Promotion of Learning in India during Muhammadan Rule (by Muhammadans) c9.1

c9.1

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