Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c17.28

c17.28

The royal duties being heavy and exacting, a part of the night had to be devoted to them; but the king, with his uncommon thirst for knowledge, had always the patience to devote some time to communion with philosophers, Ṣūfis, and historians, who entertained him with wise discourses. He always took delight in the society of learned men, and called meetings in which he listened to their discussions on nice points of science, on ancient and modern history, on religions and sects, —in short, "on all matters of worldly interest." It was this love of knowledge that prompted him to build the famous 'Ibādat Khāna in his newly built city of Fathpūr Sīkrī. It stood in the garden of the royal palace with its four halls, the western of which was occupied by Sayyids or descendants of the prophet, the southern by the learned ('ulamās), the northern by Shaikhs and men subject to ecstasy, and the eastern by the nobles and officers of the court, whose tastes tallied with those of one or other of the above three classes. The allotment of separate halls was to remove the ill-feeling that had arisen on one occasion in the assembly for seats and