Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c18: Chapter IV. The Mughal Dynasty (continued)

Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c18

Language: English

c18.s1 I. Jahāngīr — 46 parts
c18.s2 2. Shāh Jahān and Dārā Shikūh — 49 parts
c18.s3 3. Aurangzib — 36 parts

Chapter IV. The Mughal Dynasty (continued)

I. Jahāngīr

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JAHĀNGĪR, though far inferior to his great father, was not without some literary taste. His education was, as we can anticipate, well cared for, but certain bad traits in his character vitiated his career. Of his preceptors, we hear of Maulānā Mīr Kalān Muḥaddiṣ, who had come to Hindustan from Hirāt in the reign of Akbar¹ and 'Abdul-Raḥīm Mīrzā, whom we have noticed before.² We also learn that Quṭbuddīn Muḥammad Khān was appointed as his tutor (987 A.H., 1579 A.D.) and a great levee was held in celebration of this event. The tutor presented the Emperor, as is customary on such occasions, with rich presents, such as elephants, etc., worthy of his post, and, taking the prince upon his shoulders, ordered dishfuls of gold and jewels to be scattered to the people.³ Over and above his knowledge of Persian, the Emperor himself tells us, he

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¹ *Muntakhabul-Mir'ātul-'Ālam*, MS. in Boh. Coll., p. 29; Elliot viii, p. 159.

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² Noer's *Akbar*, vol. ii, p. 247.

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³ *Muntakhabul-Tawārīkh*, vol. ii, (Lowe), p. 278.

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was not deficient in reading and writing Turkish, though he was brought up in Hindustan. Hawkins, who knew Turkish, found the Emperor well versed in that language.¹ This knowledge enabled him to read the *Memoirs of Bābar* (*Wāqi’āti-Bābarī*) in the original. The copy that Jahāngīr possessed was written with Bābar’s own hand, but four sections of it were wanting. Jahāngīr copied these portions himself and added them to the book, writing therein a few lines in Turkish to show that the addition was made by him.² He had a taste for history and had, in common with the other Mughal Emperors, a desire to leave behind a record of the events of his reign. With this object in view, he wrote his memoirs with his own hand, but two historians had a hand in the work, viz. Muḥammad Ḥādī and Mu’tamad Khān. When it was completed, he ordered the mutaṣaddīs (scribes) of his library to prepare copies to be distributed among the chief government officers, and to be sent to great and influential men in all parts of the country. The first copy was presented to Shāh Jahān.³

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¹ Elphinstone (9th ed.), p. 548.

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² *Wāqi’āti-Jahāngīrī*, Elliot vi, p. 315.

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³ *Ibid.*, Elliot vi, p. 360.

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Jahāngīr’s name is associated with a regulation which he promulgated in all his dominions and by which he ordained that whenever a well-to-do man or a rich traveller died without any heir, his property

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would escheat to the Crown and be utilized for building and repairing *madrasahs*, monasteries, etc.¹

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¹ Khāfī Khān’s *Muntakhabul-Lubāb* (Bibl. Indica), Pt. i, p. 249; *Tārīkhi-Akbarī*, MS. in ASB, leaf 66.

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It is recorded in the *Tārīkhi-Jān-Jahān* that after his accession to the throne, Jahāngīr *repaired even those madrasahs that had for thirty years been the dwelling-places of birds and beasts, and filled them with students and professors*.²

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² *Tārīkhi-Jān-Jahān* by Jān Jahān Khān, MS. in ASB. We learn that in 1623 A.D. Muḥammad Ṣafī, Diwan of the Subah of Gujrāt founded *madrasahs* at Jubbalpūr in front of the gate of the fort Irk, and beside Sayif Khān’s *madrasah* (*Mir’āti-Aḥmadī* by ’Alī Muḥammad Khān, vol. i, p. 209).

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Agra, which in Akbar’s time rose high as a centre of education, continued, it seems, in the same state during Jahāngīr’s reign. It is thus described in the *Tūzak*:—“The inhabitants of Agra exert themselves greatly in the acquirement of crafts and the search after learning. Various professors of every religion and creed have taken up their abode in the city.”³

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³ *Tūzaki-Jahāngīrī*, by Rogers and Beveridge, p. 7.

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During Jahāngīr’s reign, Maktūb Khān was a superintendent of the Royal Library and the Picture Gallery.⁴ When Jahāngīr went to Gujrāt, he took a library with him, which shows that love of books which was so marked a trait in his father’s character was inherited by him. To the Shaikhs of Gujrāt, he

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⁴ *Ibid.*, p. 12.

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presented from this library such books as the *Tafsīri-Ḥusainī*, the *Tafsīri-Kashshāf* and the *Rauzatul-Aḥbāb*; and on the back of each of the books, he wrote the day of his arrival in Gujrāt and the date of presentation.¹

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¹ *Tūzaki-Jahāngīrī*, by Rogers and Beveridge, pp. 439, 440.

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Jahāngīr was a great lover of books. Mr. Martin says—

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“Collectors (of books) complain of the exorbitant prices they are called upon to pay for Persian munuscripts, and yet the highest prices now paid are small in comparison with the sums they cost their former owners. The manuscript for which Jahāngīr paid 3000 gold rupees—a sum equivalent to £10,000—would not fetch £2000 at a sale in Paris to-day. From notes and calculations I have made, miniatures by Bihzād (the famous Persian painter) were worth hundreds of pounds each, and certain of his manuscripts were then worth ten times more than now. Some decades ago, when bibliophiles still existed in the East, far higher prices were paid there than in London or Paris to-day. Through the following centuries, the same love for old books prevailed, and ridiculous prices were paid for them, as high in proportion as Americans now pay for Rembrandts and Van Dycks. The Mongols, the Timurides, the Mughals, Emperors and Amirs, all paid prices which we hardly understand, and it was not unusual for a celebrated manuscript of the *Qur’ān* to realize a sum that would be equivalent to about a million francs in modern currency.”²

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² Martin’s *Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India and Turkey*, vol. i, p. 58.

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Jahāngīr was a lover of paintings, and gave much encouragement to painters. Farrukh Beg was the greatest painter of the time.³ Abul Ḥasan, a great painter of the time, presented the Emperor

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³ *Tūzaki-Jahāngīrī*, by Rogers and Beveridge, p. 159.

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with a picture of his Court, which he used as frontispiece to his *Jahāngīr-Nāmah*. Ḥasan was also a good hand at drawing portraits. Manṣūr was another great painter, who was invested with the title of *Nādir-ul-Aṣr*.¹

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¹ Wāqi’āti-Jahāngīrī, Elliot vi, p. 359. “Jahāngīr was a great lover of birds, and had a painter Manṣūr who portrayed his favourites (birds) in a way often worthy of Dürer.”—Martin’s *Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India and Turkey*, vol. i, p. 88. For an account of the painters of Jahāngīr and their paintings existing in the British Museum and other places, see *ibid.*, pp. 131, 132.

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Painting in Jahāngīr’s reign reached a great excellence. Says Catrou: “In this time, there were found in the Indies native painters who copied the finest of our European pictures with a fidelity that might vie with the originals.”²

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² Catrou’s *History of the Mughal Dynasty*, p. 178.

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Sir Thomas Roe, during his stay in Jahāngīr’s Court, presented the king with a picture. Jahāngīr’s chief painter, who was sent for to see it, said that he could paint like it. After some time, the Emperor showed Sir Thomas six pictures, five of which were painted by his own painter. They were so very similar that by candle-light one could not be distinguished from the other. It was only after a close and minute scrutiny that Roe could make out the picture presented by himself. The ambassador says that he did not expect that the painter could perform so well.³

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³ *Purchas His Pilgrims*, vol. iv, pp. 344 ff.

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Jahāngīr employed painters to illustrate his *Jahāngīr-Nāmah* with pictures of the animals that were brought to him from the seaport of Goa by Muqarrab Khān, with the object that their "actual likeness might afford a greater surprise to the reader than mere description."¹

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¹ *Wāqi’āti-Jahāngīrī*, Elliot vi, p. 331.

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The *Iqbāl-Nāmah* mentions the following singers of Jahāngīr’s Court: Jahāngīrdād, Chatar Khān, Parwīzdād, Khurramdād, Makhū and Ḥamzah.

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Among the learned men of his Court may be mentioned Mīrzā Ghiyāṣ Beg, unrivalled in elegant composition and arithmetic.² Naqīb Khān was noted for his knowledge of history—a subject on which he wrote much. Mu’tamad Khān, whom we have noticed above, and Ni’matullah were Jahāngīr’s historiographers.³ Under Jahāngīr’s patronage, Ni’matullah systematized into a book the materials collected by Haibat Khān of Sāmāna regarding the history of the Afġhāns.⁴ ’Abdul Ḥaqq Dihlawī, one of the most learned men of the time, came to wait upon Jahāngīr and presented him with a book upon the lives of the Shaikhs of India.⁵

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² *Price’s Jahāngīr*, p. 26.

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³ Elliot v, p. 67, and vi, p. 280. For Naqīb, see B. p. 449.

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⁴ See Dorn’s Preface to *Makhzani-Afġhānī*.

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⁵ *Wāqi’āti-Jahāngīrī*, Elliot vi, p. 366.

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Jahāngīr tells us in the *Tūzak* that on Friday evenings he used to associate with *learned men*, darwishes and recluses.¹

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¹ *Tūzak-i-Jahāngīrī*, by Rogers and Beveridge, p. 21.

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The *Iqbāl-Nāmah-i-Jahāngīrī* gives us a list of some learned men and poets contemporary with the sovereign.

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The learned men were—
(1) Mullā Rūzbahān Shīrāzī,
(2) ,, Shukarullāh Shīrāzī,
(3) ,, Tuqyai Shūstarī,
(4) Mīr Abul Qāsim Gīlānī,
(5) A’mī A’marī,
(6) Mullā Baqar Kashmīrī,
(7) ,, ,, Tuhta’ī,
(8) ,, Maqsūd ’Alī,
(9) Qāzī Nūrullāh,
(10) Mullā Fāzil Kābulī,
(11) ,, ’Abdul Hakīm Siyālkūtī,
(12) ,, ,, Muttālib Sultānpūrī,
(13) ,, ,, Rahmān Bhurah Gujrātī,
(14) ,, Hasan Farāghī Gujrātī,
(15) ,, Husain Gujrātī,
(16) Khwājah ’Usmān Hisārī,
(17) Mullā Muhammad Jaunpūrī.²

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² *Iqbāl-Nāmah-i-Jahāngīrī* (*Bibl. Indica*), p. 308.

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Of the poets the work mentions—
(1) Bābā Tālib Ispahānī,
(2) Mullā Hayātī Gīlānī,

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(3) Mullā Naẓīrī Nishāpūrī,
(4) ,, Muḥammad Ṣūfī Māzandrānī,
(5) Malik-ul- Shu'arā Ṭālibaī Āmlī,
(6) Sa'īdāī Gīlānī,
(7) Mīr Ma'ṣūm Kāshī,
(8) Fasūnī Kāshī,
(9) Mullā Ḥaidar Khaṣālī, and
(10) Sha'īdā.¹

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¹ *Iqbāl-Nāmah (Bibl. Indica)*, p. 308.

2. Shāh Jahān and Dārā Shikūh

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Though Shāh Jahān is better known for his magnificence,—for the superb structures with which he beautified his Shāh-Jahānābād or set up as memorials to his dear and near relations,—than for his zeal for the promotion of education or for extending the bounds of learning of himself and his subjects, yet it appears that he did nothing to undo the educational works of his father and grandfather; on the other hand, there is evidence to show, as the *Tafrīḥul-'Imārāt*² states, that he followed in Akbar's footsteps.

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² *Tafrīḥul-'Imārāt*, by Silchānd, MS. in ASB, leaf 41.

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The renowned traveller Bernier, who visited India about this time, draws a melancholy picture of the state of education in Hindustan, which seems to be a little overdone. He says—

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"A gross and profound ignorance reigns in those states. For how is it possible there should be academies and colleges well

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founded? Where are such founders to be met with? And if there were any, whence were the scholars to be had? Where are those that have means sufficient to maintain their children in colleges? And if there were, who would appear to be so rich? And if they would, where are those benefices, preferments and dignities that require knowledge and abilities, and that may animate young men to study?”¹

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¹ Bernier, p. 210 (Ouldinburgh’s edition).

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Though Shāh Jahān’s reign may not be distinguished for any special educational progress, yet Bernier’s statement does not seem to express the real state of things. That he was by no means a reactionary is proved by the fact that all the educational institutions, with their rich endowments made by the previous Emperors, nobles and private gentlemen, continued in unabated prosperity in his time. On the other hand, to Shāh Jahān is traced a distinct and important contribution to educational works, viz. the foundation of an Imperial College at Delhi in the vicinity of the famous Jāmi’ Masjid. As recorded by Carr Stephen—

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“To the north of the Jāmi’ Masjid (of Delhi) was the Imperial Dispensary, and to the south was the Imperial College; both these buildings fell into ruin long before the rebellion of 1857, and were levelled with the ground soon after that event. They were built with the mosque in 1060 A.H. (1650 A.D.).”²

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² C. Stephen’s *Archaeology of Delhi*, p. 255.

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Sayyid Aḥmad further adds that Maulawī Muḥammad Ṣadruddīn Khān Bahādur, Ṣadr-ul-Ṣudūr of Shāh-Jahānābād, had the madrasah transferred to him later on from the then reigning Delhi

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Emperor, repaired and made additions to the building, and by his energy put new life into it.¹

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¹ *Āṣārul-Ṣanādīd*, by Sayyid Aḥmad, 3rd chap., p. 69.

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Shāh Jahān repaired the college named Dār-ul-Baqā (Abode of Eternity), which had been entirely ruined. The Emperor repaired the buildings and appointed a few distinguished learned men as professors of the college. Maulānā Muḥammad Ṣadruddīn Khān Bahādur, the chief justice of Delhi, was nominated by the monarch as the director of the institution with a view to make it flourishing. Near it were two large reservoirs, a mosque, a hospital and a big bazar.²

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² Garcin de Tassy’s transl. of Sayyid Aḥmad, p. 152, corresponding to *Āṣārul-Ṣanādīd*, 3rd chap., p. 69.

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It appears from Shāh Jahān’s routine of daily work that some time was set apart at night for studies.

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“At about 8.30 p.m. he retired to harem. Two and sometimes three hours were here spent in listening to songs by women. Then His Majesty retired to bed and was read to sleep. Good readers sat behind a *pardah* which separated them from the royal bedchamber, and read aloud books on travel, lives of saints and prophets and histories of former kings—all rich in instruction. Among them, the *Life of Tīmūr* and the *Autobiography of Bābar*³ were his special favourites.”⁴

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³ It appears from *Shāh-Jahān-Nāmah*, by Muḥammad Amīn-i-Qazwīnī (MS. in ASB, leaf 34), that a copy of the *Memoirs* in Bābar’s handwriting was in Shāh Jahān’s Library.

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⁴ J. Sarkar’s *Anecdotes of Aurangzib and Historical Essays*, p. 174.

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Shāh Jahān was a great patron of music, and, it seems, could himself sing well.¹ His two great singers were Rām Dās and Mahāpāttar.²

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¹ *Mir’ātul-’Ālam*, MS. in Boh. Coll., leaf 181; also J. Sarkar’s *Anecdotes of Aurangzib and Historical Essays*, pp. 173, 174.

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² Willard’s *Treatise on Hindu Music*, p. 213.

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Shāh Jahān encouraged painting also. Muḥammad Nādir Samarqandī was one of the best painters at his Court.³ The Shāh Jahānī style of painting is almost the same as the Jahāngīrī, though, of course, both of them are different from the Akbarī style.⁴

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³ See Martin’s *Miniature Painting and Painters*, etc., vol. i, p. 132. For an account of the paintings executed by the painters of Shāh Jahān’s Court, see pp. 131, 132 (*ibid.*).

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⁴ *Ibid.*, p. 82.

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The name of Shāh Jahān will always be associated with the well-known historical work *Pādshāh-Nāmah*, which was written by Muḥammad Amīn-i-Qazwīnī, by the Emperor’s order.⁵

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⁵ Elliot vii, p. 1.

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Shāh Jahān encouraged learned men by rewards and stipends.⁶ Some of the learned men and poets of his reign were—

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⁶ For an account regarding this point, see *Bādshāh-Nāmah*, by ’Abdul Ḥamid Lāhaurī, vol. i, pp. 106, 318, 364, and vol. ii, pp. 127, 138, 184 and 309; also *Mir’ātul-’Ālam*, MS. in Boh. Coll., leaf 190. ’Abdul Ḥakīm Siyālkūṭī was on one occasion given his weight in silver.

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(1) Sayyid Bukhārī Gujrātī,
(2) ,, Jamāluddīn,

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(3) Shaikh Mīr Lāhuarī,
(4) Khwājah Khwānd Maḥmūd, daughter’s son of ’Alāuddīn Attar,
(5) Shaikh Bahlūl Qādirī,
(6) Mīrzā Ẓiyāuddīn,
(7) Maulānā Muhib’ali Sayyidī,
(8) Shaikh Nāẓīrī,
(9) Mullā Shukullāh Shīrāzī,
(10) Mīr ’Abdul Qāsim Īrānī,
(11) Mullā Muḥammad Fāẓil Badakhshī,¹ etc., etc.

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¹ Shāh-Jahān-Nāmah, MS. in ASB, leaves 574 ff.

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The royal family got a scholar in Prince Dārā, who mastered both Arabic and Persian and was proficient in Sanskrit, translating into Persian some of the best Sanskrit works. One of his tutors was Shaikh Hirwī of Khurāsān, a pupil of Maulānā ’Abdul Salīm, a very learned man.² Prince Dārā, in his later days, showed great leanings for the religion and institutions of the Hindus, was constantly seen in the company of Brāhmaṇas, Jogīs and Sannyāsīs, and had great respect for Hindu learning. The Vedas inspired him with reverence; and he collected learned Hindus from all parts of the country to translate them. The religious love of the Hindus made a deep impression upon him; he imbibed its doctrines, and

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² Elliot viii, p. 159 (from Jāmi’-Jahān-Nūma of Muẓaffar Ḥusain).

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engraved in Hindī letters the word *Prabhu* upon his rings of diamond, ruby, etc.¹

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¹ *’Ālamgīr-Nāmah*, Elliot vii, p. 179.

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He was a voluminous writer, being the author of the following books:—

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(i) *Sirr-ul-Asrār* (Secret of Secrets). It is sometimes called *Sirr-ul-Akbar*, "The Great Secret." It is a Persian translation of the *Upanishads*. During his stay in Kashmīr, as we learn from the preface to his work, the Prince became a disciple of a great Ṣūfī, Mullā Shāh. He read a number of standard works on Ṣūfīism, but found that pantheism was nowhere more satisfactorily taught than in the *Vedas*, and especially in the *Upanishads*. So he summoned a few Paṇḍits from Benares, which was now under his administration, and with their help went on with the work. It was finished in 1657 A.D.²

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² It was rendered into Latin by Anquetil-Duperron, and published by him at Paris in 1801. (See Constable’s *Bernier*, p. 323 n.)

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(ii) A translation of the *Bhāgavadgītā*.

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(iii) A translation of the *Jog-Vāsisṭha Rāmāyaṇa*. There are two other translations of this work, one by an unknown author and the other by some learned Hindus at the instance of Akbar the Great. Faiẓī had a hand in the latter work.

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(iv) The *Mukālamah-i-Bābā Lāl Dās* — an account of the dialogue between the Prince and Bābā Lāl Dās on the life and doctrines of Hindu ascetics.

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(v) *Safinat-ul-Auliyā* — Biographies of Saints from the beginning of Islām to the author's time (completed in 1640 A.D.).

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(vi) The *Sakīnat-ul-Auliyā* — a notice of an Indian saint, Miyān Mīr, and his disciples (completed in 1642 A.D.).

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(vii) The *Nādir-ul-Nukāt*, (viii) The *Hasanat-ul-’Ārifīn*,
(ix) The *Risālah-i-Haqnumā* } works on Sūfism;

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(x) The *Majma’-ul-Bahrain* — a treatise ¹ on the technical terms of Hindu Pantheism and their equivalents in Sūfī phraseology. It was written to reconcile the two systems (completed in 1654 A.D.).

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¹ For some of my information regarding Dārā Shikūh, I am indebted to Prof. Hidāyat Ḥusain.

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Had Dārā Shikūh been successful in counteracting the machinations of Aurangzib, the character of the education of the people would have received a different form. Lieut.-Col. Sleeman, who visited the grave of this Prince, deplores—

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“Here, under a marble slab, lies the head of poor Dārā Shikūh, who, but for a little infirmity of temper had, perhaps, changed the destinies of India, by changing the character of education. While looking upon the slab under which his head reposes, I thought of the slight accidents by flood and field, the still slighter thought of the brain and feeling of the heart on which the destinies of nations and of empires often depend.” ²

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² Sleeman’s *Rambles and Recollections*, vol. ii, pp. 270, 271.

3. Aurangzib

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The next reign we have to consider is that of Aurangzib, the last of the great Mughals, whose educational policy took after that of his general policy in governing the empire in the interests of his co-religionists, to which the interests of the subject people of other faiths were carefully and deliberately subordinated. Unlike Akbar, he cared very little for the promotion of Hindu learning. In April, 1669, for instance, he ordered the provincial governors to destroy the Hindu schools and temples and to put down their teachings and religious practices.¹ He, however, tried earnestly to foster the education of Muhammadan youths and diffuse Muslim learning in his dominions. He appointed professors in the different parts of his empire for educating Muslim youths. Stipends were also given to students in proportion to their progress in education.²

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¹ J. Sarkar's *Anecdotes of Aurangzib and Historical Essays*, p. 11.

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² *Mir'ātul-'Ālam*, by Bakhtāwar Khān, MS. in the Boh. Coll., leaf 257 ; *'Ālamgīr-Nāmah*, by Maulawi Munshī Muḥammad Kāzim (Bibl. Indica), p. 1085 ; *Ma'āṣiri-'Ālamgīrī*, by Muḥammad Sāqi Musta'id Khān (Bibl. Indica), p. 529 ; *Tabṣiratul-Nāẓirīn*, MS. in ASB, p. 158.

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Mr. Keene, in his *Mughal Empire*, thus sums up his educational works along with his other good deeds : " Aurangzib abolished capital punishment, encouraged agriculture, founded numberless colleges and schools, and systematically constructed roads

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and bridges."'¹ Of these educational institutions, very few are known at this distant date, but there is evidence to show that he once confiscated the buildings belonging to the Dutch in Firinghi Mahal (Franks' quarter), a ward of the city of Lucknow, and made them over to a Musalman for a madrasah.² He sent orders to Makramat Khan, Diwan of Gujrat, as he did to other Diwans in his dominions, that all students from the lowest to the highest form, those who read the Mizan as well as those who read the Kashshaf, be given pecuniary help from the State Treasury with the sanction of the professors of colleges and of the Sadr of the place. Orders were also sent that three professors in Ahmadabad, Patan and Surat, and forty-five students in Ahmadabad, be added to the existing number.³ In 1678 he sanctioned a sum of money to repair madrasahs in Gujrat.⁴ It also appears that Akramuddin Khan Sadr built a college in A.D. 1697 in Ahmadabad, at an expense of Rs. 124,000, and asked Aurangzib for pecuniary help. In response, the Emperor gave as jagirs village

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¹ Keene's Mughal Empire, p. 23.

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² Constable's Bernier, p. 292 n.

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³ Mir'ati-Ahmadi, by Ali Muhammad Khan, vol. i, p. 272. "Aurangzib assisted students, in proportion to their proficiency, with daily stipends, viz. students of Mizan received 1 anna, of Munsha'ib 2 annas, and up to Sharhi-Wiqayah and Fiqh 8 annas per diem."—Tarikh-i-Farh-Bakhsh of Muhammad Faiz Bakhsh, translated by W. Hoey, p. 104.

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⁴ Mir'ati-Ahmadi, p. 309.

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Sūndra (in Pergana Sānoly) and village Sīha (in Pergana Karī).¹

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¹ *Mir'āti-Aḥmadī*, by 'Alī Muḥammad Khān, vol. i, p. 363, and vol. ii, p. 37.

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Aurangzib took steps to educate the Bohras of Gujrāt by appointing teachers for them and by monthly examinations, the results of which were reported to the Emperor. As a penalty, however, for the troublesome conduct of some of them, the Emperor ordered that the expense of their education, which was made compulsory, should be borne by the community.² Besides the college of Akra-muddīn Khān Ṣadr, there were other madrasahs established by private individuals. Qāẓī Rafī'uddīn Muḥammad founded a college in Biānāh close to Qāẓīun-ki-Masjid. It bears an inscription dated 1080 A.H. (1670 A.D.).³

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² *Ibid.*, vol. i, pp. 377, 378.

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³ *Archaeological Survey Report*, vol. xx, pp. 76, 77.

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During Aurangzib's reign Siyālkūṭ was a great seat of Muslim learning. Learned men from various parts of the country resorted to this place. Maulawī 'Abdullāh taught in a school in this town set up by his father Maulawī Abul Ḥakīm who was himself an eminent teacher. It should be observed here that the reputation of Siyālkūṭ as a place of learning dates back to the time of Akbar.⁴ It was perhaps due to the fact that it was a seat of

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⁴ *Khulāṣatul-Tawārīkh*, MS. in ASB, leaf 47; see also J. Sarkar's *Topography of the Mughal Empire*, p. 96.

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learning where papers were extensively used that Siyālkūṭ also became distinguished for that commodity, especially the Mānsinghī and the silk paper which were good in texture, clean and durable. They were manufactured in three hamlets forming suburbs of the city, exported to other parts of the country and largely used in the courts of the Delhi Emperors.¹

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¹ J. Sarkar's *Topography of the Mughal Empire*, p. 95, and *Imp. Gazetteer*, xii. As Siyālkūṭ (Sealkot) was famous for paper manufacture, so was Kashmīr for its ink (*ibid.*, p. 112).

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We have already seen that almost all the Mughal Emperors took much interest in the education of the people and the diffusion of learning. This was no doubt due to the love of learning which was infused into them by their education received by them from an early age. It was generally the practice, according to Niccolao Manucci, that when the princes attained the age of five, they were taught to read and write their mother-tongue, which was Tartar, or the old language of the Turks. Afterwards, they were placed under learned men and eunuchs to teach them the liberal and the military arts. The teachers took care to regulate their amusements in such a way as would afford them facility in acquiring knowledge of the world and lead to refined habit and taste.² Like other princes Aurangzib

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² *Storia do Mogor*, by Niccolao Manucci, vol. ii, pp. 346, 347.

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received his education at an early age. His first teacher was Sa’dullah Khān, who afterwards became one of the ministers of Shāh Jahān. Another teacher of his was Mīr Muḥammad Hashim. The Prince had a keen intelligence and learnt quickly what he read. He got by heart the Qur’ān and the Ḥadīṣ, could read and write Arabic and Persian with great facility, and had a mastery over Chāghtā’ī Turkī, the language of his remote ancestors. He had a proclivity for theological works, such as the commentaries on the Qur’ān, the Ḥadīṣ, Islāmic Law, Imām Muḥammad Ghazzālī’s works, etc. This early taste for theological writings made him an orthodox of the orthodox Muhammadans and gave him a Puritanic taste, which made him despise painting, music,¹ and poetry in general except that which contained a moral,² which also accounts for his hatred for everything Non-Islāmic in character.

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¹ *Storia do Mogor*, by Niccolao Manucci, vol. ii, pp. 346, 347. Aurangzib’s excessive orthodoxy caused him to suppress music. Thus the profession of the musicians was almost gone. It is said that about a hundred of them consulted together and brought out twenty biers with loud cries and lamentations, in order to excite the pity of the Emperor on their condition, while he was on his way to the mosque. On Aurangzib’s inquiry, he was told that the musicians were going to bury Music, who was killed by his order. The Emperor calmly remarked that they should pray for her soul and see that she was well buried.—Manucci’s *Storia do Mogor*, vol. ii, p. 8.

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² J. Sarkar’s *Hist. of Aurangzib*, vol. i, pp. 4 ff. ; Lanepoole’s *Aurangzib*, p. 27.

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Aurangzib, however, was not satisfied with the

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instruction that had been imparted to him by his teacher,¹ whom he gave that celebrated rebuke recorded by Bernier, which embodies in itself his views upon the education which a Prince of the Royal House ought to receive :

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¹ Both Bernier and Manucci give the name of this teacher as Mullā Ṣāliḥ (*Bernier's Travels*, Constable's ed., p. 154; Manucci's *Storia do Mogor*, vol. ii, p. 30) ; but Prof. J. Sarkar denies that Mullā Ṣāliḥ was the teacher of Aurangzib (*Hist. of Aurangzib*, vol. i, p. 4).

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"Was it not incumbent upon my preceptor," he said, "to make me acquainted with the distinguishing features of every nation of the earth ; its resources and strength, its mode of warfare, its manners, religions, form of government, and wherein its interests principally consist, and by a regular course of historical reading, to render me familiar with the origin of states, their progress and decline, the events, accidents or errors, owing to which such great changes and mighty revolutions have been effected ?"²

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² *Bernier's Travels*, p. 156.

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Aurangzib, like his father Shāh Jahān, made a division of his time from a sense of duty. He used to read the Qur'ān in the morning between 5 and 7, and in the afternoon between 2.30 and 5.30 he used to read and copy the Qur'ān and study the works of the pious men of Islām. He devoted the whole evening of every Thursday to reading sacred books and to prayer.³ From his last will, it appears that he used to sell the copies of the Qur'ān transcribed by himself for his personal expenses, and that at

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³ J. Sarkar's *Anecdotes of Aurangzib and Historical Essays*, p. 177.

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the time of his death, there was a balance of Rs. 305 in his purse.¹ It is recorded in the *Mir’ātul-’Ālam* that ’Ālamgīr studied with Muḥammad Qanaujī three days in the week the *Iḥyā-ul-’Ulūm* and other books.² The Emperor, as we have stated, was fond of reading Islāmic laws, and collected the eminent jurists of his kingdom and caused them to compile the *Fatāwa-i-’Ālamgīrī* under the supervision of Mullā Niẓām, spending a considerable amount for the purpose.³

Linked texts (5)

ʿAmal-i Ṣāliḥ — Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ Kambōh 1659, Persian
Archaeological Survey of India Reports (1862–1887)
Veda — Sanskrit
Upaniṣad — Sanskrit
Bhagavadgītā — Vyāsa, Sanskrit