Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c9: Preliminary
Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c9
- Language
- English
Preliminary
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The Muhammadan invasions of India marked the beginnings of momentous changes not only in the social and political spheres but also in the domain of education and learning. No longer did the air resound exclusively with the chanting of the Vedic hymns or the recitation of the Buddhist scriptures, but side by side with these, and sometimes in supersession of these, were heard the Āyats of the Qur'ān and the Ḥadīṣ of the Prophet. The settlement in India of a foreign nation with its own ideals and culture developed by evolution through centuries, and their acquisition of political supremacy in the land, naturally placed indigenous ideals and culture at a disadvantage. And so the indigenous system of education was for a time deprived of the stimulus and support of state or royal patronage which now applied itself to the promotion of the new Islāmic learning, the old learning being left to shift for itself and thrown upon the resources of popular support. Sometimes, it was even put down and persecuted by the political power flushed with
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its first victories, and we have harrowing tales of old Universities broken up, libraries looted and the votaries of indigenous learning, Hindu or Buddhist, murdered or driven away homeless. These were, however, the days of unrest and transition, of the travails of a new birth when the old order was changing, yielding place to new.
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The day was yet distant when we should find the Muhammadan rulers patronizing the education of their Hindu and Muslim subjects alike and encouraging with equal ardour the growth of other learning besides the Muhammadan; but for about a century or two after the first Muhammadan conqueror had set foot on Indian soil, Hindu education and literature followed their own independent course supported by their own votaries.
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It goes without saying that in these early days, the personal character of the reigning sovereign was the most important factor affecting popular well-being, and it was specially true in the case of education. If the Emperor were of literary tastes and encouraged the cause of education and learning, we find his Court a bee-hive of literary men, poets, philosophers and scientists, giving a great impetus to the literary life of the day. We find noblemen imitating him and lavishing endowment after endowment upon schools, colleges and distinguished literary men, for their support and
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encouragement. On the other hand, if the Emperor were devoid of literary tastes and addicted to low pleasures and licentiousness, there was a corresponding set-back in learning. We find his Court deserted by the literati, and learning languished as a rule. The reason for this is not far to seek. The sovereign was the largest fountain from which the educational institutions, professors and literary men drew a very large portion of their sustenance, a slight change in his literary taste producing a corresponding change in the literary world. Centralized as all power was in the Emperor alone, the changes in his will and desire made themselves felt in all directions of national activity: the Emperor's taste was, so to speak, a barometer of the then literary atmosphere. We find, however, in the case of 'Alāuddīn Khiljī, that the literary life of the day was in a vigorous state though the Emperor had no literary taste and even did positive harm to the cause of learning in the beginning of his reign by confiscating the endowments that fed the literary institutions and learned men. Such a state of things is surely abnormal, which we cannot explain unless we bear in mind that private munificence played not a small part in the sustenance of learning. So if literary life appeared to flourish in spite of the Emperor in the early part of his reign, it was owing to the momentum it had already acquired, and the encouragement it obtained
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from private individuals, landholders and petty chiefs. State encouragement is vital to the literary and educational advance of the country, and in the days when the Emperor himself was virtually the State, we can realize the important *rôle* played by him for good or evil in the literary world. It is when we look at the matter from this standpoint that we understand the importance of carefully observing the literary tastes, education and other such traits in the character of the long roll of Muhammadan Invaders and Emperors who came to influence the destiny of India.