Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c2: Preface

Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c2

Language: English

Preface

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The purpose of the present work is to bring together all the facts about a most interesting aspect of Muhammadan rule in India which is apt to be missed in the general histories of that rule. The contributions to learning and culture made by Islām in India are indeed worthy of a special consideration. Their value is more abiding if less brilliant than the political conquests which marked the progress of Muhammadan power in India.

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The work, as its title indicates, relates to the promotion of learning and not to the quality of the learning. It is generally stated, though not on unreasonable grounds, that India was devoid of Muhammadan scholarship of the type found in the centres of Muslim learning outside India, and that the Muhammadan literati of India lagged far behind the scholars of such places as Baghdād, Dimashq, Cairo, Cordova, Makkah, Shīrāz, Samarqand, etc.

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This is not, however, a sufficient reason why we should cast into perpetual oblivion the earnest and praiseworthy efforts that were made by the

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Muhammadan emperors, chiefs and private individuals of India to promote learning and diffuse education among the people of this country. Such efforts should be appreciated apart from the results achieved, and the credit due to them should in no way be diminished by the meagreness of those results. The present work is a history of such efforts and an attempt to show in a connected narrative that the long roll of Muslim rulers, emperors and invaders from Maḥmūd downwards were not altogether inattentive to the literary interests of the people, and that private individuals also were not quite inactive in this direction.

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As to the value that can be attached to the materials used in this work, it should be remarked that the Muhammadan historical works should not be wholly relied upon. They mix up facts with fiction in such a manner that it is often difficult to distinguish the one from the other. Under the circumstances, a question may arise as to how far they can be regarded as trustworthy. No doubt, the question is not without its difficulties. I have followed the principle that where the same fact has been stated by different writers following different authorities, that fact may be relied upon, especially if the authors happen to be contemporaneous with the facts recorded. Sometimes, it may transpire that a fact connected with the subject is mentioned in a work which is considered as an authority in its

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field; in that case, if there be nothing improbable or unreasonable about it and if it be uncontradicted by any other evidence, we may safely accept and use it. To reject the uncorroborated testimony of a contemporaneous writer or the statements of a writer generally accepted as an authority, if there be nothing unreasonable or improbable about them, would be wantonly rejecting historical materials and carrying scepticism too far. Many of the authorities cited and followed in this volume were respected by their contemporaries, and have been used as authorities by various writers on historical subjects.

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It is further to be noted that incidental allusions to facts are perhaps more trustworthy than their direct accounts. In such cases, the element of personal bias finds no reason or scope for its exercise, and there is no motive for any exaggeration, misstatement or distortion. I have therefore pieced together such scattered allusions and references on account of their intrinsic importance as a source of reliable evidence.

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So far as I am aware the subject-matter of this work has not anywhere been systematically treated. The materials for its compilation lie scattered in works published and unpublished, in most of which they are only indirectly and incidentally referred to. This made the work of my research greatly difficult, as after considerable labour, I had to give

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up as many works wherein I did not find the needful materials as those in which I did find them. I have not only used the original works of European and Indian writers and translations of original works, but have also utilized many manuscripts and printed texts, Arabic, Persian and Urdu, in the Library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal as also in the Bohār Collection of the Calcutta Imperial Library, as will be evident from the Bibliography.

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My grateful acknowledgments are due to Prof. Radhakumud Mookerji, M.A., Premchand Roychand Scholar and author of *A History of Indian Shipping*, etc., and to my uncle, Mr. Nundolal Dey, M.A., B.L., author of the *Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India*, for valuable help rendered and kind revision of the work. I am also under obligation to Maulawī 'Abdul Aḥad for assisting me in the handling of Persian MSS., and to Maulawī Ḥāfiẓ Nazīr Aḥmad, Chief Research Maulawī, A.S.B., for revising the transliteration of Arabic and Persian terms.

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I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. H. Beveridge, F.A.S.B., I.C.S. (retired), for his many valuable criticisms and suggestions and kind revision of the proofs in spite of his many pre-occupations.

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I have also to acknowledge with pleasure and gratitude the receipt of help of various kinds from Dr. Brajendra Nath Seal, M.A., Ph.D., Prof. Benoy

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Kumar Sarkar, M.A., Mr. J. H. Elliot, Asst. Secy., A.S.B., my brother Mr. Surendra Nath Law, Maulawī Asadul Zamān Khān Gauhar, Nawāb 'Abdul Raḥmān Bahādur, Khān Ṣāhib 'Abdul Walī, Mr. Surendra Nath Kumar, Mr. Kumud Lal Dey, Messrs. Bejoy Krishna and Jugal Kishore Nundy and Mr. Moni Mohun Sil.

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My special thanks are due to my cousins Messrs. Nalin Chandra Paul, B.L., and Satya Churn Law, M.A., B.L., for material assistance. Mr. Satya Churn Law has further helped me in the reproduction of the illustrations.

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Finally, I have much pleasure in expressing my thanks to Mr. Ramananda Chatterji, M.A., editor of the *Modern Review*, in which appeared portions of this work, since considerably modified, and to the authors and publishers who have kindly given me permission to reproduce illustrations.