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Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c15.s2: 2. Humāyūn

Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c15.s2

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English

2. Humāyūn

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Humāyūn followed up the traditions of his father and used to spend his time in social intercourse and amusements, in State duties and studies. *He loved to study astronomy and geography, and wrote dissertations on the nature of the elements. For his own use, he caused to be constructed both terrestrial and celestial globes.*³ He was fond of

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³ Ferishta vol. ii, pp. 70, 71; *Tārikhi-Akbarī*, MS. in ASB, leaf 19; *Tārikhi-Salātīni-Afaghinah*, MS. in ASB, by Aḥmad Yādgār, leaf 208; Abūl Faẓl, in his *Akbar-Nāmah*, vol. i, p. 287 (Beveridge), says: "His noble nature was marked by the combination of the energy of Alexander and the learning of Aristotle."

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the company of learned men, poets and philosophers, and used to discuss literary subjects with them. He was fond of poetry, and himself composed good verses.¹

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¹ *Muntakhabul-Tawārīkh*, vol. i, (Ranking), p. 602; *Ferishta* vol. ii, pp. 178-180.

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When Humāyūn was four years, four months and four days old, a ceremony was gone through for celebrating the occasion of his being first put under tutors. The child Sulṭān was seated in the school-house and formally made over to the care of the tutors.² *Shāh-Jahān-Nāmah* calls it "maktab ceremony."³

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² *Tazkiratul-Salātīn*, MS. in Boh. Coll., vol. i, leaf 169.

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³ *Shāh-Jahān-Nāmah*, MS. in ASB, leaf 45. The ceremony looks very much like the *Hāte Khaṛi* (হাতে খড়ি) of the Hindus.

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Mr. L. F. Smith saw this ceremony in 1801 among the Muhammadans in N.W.P., and in a letter, gives the following details of the same:— "When the boy is four years, four months, four days old, for him a silver slate is made, and they write on it the Sūrahi-Iqra', a chapter of the *Qur'ān*, and make him repeat it; at this time, a master is kept for him."⁴

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⁴ L. F. Smith's Appendix to *Chahār Darwīsh*, p. 253.

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This Sulṭān was fond of magnificence in his court, and made classifications of the inhabitants of his empire, created gradations of rank, built several halls for the receptions of the separate classes, and had fixed days for giving them

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audience. In this arrangement it is interesting to notice how the literary men were treated, and what place was assigned to them.

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The people of his empire were divided into three classes:—

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(i) The holy men, the *literati*, the law-officers and scientists formed a class called Ahli-Sa’ādat, because to associate with such men, to honour and regard them would bring eternal prosperity.

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(ii) The relations of the Sulṭān, the nobles and ministers as well as the military, formed the group called Ahli-Daulat, for no wealth could be attained without them.

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(iii) Those who possessed beauty and elegance, were young and lovely, as also the musicians and singers, formed another class to which the appellation of Ahli-Murād (people of pleasure) was given.¹

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¹ *Humāyūn-Nāmah*, Elliot v, pp. 119, 120.

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The king also divided the days of the week and appointed two days for each of these three classes. Saturdays and Thursdays were allotted to class (i), the reason being that Saturday is ascribed to Saturn, and Thursday to Jupiter—the planets that protect and preserve the men comprised in the class. Sundays and Tuesdays were fixed for class (ii), for Sunday belongs to the Sun, to which is attached the fate of all rulers, and

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Tuesday to Mars, the patron of warriors and brave men. Mondays and Wednesdays were set apart for class (iii), because Monday is the day of the Moon and Wednesday of Mercury, and it was thought reasonable that the king should keep company on those days with “young men beautiful as the moon, and hear sweet songs and delightful music.”

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On Fridays, as the name (Jamu’ah) signifies, he called together all the three classes, and sat with them as long as his leisure allowed.¹

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¹ *Humāyūn-Nāmah*, Elliot v, pp. 121, 122.

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The above three classes do not show the place that men of letters occupied in his estimation, but the subdivisions that he introduced leave no doubt on the point. He distributed arrows of gold with different proportions of alloy to indicate the ranks of their possessors. The three classes were divided into twelve sub-classes of *Arrows*. The twelfth arrow, which was made of the purest gold, was put in the quiver of the king himself, giving him the highest rank. The eleventh arrow belonged to His Majesty’s relations and all the “Sulṭans” in the government employ. The tenth to the *learned* and religious, the ninth to the great nobles, the eighth to the courtiers and some of the king’s personal attendants, the seventh to the attendants in general, the sixth to the harems and well-behaved female

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attendants, the fifth to young maid-servants, the fourth to the treasurers and stewards, the third to the soldiers, the second to the menial servants, and the first to the palace-guards, camel-drivers and the like.

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Each of these *arrows* or orders had, moreover, three grades, the highest, the middle and the lowest.¹

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¹ *Humāyūn-Nāmah*, Elliot v, p. 123.

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Ferishta records that the Sulṭān built seven halls of audience, in which he received distinct classes of persons. The seven halls were respectively named after the seven planets. In the Palace of the Moon he gave audience to travellers, ambassadors, etc. The Palace of 'Utārid or Mercury was for civil officers, and so on. *The learned men were received in the Saturn and Jupiter halls.* He gave public audience according to the planet of the day, and the furniture and paintings, as also the dresses of the attendants, bore symbols emblematic of the planet. In each of these palaces he transacted business one day in the week by rotation.²

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² *Ferishta* vol. ii, p. 71. Briggs' note: "Among the Hindus, cities are usually subdivided into *puras* (wards) called after each day of the week, by which markets are regulated and equally distributed throughout the town; palaces sometimes derive their names from these wards." N.K.T. does not mention seven halls, but seven receptions.

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Mīr 'Abdul Laṭīf, the author of the *Lubbul-Tawārīkh*, was invited by the Sulṭān, but he

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reached the royal court after Humāyūn’s death. As he was a great philosopher, theologian and historian, he was appointed a preceptor to Akbar in the second year of his reign.¹

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¹ Elliot iv, p. 294.

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The distinguished Persian historian, Khundamīr, who died in the Emperor’s camp in Gujrāt, was one of his literary associates.

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Jauhar, the well-known author of the *Tazkiratul-Wāqi’āt* (*Private Memoirs of Humāyūn*) was a menial servant of the Emperor, in which position he had the opportunity of observing all that he recorded.²

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² Elliot v, p. 136.

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Humāyūn was fond of books, and even during expedition carried a select library with him. While fleeing as a fugitive, Count Noer says, he took with him his librarian and a few of his favourite books.³ While he was encamped at Cambay he had with him several books, among which was a remarkable copy of the *History of Tamerlane*, which was taken away by a body of Qulis, a forest tribe, in a night attack upon his camp. This book, however, was subsequently recovered.⁴ Niẓām, father of Lāla Beg, styled Bāz Bahādur, was a librarian to the Sulṭān.⁵

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³ Noer’s *Akbar*, p. 136 (transl. by Annette S. Beveridge)

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⁴ Elphinstone, vol. ii, p. 126 (ed. 1841). *Tazkiratul-Salātīn*, MS. in Boh. Coll., vol. i, leaf 125, adds that the *Tīmūr-Nāmah* was copied by one Mullā Sulṭān ’Alī; *Akbar-Nāmah*, vol. i, p. 309 (Beveridge), informs us that it was illustrated by Ustād Bihzād.

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⁵ *Tūzaki-Jahāngīrī*, by Rogers and Beveridge, p. 21.

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[Figure: Humāyūn’s Library (the two-storied stone building in the middle).

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Humāyūn’s literary turn of mind is further manifested by the use he made of the Shīr Manḍal. It was built by Shīr Shāh in the Purāna Qil’ah, and used as a house of pleasure. But when Humāyūn came to the throne of Delhi the second time, he transformed it into a library. It was here that he met with his death.

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“One day,” says the author of the *Siyarul-Mutaakhkhirīn*, “there was a conjecture that Venus would rise somewhat later. In the evening, in order that he (Humāyūn) might see that planet,¹ he went on the top of the roof of his library. There, standing for a moment, he wished to descend. The *mu’azzan* called to prayers. Humāyūn, in order to show respect to the *azān*, desired to sit down on the second step. The steps of the staircase, by reason of their cleanliness, were very slippery. The ferrule of his staff slipped, and Humāyūn, falling headlong, rolled downstairs on to the ground.² His limbs and joints were much hurt, and the right side of his head received a great blow. He became altogether insensible”³ and died some time after (Jan. 1556 A.D.).

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¹ Sayyid Aḥmad (Garcin’s Transl., p. 129) confirms the story, but Ferishta differs, and says that the Emperor went there for an airing. See also *Ferishta* vol. ii, pp. 177, 178. Hearn says, “His death was due to his astrological studies. One evening he was told that Venus ought to be visible, and he determined, if he saw the planet, to promote certain nobles, as it would be fortunate to do so.”—Hearn’s *Seven Cities of Delhi*, p. 218.

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² The fact of Humāyūn’s “rolling downstairs on to the ground” has been taken as improbable by some writers, *e.g.* Elphinstone, Marshman, etc., though that is the story told by Ferishta, *Muntakhabul-Tawārīkh*, *Ṭabaqāt-i-Akbarī*, *Mir’ātul-’Ālam*, *Shāh-Jahān-Nāmah*, *etc.* That Humāyūn fell headlong over the parapet is taken by them as more likely.

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³ *Siyarul-Mutaakhkhirīn*, as quoted in C. Stephen’s *Archaeology of Delhi*, p. 194.

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We hear of a madrasah built by Humāyūn

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at Delhi, of which Shaikh Ḥusain was a professor.¹

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¹ Blochmann’s *Ā’īn-i-Akbarī*, vol. i, p. 538.

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Shaikh Zainuddīn Khāfī, who "was unapproachable in his age in the construction of enigmas and chronograms, in extempore versification and in all the *minutiae* of poetry and prose," died in 1534 A.D. near Chinhar (Chunar), and was buried within the precincts of a college founded by him.² *A school was built on the side of the Jumna, opposite to Agra, to perpetuate his memory.*³ These are two examples of educational institutions founded by private individuals during Humāyūn’s reign.

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² *Muntakhabul-Tawārīkh*, vol. i, (Ranking), pp. 610, 611.

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³ *Ibid.*, p. 610.

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It is not generally known that the famous Humāyūn’s Tomb, in the vicinity of New Delhi, *was at one time used as a place of instruction.* That it has not always been a mere tenement beautiful and imposing for sheltering the sarcophagus of the Emperor, and that it housed a madrasah in its bosom, fulfilling a task in addition to the one for which it was built, is testified to by C. Stephen :—

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"The college, which is on the roof of the tomb, was at one time an institution of some importance, and men of learning and influence used to be appointed to the charge of the place. It has, however, long ceased to maintain its reputation, and for the last 150

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[Figure: Humāyūn’s Tomb, which housed a Madrasah.

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[The page is blank]

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years, the once probably well-filled rooms have been completely abandoned."¹

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¹ C. Stephen's *Archaeology of Delhi*, p. 207; also Fanshawe's *Delhi Past and Present*, p. 232: "On the top of the building, round the drum below the dome, are a number of rooms and pavilions once occupied by a college attached to the mausoleum, and reminding one of the colony of St. Peter's Dome."

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