, the great university-city of Central Asia.¹

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¹ *Vide* Amīr Khusrau's poem the *'Ashiqah*.

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About this time Sayyid Maulā, whom we have mentioned above, founded an academy and an almshouse at Delhi, of which we shall have occasion to speak later.

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The next Sulṭān, Kaiqubād, ruled only for two years, but during this short period he lowered the high tone of literary culture that had been introduced into the society of the day by Sulṭān Balban and his worthy son Prince Muḥammad. He vitiated the literary taste of those who came within his influence by setting a bad example of loose life which they imitated.² As was the Sulṭān, so were his subjects. The day of literary societies was gone, and wine and women reigned supreme. It does not take a long time to destroy what took decades to build.

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² *Ferishta* vol. i, p. 274, and *Tārīkhi-Fīrūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, p. 125.

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The progress of education was set back during the reign of this profligate Sulṭān. In spite of his early education under strict tutors in the polite arts and manly exercises and in spite of his literary bent and wide reading, he succumbed to the

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temptations of wealth when he ascended the throne. In his time—

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“his ministers as well as the young nobles of his Court, his companions and friends, all gave themselves up to pleasure; the example spread and all the ranks high and low, learned and unlearned, acquired a taste for wine-drinking and amusements.”¹

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¹ *Tārīkhi-Fīrūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, p. 125, and *Ferishta* vol. i, p. 273.

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CHAPTER IV.

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THE KHILJĪ DYNASTY.

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THE establishment of a new dynasty inaugurated a new and better order of things. Sulṭān Jalālud-dīn was of a marked literary taste. He used to pay learned men their due honour; and a literary atmosphere was created about the Royal Court which did not exist in the previous reign. His companions were distinguished as well for their sense and courage as for their wit and good humour, and renowned literary men of the time were frequently admitted to his private parties. Among these may be mentioned the following, famous for their erudition and for the works of poetry, history or science they composed :—

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Amīr Khusrau, Tājuddīn ’Irāqī, Khwājah Ḥasan, Mu’yyid Dīwānah, Amīr Arslān Qulī, Ikhtiyāruddīn Yāghī and Bāqī Khaṭīr.

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The parties were enlivened not only by the feast

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¹ ’Abdul Qādir mentions a few other names, e.g. Qāẓī Mughiṣ of Ḥansi, Mu’yyid Jājarmi, Sa’duddin Manṭaqi, etc.—*Muntakhabul-Tawārīkh* vol. i, p. 245 (Transl. by G. S. A. Ranking)—(Bibl. Indica). See also Tārīkhi-Niẓāmī, MS. in ASB, pp. 41 ff.

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of reason but also by the flow of music. The best singers, Amīr Khaṣṣah and Ḥamid Rājah in unison with the best instrumental performers, such as Muḥammad Chungī, Futūḥā, Naṣir Khān and Bihrūz usually cheered up the august assembly.¹

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¹ *Ferishta* vol. i, pp. 292, 293 and *Tārīkhi-Firūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, pp. 144 ff.

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Amīr Khusrau seldom allowed a party to take place without having prepared some new poem or song for the occasion, for which he was usually rewarded on the spot.²

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² *Ferishta* vol. i, pp. 292, 293 and *Tārīkhi-Firūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, pp. 144 ff.

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A noticeable feature of Jalāluddīn’s reign was that he chose the right person to fill the office of Librarian for the *Imperial Library* at Delhi. This high post, which carried with it much honour, was conferred on Amīr Khusrau, who was held in high regard by Sulṭān Jalāluddīn. During the reign of Kaiqubād, Jalāluddīn, while a prince, had settled on him a pension and rewarded him with 1200 *tankas* on his being appointed ’Ārizi-Mamālik. Sulṭān Jalāluddīn also appointed him the keeper of the *Qur’ān*, raised him to the peerage and permitted him to wear white garments, a distinction usually confined to the blood royal and the nobles of the Court.³

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³ *Ferishta* vol. i, p. 293 and *Tārīkhi-Firūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, p. 144.

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The record of Jalāluddīn’s work was soiled by the assassination of the great literary man of the age, Sayyid Maulā, who first established an academy at Delhi in the time of Balban. Sayyid Maulā was very pious and learned. His charity found expression in his alms-house for the entertainment of *faqīrs*, travellers and poor men of all denominations. His charities were very large, and among his disciples and followers were many nobles and princes. The Sulṭān’s eldest son, Khān Khānān, used to visit him and call himself the Sayyid’s son. The Sayyid was, however, suspected of plotting with his disciples against the Sulṭān and was done away with.

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Jalāluddīn’s successor ’Alāuddīn was, however, a man of a different stamp. He was so uneducated that he could not read or write, and so arrogant and self-willed that men of learning tried to avoid his Court, or had to remain tongue-tied in his presence.¹ As the emperor did not appreciate the value of education, he neglected that of his sons. He did not appoint any wise and experienced governors over his heir-apparent Khiẓr Khān and other sons, brought them out of the nursery long before their intelligence was mature, entrusting them at that stage with wealth and power which they abused. Buffoons and strumpets

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¹ *Ferishta* vol. i, p. 333; also *Tārīkhi-Firūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, p. 168.

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obtained mastery over them, and their residences were often scenes of riotous parties given up to drunken merriments.¹

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¹ Tārīkhi-Fīrūz-Shāhī, Elliot iii, p. 207.

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In the case of ’Alāuddīn, however, we find that he keenly felt within a short time the disadvantages of his illiteracy, applied himself privately to study and soon acquired a knowledge of Persian which enabled him to read all Addresses and acquaint himself with the best authors in the language.² When he made such progress in his studies as to be able to follow learned discourses, he began to encourage discussions of literary subjects and “show favour to all the eminent men of that age,” particularly to Qāẓī Maulānā Kuhrāmī and Qāẓī Mughīṣuddīn. The latter of these two men was appointed to explain the law to the Sulṭān before whom he had often to quake when his explanations contradicted the Emperor’s pre-conceived notions.³ The Sulṭān was always of an

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² Ferishta vol. i, p. 348.

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³ Ferishta vol. i, p. 348. The inscription on the southern doorway of the ’Alā’ī Darwāzah of ’Alāuddīn Khiljī represents the Emperor to have been a great promoter of learning. The passages in the inscription are:—“He (’Alāuddīn) of the exalted presence, Lord of the Kings of the world, Emperor like Moses in splendour, like Solomon in dignity, protector of the commands of the Law of Muḥammad, helper of the observances of the religion of Aḥmad, strengthener of the pulpits of learning and religion, strengthener of the rules of colleges and places of worship, etc., etc.”—Carr Stephen’s Archaeology of Delhi, p. 56.

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arbitrary temper, and the best informed men in his Court were careful to keep down their knowledge to the level of his acquirements.¹ When the illuminating rays of learning penetrated his dark mind, we find him a little changed from what he had been before. He relented a bit towards literary men. On one occasion his hardened mind was softened by literary fervour, expressing itself in a reward of 1000 *tankas* and a gold-embroidered vest to Qāẓī Mughīṣuddīn contrary to his expectations.² But if he showed any favours to literary men, they were a select few, who were temporarily in the good graces of the whimsical Sulṭān; and we can take the above description of Ferishta, viz. that "he showed favours to all the *eminent* men of that age" in the sense that most of the men favoured had made themselves eminent by military prowess or administrative ability, and not by learning simply. As Barnī has said: "He ('Alāuddīn) was a man of no learning and never associated with men of learning."³ Though this statement may be a little too strong, yet in the light of what another writer tells us on this point, it is perhaps not difficult to get at the truth. He says:

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¹ Elphinstone (9th ed.) p. 390.

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² *Ferishta* vol. i, p. 353.

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³ *Tārīkhi-Fīrūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, p. 168.

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"During the time of Sulṭān 'Alāuddīn, Delhi was the great *rendezvous* for all the most learned and erudite personages, for notwithstanding the pride and hauteur, the neglect and super-

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ciliousness, and the want of kindness and cordiality with which that monarch treated this class of people, the spirit of the age remained the same.”¹

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¹ *Abdul Ḥaqq Ḥaqqī Dihlawī*, Elliot vi, p. 485.

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Indeed, this aggressive monarch did not confine himself to a merely passive superciliousness, but did positive harm to the cause of education and letters. A few months after the capture of Rintambor in 1299 A.D., the Sulṭān, we are told, directed his attention to the means of preventing rebellion, and with this view, he attacked the properties of his subjects.

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“He ordered that wherever there was a village held by a proprietary right (*milk*), in free gift (*in’ām*) or as a religious endowment (*waqf*), it should by one stroke of the pen be brought under the Exchequer. So rigorous was the confiscation that beyond a few thousand *tankas*, all the pensions, grants of land (*in’ām-wa-mafrūz*), and endowments in the country were appropriated.”²

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² *Tārīkhi-Fīrūz-Shāhī*, Elliot iii, p. 179.

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However, in spite of this high-handed tyranny of the monarch, we learn from Ferishta that—

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“palaces, mosques, universities, baths, mausolea, forts and all kinds of public and private buildings seemed to rise as if by magic. Neither did there in any age, appear such a *concourse of learned men* from all parts. *Forty-five doctors, skilled in the sciences, were professors in the universities.*”³

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³ Ferishta vol. i, p. 376. N.K.T. has 46 doctors but no university.

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Before mentioning the names of the learned men who flocked to Delhi or flourished at the time, but who did not come under the royal patronage,

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I shall name a few poets, most of whom, according to Ferishta, were recipients of pensions from the Court. These were Amīr Khusrau, the prince of poets, our old acquaintance through several reigns, Amīr Ḥasan, called the Sa’dī of Hindustan, Ṣadruddīn ’Alī, Fakhruddīn Khawāṣ, Ḥamīduddīn Rājah, Maulānā ’Ārif, ’Abdul Ḥakīm, Shahābuddīn Ṣadr Nashīn, and several historians and compilers of memoirs of the times.¹

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, p. 377.

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Shamsul Mulk, the Prime Minister of Sulṭān ’Alāuddīn, was a very learned man, who counted among his pupils a great many of the scholars of the day. Had ’Alāuddīn accepted all his advice, it would have been better for him and India alike.²

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² ’Abdul Ḥaqq Ḥaqqī Dihlawī, Elliot vi, 484.

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Of the many poets and philosophers who flourished without the fostering care of the sovereign, the more famous only can be enumerated here. These were Sayyid Tājuddīn, Sayyid Ruknuddīn, the brothers Sayyid Mughīṣuddīn and Muntajībuddīn, all famous for their piety and learning.³ The learned and pious Niẓāmuddīn Auliyā, whose tomb in Delhi is looked upon as a very sacred place by all Muhammadans, also flourished at this time. The learned Shaikh

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³ Ferishta vol. i, p. 377.

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'Uṣmān, who is also known as Maqdūm Siraj-uddīn, was his first pupil. Niẓāmuddīn had a library. When, after his death, 'Uṣmān removed to Lucknauti, he took away many important books from the saint's library.¹

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¹ *Khurshīd-Jahān-Numāh*, by Ilāhī Bakhsh-al-Ḥusainī, MS. in ASB, p. 214.

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The study of theology and philosophy was zealously carried on under the care of the religious men some of whom have been already mentioned. Consequently, the following books on the subjects, viz. the *Qutah-ul-Qalūb*, the *Iḥyā-ul-'ulūm* and its translation, the '*Awārif* and *Kashf-ul-maḥjūb*, the *Sharḥi-T'arif*, the *Risālah-i-Qushirī*, etc., were in great demand.

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There was a number of nobles who upheld the cause of learning by their extensive liberality. There were the nobles of Nauhattah, who extended their patronage to a great many learned men, as also to students who came to study at Delhi. There were again the Sayyids of Gardiz, viz. Sayyid Jahjū and Sayyid Ajalī, who were also famous for their patronage of learning. The noble descendants of the Janjar family, viz. Mu'inuddīn, Tājuddīn, Jalāl, Jamāl and 'Alī should also be mentioned for their acts of liberality. The Sayyids of Biānah were equally famous for their love of learning.

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In Delhi at this time lived a large number of learned men, some of whom surpassed, according to Barnī, the most erudite of Bukhārā, Samarqand, Baghdād, Cairo, Damascus, Ispahān or Tabrīz. There were men learned in all the departments of knowledge, such as history (Badī' and Bayān), jurisprudence (Fiqh), logic (Uṣūli-Fiqh), theology (Uṣūli-dīn), grammar (Naḥw), commentaries on the Qur'ān (Tafsīr), etc. Barnī mentions also the following other names of learned men of Delhi :—

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(1) Q.¹ Fakhruddīn Nāqlāh.
(2) Q. Sharafuddīn Sarbāhī.
(3) M.² Naṣīruddīn Ghanī.
(4) M. Tājuddīn Maqdūm.
(5) M. Ẓahīruddīn Lang.
(6) Q. Mughīṣuddīn Biānah.
(7) M. Ruknuddīn Sunnāmī.
(8) M. Tājuddīn Kalāhī.
(9) M. Ẓahīruddīn Bhakrī.
(10) Q. Muḥyīuddīn Kāshānī.
(11) M. Kamāluddīn Kolī.
(12) Q. Ujiyāuddīn Pailī.
(13) M. Minhājuddīn Qābnī.
(14) M. Niẓāmuddīn Kalāhī.
(15) M. Naṣīruddīn Karaḥ.
(16) M. Naṣīruddīn Ṣābulī.
(17) M. 'Alāuddīn Tājr.
(18) M. Karīmuddīn Jauharī.
(19) M. Ḥujat Multānī Qadīm.
(20) M. Ḥamīduddīn Muḳhlas.
(21) M. Burhānuddīn Bhakrī.
(22) M. Iftikhāruddīn Barnī.
(23) M. Ḥusāmuddīn Surkh.
(24) M. Uḥīuddīn Mulhū.
(25) M. 'Alāuddīn Kark.
(26) M. Ḥasamuddīn ibn Shādī.
(27) M. Ḥamīduddīn Baniānī.
(28) M. Shahābuddīn Multānī.
(29) M. Fakhruddīn Ḥānsūī.
(30) M. Fakhruddīn Shaqāqil.
(31) M. Ṣalāḥuddīn Satrkī.
(32) Q. Zīnuddīn Nāqlāh.
(33) Ujiahuddīn Rāzī.
(34) M. 'Alāuddīn Ṣadr-ul-Shari'ah.
(35) M. Mīrān Māriklah.
(36) M. Najībuddīn Sāwī.
(37) M. Shamsuddīn Tum.
(38) M. Ṣadruddīn Gandhak.
(39) M. 'Alāuddīn Lāhaurī.
(40) M. Shamsuddīn Bahī.
(41) Q. Shamsuddīn Gāzrūnī.
(42) M. Ṣadruddīn Tāwī.
(43) M. Mu'īnuddīn Lunī.
(44) Q. Iftikhāruddīn Rāzī.
(45) M. Mu'zuddīn Andihnī.
(46) M. Najmuddīn Intishār.

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¹ Q = Qāẓī.

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² M = Maulānā.

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There were also M. ’Ālimuddīn, Jamāluddīn Shāṭbī, ’Alāuddīn Maqrī, Khwājah Zikī, the latter three being specialists in the *Qur’ān*.

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At this time in Delhi there were many famous men like Hindu *Kathakas*, such as M. ’Imāduddīn Ḥasan. They performed their *Tazkirs* once a week, and people flocked to hear them. M. Ḥamid and M. Laṭīf, and their sons, M. Ẓiyāuddīn Sunnāmī and M. Shahābuddīn Khalīlī, were also noted for their ability in this sphere.

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Amīr Arslān was a great historian, while Kabīruddīn was noted for his eloquence and proficiency in *belles lettres* in general. His *Fatḥ Nāmahs* are spoken of by Barnī as excellent works, with this defect that the darker aspects of ’Alāuddīn were not touched at all in the book.

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In the healing art, M. Badruddīn Damashqī, M. Ṣadruddīn, Juwainī Ṭabīb, ’Ālimuddīn, etc., made themselves famous.

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Barnī mentions also a few noted astrologers, minstrels and musicians of the time.

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Though there were so many famous learned men, ’Alāuddīn, as the historian says, did not appreciate their merit.¹

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¹ For the above information (up to p. 37), vide *Tārīkhi-Fīrūz-Shāhī* of Ẓiyāuddīn Barnī (Bibl. Indica), pp. 341-367; Niẓāmuddīn Aḥmad also enumerates some learned men of ’Alāuddīn’s Court in his *Ṭabaqāti-Akbarī*, MS. in ASB, pp. 170 ff. (pp. 84 ff., N.K.T.).

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It is indeed an irony of fate that the reign of an

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Emperor who did not like learned men and did many things, alike harmful and reprehensive, should form an important chapter in the literary history of Muhammadan India; but there are paradoxes in national as also in individual life.

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An important fact should be noticed before we leave 'Alāuddīn's reign. Now that more than a century had elapsed since Muḥammad Ghūrī's arrival in India, there had already begun a racial intermixture, which was no doubt small, and a linguistic mingling and intercourse between the Hindus and the Muhammadans, brought about by the pressure of natural laws. The marriage of Dewal Devī, the daughter of the Rājā of Anhilpūr with prince Khiẓr Khān, the eldest son of Sulṭān 'Alāuddīn, which inspired a poem of Amīr Khusrau, shows that there had already been a breach in the social partition separating the Hindus from the Muhammadans; and it is superfluous to point out that linguistic intermingling had already commenced.

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The reign of Mubārak Khiljī, the successor of Sulṭān 'Alāuddīn, is another period of retrogression in literary history. We notice in many of his actions a repetition of the loathsome deeds of Kaiqubād. In Delhi, "Mubārak gave himself up to a course of the most degrading and odious debauchery."¹ From such a ruler it is futile to

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¹ Elphinstone (9th ed.) p. 392.

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expect any great attention to educational matters. There was, however, one bright feature in his reign. The Emperor restored the lands that had been confiscated by his predecessor, which no doubt meant the resuscitation of many a dead or moribund educational institution.

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