Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c12.s1.53

c12.s1.53

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