Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c12.s10.30

c12.s10.30

Examples of Bengali translation of Sanskrit and Persian books at the instance of Musalmān chiefs are not rare. They served to remove the supercilious spirit in which Bengali was looked upon by the Sanskrit-loving Brāhmaṇas and the Hindu Rājās. The latter imitated the Muhammadan rulers and chiefs in giving their patronage to Bengali writers, and the institution of keeping "Bengali court-poets" grew into a fashion. Many distinguished Bengali poets and writers have since adorned the Courts of Hindu Rājās, which raised Bengali to a high place in the estimation of the people and made it a rival of the languages that had already established their footing.¹