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Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c18.s2: 2. Shāh Jahān and Dārā Shikūh

Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c18.s2

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English

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.

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