Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c12.s1: I. The Bahmanī Kingdom
Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c12.s1
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I. The Bahmanī Kingdom
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(1347–1526 A.D.)
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Some of the kings of the Bahmanī kingdom were great patrons of letters, and one of them was almost as great in literary enterprise as Sulṭān Fīrūz Tughlaq of the Imperial dynasty. The founder of the Bahmanī House, however, was not much noted either for his literary
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accomplishments or for his literary encouragement. But he knew Persian, and took care for the education of his sons. We learn that the *Bustān* of Sa’dī was a favourite book included in the course of study of the princes.¹
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¹ Maḥmūd, the youngest prince, being questioned by his father one day, replied that it was the *Bustān* that he was then reading with his tutor (*Ferishta* vol. ii, p. 296). Silsilahi-Āṣafiyah (vol. iii, p. 131), quoting Mullā Dā’ūd Bīdārī’s *Tuḥfatul-Salāṭīn* gives an interesting account of a son of Dā’ūd Shāh, who used to teach students three days in the week, viz. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. He was very fond of these books: *Zāhidī*, *Sharḥi-Tazkirah* and *Taḥrīri-Uqlidas* (Euclid) in mathematics; *Sharḥi-Maqāṣid* in theology; and *Mutawwal* in rhetoric; and made them the course of study of his pupils.
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At the time of Ferishta, it was the general belief that Ḥasan Gangu Bahmanī was the first Brāhmaṇa who accepted service under a Muhammadan prince, and that before his time the study of the *Vedas* and the duties of religion were the Brāhmaṇas’ only pursuit. Though as physicians, astronomers, metaphysicians or historians, they sometimes mixed with the rich and powerful, they never consented to take regular service. The acceptance of office by Gangu marks the period whence the management of the revenue was invariably entrusted to them by all the Deccan kings.²
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² *Ferishta* vol. ii, p. 292.
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Mujāḥid Shāh Bahmanī, who ruled some twenty years after Ḥasan Gangu, was noted for the fluency
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with which he could speak the Turkish language;¹ but his successor had a better literary equipment, 1375-78 A.D. and made himself famous by his literary 1378-97 A.D. encouragement. This prince named Maḥmūd Shāh Bahmanī was himself a poet and wrote some elegant verses. He was also proficient in Persian and Arabic, which he spoke fluently. He was a patron of learning, and many poets of Arabia and Persia came to his Court and partook of his liberality. Mīr Faiẓullah Anjū, it is related, presented the King with an ode, for which he received a thousand pieces of gold, and, in appreciation of his poetic power, was loaded with wealth and distinction before his retirement to his native country.² The Sulṭān founded a *madrasah* in the Deccan in 1378 A.D., for the education of orphans. They were provided with board and lodging at Government expense, and learned professors were engaged for their tuition in the college.³
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¹ *Ferishta* vol. ii, p. 328.
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² *Ibid.*, p. 347.
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³ *Tārīkhi-Qandhāri-Dakhan*, by Munshī Muḥammad Amīr Hamzah, p. 44.
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The fame of this prince for his patronage of learning spread far and wide, and on the assurance given by the aforesaid Mīr Faiẓullah Anjū to Ḥāfiẓ, the Shīrāzī poet of world-wide renown, that he would have a cordial reception at the Court and a
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handsome reward if he came thither and also a safe conduct back, Ḥāfiẓ distributed away the presents sent by Maḥmūd Shāh Bahmanī and embarked on a royal vessel that had arrived at Ormuz from the Deccan. But no sooner did it weigh anchor than a gale arose and the ship had to return to the port. The poet suffered much owing to the storm and abandoned the voyage, but wrote a few stanzas which he sent to Faizullah. When these were read out to the King, he was much pleased, and as a reward for Ḥāfiẓ gave a thousand pieces of gold to Muḥammad Qāsim Mashhadī, a learned man of Gulburgah, to purchase for Ḥāfiẓ those products of Ind that would be most acceptable to the celebrated bard.¹
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¹ *Ferishta* vol. ii, pp. 347-349.
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This prince was the father of the poor and helpless, and for the education of orphans established *schools* in several cities of his dominion, viz. Gulbargah, Bīdar, Qandhār, Ellichpūr, Daulatābād, Chaul, Dabul, and in many other places; and supplied them with ample endowments for their maintenance.²
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² *Ibid.*, pp. 349, 350.
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This good prince was given the title of Aristotle by the Deccanese for his wise administration.
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Ghiyāṣuddīn Shāh and Shamsuddīn Shāh next succeeded, and were followed in their turn by the great Bahmanī king named Fīrūz. It was this
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prince whose literary enterprise can well bear comparison with that of his namesake of the Imperial Dynasty of Delhi. He was perhaps more learned than the erudite Muḥammad Tughlaq: he was a good linguist, and Ferishta records that in his harem there were ladies of various races, such as Arabians, Circassians, Georgians, Turks, Europeans, Chinese, Afghans, Rajputs, Bengalis, Gujrātīs, Telinganese, Marhattas and others, with each of whom he could converse in her own language.¹
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¹ *Ferishta* vol. ii, pp. 369, 370: "He could read the Bible. From this, it is probable he learned Hebrew from the Jews who had been settled on the Malabar coast for many ages."—Scott's *Deccan*, vol. i, p. 74.
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He also utilized his linguistic attainments in his conversation with the foreigners who came to his Court. He had a very retentive memory, which enabled him to acquire his many literary qualifications. On Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays, he used to hear lectures on *botany*, *geometry* and *logic*, generally during the day, but, if business intervened, at night. He was a good poet, and often composed extempore verses. He was well versed in many sciences and very fond of natural philosophy. Every fourth day he used to copy sixteen pages of the *Qur'ān* before engaging in public business. He spent most of his time in the society of divines, poets, reciters of history, readers
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of the *Shāh-Nāmah* and the most learned and witty among his courtiers. He took much pleasure in these pursuits; so that they were prolonged up to midnight.¹
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¹ *Ferishta* vol. ii, p. 365.
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Fīrūz used to send ships every year from the ports of Goa and Chaul to different countries particularly to invite to his Court men celebrated for their learning. This is a feature of literary ardour quite peculiar to him. It was his opinion that kings should draw around them the most learned men, in order that they might help them with information and advice. Of the many learned men assembled at his Court, we hear of Mullā Isḥāq Sarhindī, who was famous for his wit and scholarship.²
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² *Ibid.*, p. 366.
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Fīrūz was a great lover of astronomy, and for accurate stellar observations caused, in 1407 A.D., an observatory to be built on the summit of the pass near Daulatābād. The work was under the supervision of the astronomer Ḥakīm Ḥusain Gīlānī, whose death put a stop to its completion.³
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³ *Ibid.*, p. 388.
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Sayyid Muḥammad Gīsū Darāz had a great fame for his vast learning, and Fīrūz went to meet him. The King, with his natural keenness, could see through his learned veneer and found him deficient. However, the King's brother, Khān Khānān, had unstinted reverence for this Sayyid,
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and not only built a magnificent palace for him, but also spent a great part of his time in hearing his lectures.¹
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¹ *Ferishta* vol. ii, p. 388.
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Aḥmad Shāh Bahmanī followed the footsteps of his worthy brother, Fīrūz Shāh, showed great deference to the learned and did much for their benefit and advantage.
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The King gave several towns, villages and extensive lands near Gulbargah in perpetuity to Sayyid Muḥammad Gīsū Darāz, and built for him a magnificent college near Gulbargah.² But he was unfortunately not very well disposed towards the Hindus, and, when he attacked Bījāpūr, destroyed several colleges of the Brāhmaṇas³ in the open country near the town.
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² *Ibid.*, p. 398.
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³ *Ibid.*, p. 402.
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The succeeding kings were not much noted for their literary enterprise or learning, until we reach Muḥammad Shāh Bahmanī II. The education of this prince was under the supervision of Khwājahi-Jahān, who appointed adri-Jahān Shūstarī, a celebrated scholar of that age, as his tutor. The prince made considerable progress in his studies, so that next to Fīrūz Bahmanī, he was the most learned king that ever wielded the sceptre in the Bahmanī kingdom.⁴
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⁴ *Ibid.*, p. 477.
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A noteworthy event of this reign is the literary munificence of Maḥmūd Gāwān, the minister. He
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was himself a very learned man, a good writer both in prose and verse, and had few equals in his knowledge of mathematics. The *Rauẓatul-Inshā* and some poems from his pen are still to be found in a few libraries of the Deccan. He used to send every year valuable presents to several learned men in Khurāsān and ’Irāq, for which the princes of those countries bestowed honours upon him. Maulānā ’Abdul Raḥmān’s letters to Maḥmūd Gāwān have been incorporated into the volumes of his works, and a poem by the Maulānā was written in praise of the minister. Maḥmūd Gāwān had the honour of having his biography written by Mullā ’Abdul Karīm Sindī.¹
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¹ *Ferishta* vol. ii, pp. 510, 511.
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His literary beneficence was, it is related, so widespread that there was scarcely a town or a city the learned men of which had not derived advantage from him. There are in the Deccan many remains of public works accomplished by him with his own resources, amongst which may be mentioned the famous college at Bīdar, built by him two years before his death.² Says Meadows Taylor—
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² *Ibid.*, p. 510; *Muntakhabul-Lubāb*, by Khāfī Khān (Bibl. Indica), pt. II., p. 452, tells us a story as to how the Imām of the Masjid attached to the madrasah escaped being struck by a thunder-bolt.
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“The noble college of Maḥmūd Gāwān in the city of Bīdar was perhaps the grandest completed work of the period. It consisted
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of a spacious square with arches all round it, of two storeys, divided into convenient rooms. The minarets at each corner of the front were upwards of 100 feet high, and also the front itself, covered with enamel tiles, on which were flowers on blue, yellow and red grounds and sentences of the *Qur'ān* in large kūfic letters, the effect of which was at once chaste and superb.” ¹
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¹ Meadows Taylor’s *Hist. of India*, p. 185.
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The college had a mosque attached to it in order that religion might go hand in hand with secular learning. At the time of Ferishta, the whole college was as entire as if just finished, but nowadays it has lost much of its beauty through mutilation by an explosion of gunpowder, which took place when Aurangzib used it as a magazine and a barrack.²
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² Briggs’ note : “After the capture of Bidar by Aurangzib, in the latter end of the seventeenth century, this splendid range of buildings was appropriated to the double purpose of a powder-magazine and barrack for a body of cavalry, when by accident, the powder, exploding, destroyed the greater part of the edifice, causing dreadful havoc around. Sufficient of the work remains, however, even at the present day, to afford some notion of its magnificence and beauty. The outline of the square, and some of the apartments, are yet entire and one of the minarets is still standing. It is more than 100 feet in height, ornamented with tablets, on which sentences of the *Qur'ān* in white letters, 3 feet in length, standing forth on a ground of green and gold, still exhibits to the spectator a good sample of what this superb edifice once was. The college is one of the many beautiful remains of the grandeur of the Bahmanī and Burīd dynasties, which flourished at Bīdar; and they render a visit to that city an object of lively interest to all travellers, but particularly to those who may peruse this history.”—*Ferishta* vol. ii, p. 510.
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The explosion of the powder-magazine is by some attributed to an exasperated soldier, who, in order to avenge himself upon a comrade with whom he was quarrelling, cast the burning *guls* from
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The college was equipped with a library for the use of its students, containing 3000 volumes.¹
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¹ *Ferishta* vol. ii, p. 514. Murtaẓā Ḥusain says, in his *Ḥadīqatul-Aqālīm*, a modern work (MS. in ASB, leaf 39) that from Maḥmūd Gāwān’s house, 35,000 books were obtained.
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These works of Maḥmūd Gāwān stand out as a brilliant example of what a single individual with his own unaided resources could achieve. He was imbued with a spirit of such great self-sacrifice as is rarely met with in a man. His income was very large, “equalling that of many kings,” but his beneficence was so great that after his death only a small sum was left in his treasury. He lived the life of an ascetic, sleeping on a bare mat and using earthen utensils, thus combining plain living with high thinking.
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Maḥmūd Shāh Bahmanī II.’s reign is a good example of the great extent to which the vitiated
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his *chīlam* into a powder cell. Thevenot the traveller gives a different account. According to him, a faithful commander of the place took his stand in the college along with his army, and refused to submit to Aurangzib. When, however, a breach was made in the wall and signal given for the assault, then suddenly by the fall of a rocket or by the order of the commander, who preferred death to subjection, the magazine blew up at a moment when the roof was covered with the garrison who had assembled there for selling themselves as dearly as possible [*Oriental Annual* (1840), by T. Bacon, pp. 189, 190; see also Fergusson’s *Architecture at Bījāpūr*, pp. 13 ff., and Thevenot’s *Travels into the Levant*]. There is a picture of Gāwān’s college in the *Archaeological Survey of Western India*, vol. iii, by Burgess (1875–76), but the one from the *Oriental Annual*, sketched by Meadows Taylor, has been reproduced in this work (see Frontispiece).
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taste of a king can spread its infection broadcast, so as to affect even those who have made education their profession. The king was much addicted to the baser pleasures, and his Court became the resort of magicians and dancers from Delhi, Lahore, Persia and Khurāsān. The only kind of pleasure that could lay a claim to greater refinement was that afforded by the story-tellers and reciters of the *Shāh-Nāmah*. The people caught the royal malady, which became so widespread and virulent that even "holy teachers quitting colleges retired to taverns and presided over the wine-flask, and reverend sages pawned their very garments at the wine-cellars."¹
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¹ Ferishta vol. ii, p. 535.
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The succeeding kings are not noteworthy from our standpoint. We should note here that the Bahmanī kings had a library at Aḥmadnagar, which Ferishta visited.²
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² *Ibid.*, p. 297 ; Scott's *Deccan*, vol. i, p. 226.
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We shall conclude this account of the Bahmanī kingdom with the remarks of a European gentleman who had occasion and opportunities for gaining detailed information and first-hand knowledge about the vanished glories of the kings of the Bahmanī Dynasty as well as their remnants that still survive in the ruined monuments they have left behind—
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"If we cannot compare the Bahmanī kings with their European contemporaries from Edward III to Henry VIII, yet there can be
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no doubt that high civilization according to the standard of Muhammadanism existed. . . . Education in Persian and Arabic literature was extended as much as possible by village schools, which were attached to mosques and endowed with lands sufficient for their maintenance. . . . The system tended as well to the spread of literature as of the faith of the ruling power, and its effects are still distinctly traceable throughout the wide extent of their dominion.” ¹
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¹ Fergusson’s *Architecture at Bījāpūr*, p. 12.