Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c11: Chapter VII. The Lūdī Dynasty

Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c11

Language: English

Chapter VII. The Lūdī Dynasty

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DELHI was the capital of the next Sulṭān, Bahlūl, during whose reign a new city which was to play an important part in the future history of the Muslims in India came into being. Agra was at this time founded by Sulṭān Bahlūl;¹ and it made so rapid a progress that within four or five decades, it competed on equal footing with the ancient capitals. But to return to Bahlūl :

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¹ *Calcutta Review* (Keene's article, "Mediaeval India"), lxxix, p. 71 (1884).

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This Sulṭān was certainly not a man of great literary acquirements, but he was fond of the company of learned men, whom he rewarded according to their merits.² It was with the advent of this Sulṭān that there returned peace and order, and along with them greater cultivation and encouragement of letters by the State. It appears from the *Ma'āṣiri-Raḥīmī* that he built some colleges.³

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² Ferishta vol. i, p. 562; and 'Abdullāh's *Tārīkhi-Dā'ūdī*, Elliot iv, p. 436.

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³ *Ma'āṣiri-Raḥīmī*, MS. in ASB, leaf 133.

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The Sulṭān studied with much care the Muhammadan law, with which he made himself well

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acquainted, as also the best institutes for the able conduct of his government, and was much helped in the practical dispensation of justice and the discharge of his royal duties by the knowledge thus acquired. The reputation which this monarch enjoyed for his impartial justice was no less due to his innate virtue than to these studies.¹

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, p. 562; and 'Abdullāh's *Tārīkhi-Dā'ūdī*, Elliot iv, p. 436.

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Sultān Bahlūl was succeeded by his son Sikandar. A very important event of his reign is the transference of the capital from Delhi to Agra.² This new city now became, with the acquisition of this dignity, an important place in every respect. It began to draw towards itself the centre of gravity of the learned world, which had hitherto been at Delhi and Fīrūzābād. Sultān Sikandar was himself a poet, highly appreciated literary merit, and gave great encouragement to learning.³ He occasionally composed verses under the pen-name of Gulrukh. He used to submit his verses to Shaikh Jamāl, the author of the *Siyarul-'Arifīn* for his opinion. His dīwān is made up of eight or nine thousand couplets.⁴ He insisted that all his military officers should be *educated*. This gave a new character to the profession of arms, in which

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² *Calcutta Review*, lxxix, p. 71.

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³ Ferishta vol. i, pp. 581, 587, 589.

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⁴ *Muntakhabul-Tawārīkh*, vol. i (Ranking), 429.

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military virtues had to be combined with literary qualifications.¹

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¹ *Ferishta* vol. i, pp. 581, 587, 589.

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Sikandar, though liberal in these respects, was a bigoted Musalmān. While at Narwār, he broke down many Hindu temples and built mosques in their place; and we hear of a college being established there at this time wherein he placed many holy and learned men.² “He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathurā, and turned the principal Hindu places of worship into caravansarais and colleges.”³

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² *Ibid.*

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³ *Tārikhi-Dā’ūdī*, by ’Ābdullāh, Elliot iv, p. 450; *Tārikhi-Fān-Jahān*, MS. in ASB, leaf 64; *Ma’āṣiri-Raḥīmī*, MS. in ASB, leaf 132.

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The Sulṭān was fond of hearing disputations on religious subjects, in which many learned men took part. One disputation, however, was marred by a most cruel exhibition of the Sulṭān’s religious zeal, which, fanned by his learned co-religionists, led to the decapitation of the Hindu disputant who maintained the opposite side. This Hindu, named Budhan, professed the doctrine similar to that preached by Kabīr, viz. that all religions, whether Hindu or Muslim, were equally acceptable to God, if followed in sincerity. The monarch ordered the most learned men in his empire to assemble and argue with the Brāhmaṇa. The following learned men were brought to

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Sanbhal, where the discussion was held, and where the Sulṭān was present for the time being :—

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Miyān Qādir bin Shaikh Rajū, Miyān 'Abdul Ilyās and } of Tulumba, Miyān Allāhdādī

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Sayyid Muḥammad bin Sayyid Khān of Delhi, Mullā Quṭbuddīn and } of Sarhind, Mullā Allāhdād Ṣāliḥ

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Sayyid Amān, Sayyid Burhān and } of Qanauj. Sayyid Aḥsan

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Besides these, there were also present those erudite men who usually lived at the Sulṭān’s Court, such as Sayyid Ṣadruddīn of Qanauj, Miyān 'Abdul Raḥmān of Sīkrī, Miyān 'Azīzullā of Sanbhal.¹

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¹ Ferishta vol. i, pp. 576, 577; see also Tārīkhi-Jān-Jahān, by Jān Jahān Khān, MS. in ASB, leaf 63.

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The Hindu disputant boldly argued and refused to apostatize when his opponents in the discussion appealed to the King as their last argument, of which the only alternative was immediate execution. The brāhmaṇa, who had the courage of his opinion, welcomed the latter.

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Sikandar’s reign is remarkable for the fact that “the Hindus for the first time applied themselves to the study of Persian,”² and the origin of the

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² Keene’s “Mediaeval India,” Calcutta Review, lxxix, p. 71. Professor Blochmann remarks, in the Calcutta Review, civ, “A

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Urdu¹ or Hindustani language, which dates from this period, tells us that there must have been intercourse between them and the Muslims.² We have noticed that such intercourse began long ago, and there were not wanting stray cases of Hindus prosecuting studies of the Muhammadan languages. The present period marks a larger development of the movement which had before been only in its inception. Ferishta also records that "the Hindus, who had hitherto never learned Persian, commenced during this reign to study Muhammadan literature."³

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¹ The name Urdu is of Turkish origin and means literally 'camp.' But the Mughals of India restricted its use to the precincts of the Imperial camp, so that Urdū-i-Mu'allā (high camp) came to be a synonym for new Delhi after Shāh Jahān had made it his permanent capital. The classical languages of Arabia and Persia were exclusively devoted to uses of State and religion; the Hindus cherished their Sanskrit and Hindī for their own purposes of business or worship; while the Emperor and his Mughal courtiers kept up their Turkish speech as a means of free intercourse in private life. Out of such elements was the rich and growing language of Hindustan formed, and it was yearly becoming more widely spread."—Keene's *Mughal Empire*, p. 6.

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² Keene's "Mediaeval India," *Calcutta Review*, lxxix, p. 74.

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³ *Ferishta* vol. i, p. 587.

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'Abdullāh records the following account of a peculiar habit of Sulṭān Sikandar :—

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"Seventeen accomplished and learned men of tried merit were constantly with him in his private apartment. After midnight, he Chapter from Muhammadan History": "The Hindus from the sixteenth century took so zealously to Persian education that before another century had elapsed they had fully come up to the Muhamadans in point of literary acquirements."

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was in the habit of calling for food, when these seventeen learned men, after washing their hands, seated themselves in front of the Sulṭān, who was himself seated on the couch. A large chair was then brought close to the bed and the different dishes placed on it, and the Sulṭān commenced eating. Food was also placed before his seventeen companions, who were, however, forbidden to partake of it in his presence. When the King had finished, they carried their plates away to their houses and ate there.” ¹

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¹ ’Abdullāh’s *Tārikhi-Dā’ūdī*, Elliot iv, p. 446.

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Under the auspices of Sikandar, the writing, translation, and compilation of a number of books took place under his orders; the *Argar-mahābedak* (or the science of medicine and treatment of diseases) was translated and received the title of *Ṭibbi-Sikandarī*. This book, ’Abdullāh says, was the foundation of the practice of the physicians of Hind, and was thus brought into general use.² The *Wāqi’āti-Mushtāqī* adds—

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² *Ibid.*, Elliot iv, p. 451.

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“Miyān Bhudh succeeded to the late Khawāṣ Khān and was confirmed in the dignity. He got together fine caligraphists and learned men, and employed them in writing books on every science. He brought books from Khurāsān and gave them to learned and good men. Writers were continually engaged in this work. He assembled the physicians of Hind and Khurāsān, and, collecting books upon the science of medicine, he had a selection made. The book so compiled received the name of *Ṭibbi-Sikandarī*, and there is no work of greater authority in India.” ³

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³ *The Wāqi’āti-Mushtāqī*, by Rizqullah Mushtāqī, Elliot iv, p. 451 *n*.

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During Sikandar’s reign, men of learning from Arabia, Persia, and Bukhārā, as well as those of India, were induced by the Sulṭān’s favours and

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encouragement to take their residence at Agra, the new capital,¹ and the nobles who had the general direction of affairs in the Sulṭān’s Government bestowed lands and other rewards upon them, pursuant to the Sulṭān’s orders. The study of *belles lettres* was much encouraged by the monarch.²

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¹ ’Abdullāh’s *Tārīkhi-Dā’ūdī*, Elliot iv, p. 446.

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² *Ibid.*, Elliot iv, 450.

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While dwelling on the literary encouragement by the Emperor, we must not ignore the generosity of a particular noble of the time, named Masnād ’Alī Ḥusain Khān. He was very charitable, and if any one getting allowance from him died, it was given to any relation of his that survived, and even if there were none but the wife, she was made to adopt a son, whom the noble sent to school and taught archery and riding.³

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³ *Wāqi’āti-Mushtāqī*, by Rizqullah Mushtāqī, Elliot iv, p. 538.

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The daily routine of the theological study of another noble of Sikandar’s throws light on the rigid way in which those studies were sometimes prosecuted. He used to read seventeen divisions of the *Qur’ān* every day, all the while standing, until the task was finished. To read one of the *takmīlas* of Ghauṣ-ul-Ṣaqalīn and the whole of Ḥiṣn-i-Ḥaṣīn was also among his daily duties.⁴

Linked texts (1)

Muntakhab al-tawārīkh — ʿAbd al-Qādir Badāʾūnī 1590, Persian