Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c13.1

c13.1

WE have now surveyed the progress of education under the Paṭhān rulers of India. It is now clear that their contributions to that cause should be sufficient to weaken the popular opinion which associates the Paṭhān Dynasty exclusively with battle and bloodshed through which it rose to power, and not with any of the triumphs of peace by which the newly-conquered territories were being consolidated. The Paṭhān Dynasty, as we have seen, can count among its members a few rulers who have contributed a good deal towards this work of consolidation,—towards the diffusion of education in the country. In the forefront of this band of workers, stands the great Fīrūz Tughlaq, whose educational zeal and enterprise constitute a record, of which the best monarch of any nation in the world might justly be proud. The reign of 'Alāuddīn again marks a period of literary and educational efflorescence which bespeaks the activities of the preceding rulers strengthened by those of the people—the chiefs, the nobility and the gentry. The encouragement of