Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c16: Chapter II. Shīr Shāh

Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c16

Language: English

Chapter II. Shīr Shāh

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SHĪR SHĀH, whose public works have made his reign so very illustrious in spite of its shortness, has left us in the dark about many an interesting point of his rule. But we learn that he used to mix with the learned ('ulamās), with whom he used to take his meals.¹

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¹ *Tārīkhi-Shīr-Shāhī* of 'Abbās Khān, Elliot iv, p. 413 (*Ibid.*, Garcin de Tassy's transl., p. 143); *Wāqi'āti-Mushtāqī*, Elliot iv, p. 538; and *Tārīkhi-Jān-Jahān*, MS. in ASB, leaf 98.

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About Shīr Shāh's education we learn the following details:—

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Ḥasan, Shīr Shāh's father, had eight sons. Farīd (afterwards Shīr Shāh) and Niẓām were born of one mother of a Paṭhān family; the other sons were born of slaves. Ḥasan neglected his sons. Farīd upon this left his father's house and took service as a soldier under Jamāl, the Governor of Jaunpūr. Ḥasan wrote from Sasarām to Jamāl requesting him to send back his son in order that he might be educated at the former place. Farīd could not be persuaded to do so, as he wanted to remain at Jaunpūr which, as he tells

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us, was a better place of instruction than Sasarām; but he gave assurance that he would study hard. He soon made much progress in his studies, so that within a short time he could repeat the works of Sa’dī. He devoted most of his time to history and poetry, being supported by the generosity of the Governor.¹ He got by heart the *Sikandar-Nāmah*, the *Gulistān*, the *Bustān*, etc., and studied philosophy also. During his reign, whenever learned men came to ask for a maintenance (muddat-māsh), he used to question them about the *Ḥāshiyā-Hindī*, for even then he had much liking for books of history and lives of ancient kings.² He learnt Arabic and studied thoroughly the *Kafiyāh* (a grammatical work) with the commentaries of Qāẓī Shahābuddīn and also the biographies of the kings of former times. He used to visit monasteries and colleges, associating with the learned doctors and Shaikhs for self-improvement.³

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¹ Stewart’s *Hist. of Bengal*, pp. 127, 128; also Ferishta vol. ii, p. 100.

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² *Muntakhabul-Tawārīkh*, vol. i, (Ranking), p. 466; and *Tārīkhi-Shīr-Shāh*, Elliot iv, p. 311.

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³ *Ibid.*

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A madrasah was built by this monarch at Nārnaul,⁴ thirty-two miles due west of Bawal, a station on the railway between Hissar and Jaypūr. The college is located in one of the greatest buildings of the city. Here stands the tomb of “Ḥasan

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⁴ In the Patiala State.

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Sīve,” great-grandfather of Shīr Shāh. The tomb was built by Shīr Shāh at an expense of about a lac of rupees. An inscription fixes the date of the erection of the madrasah as 927 A.H. (1520 A.D.).¹

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¹ *Arch. Survey Report*, vol. xxiii, p. 27.

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Shīr Shāh’s son had also love of learning. He could compose extempore verses. Two learned men with whom he used to mix often were Shaikh ’Abdul Ḥasan Kambū and Shaikh ’Abdullāh Sulṭānpurī Maqdūm-ul-Mulk.² Shaikh ’Alā’ī was a very learned man of the time. He acted as if, as Badā’ūnī says, his motto were—