M.A.

INTEGRATED HISTORY: CULTURAL HERITAGE

Course: M.A Integrated History Sem. 4th

Topic- Growth of Literature

Objectives
 To recall the steps undertaken in the field of education with the
establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in medieval India.
 To analyze the nature of cultural and literary synthesis achieved in
Delhi sultanate period.
 To describe the nature of education imparted during the Delhi
Sultanate period.
 To evaluate the role of the Delhi Sultans in the promotion of learning.

Introduction: With the coming of the Muslims the educational system of India
suffered a set-back and the Muslim rulers introduced far reaching changes in the
educational system in India. Some of the Muslim rulers even destroyed Hindu
education and established Madrasas and Maktabs. Prof. A.L. Srivastava has also
pointed out that the education in medieval India was so much dominated by
theological considerations that secular subjects, upon which depended the
economic, social and political well-being of the people, were practically
ignored. There was hardly any arrangement for teaching of the subjects of
Indian interest such as Indian History, philosophy, Sanskrit, language and
literature.
By the eleventh century A.D. institutions of higher learning, that had a religious
bias, had developed in the Muslim countries called madrassas. They were
essentially schools of theology, with secondary linguistic studies. The subjects
of higher studies were taught in Arabic language. They were very difficult to
master and could only be studied under a scholar or at a madrassa. The subjects
constituting the curriculum of higher education were:
i. Quranic Exegesis (Tafsir)
ii. Traditions of Prophet Muhammad PBUH (Hadith)
iii. Islamic Law (Fiqh)
iv. Principles of Islamic Law (Usul-e-Fiqh)
v. Grammar (Ilm-e-Nahf)
vi. Literature (Adab)
vii. Logic (Mantaq)
viii. Mysticism (Tasawuff)
ix. Scholasticism (Ilm-ul-Kalam)
The institutions that provided school education were known as „makhtabs‟,
while those of higher learning were called „madrasas‟. The „makhtabs‟ were
generally run by public donations while „Madrasas‟ were maintained by the
rulers and nobles. There were six different types of institutions: (i) those
established and maintained by nobles and rulers, (ii) those which were started
by individual scholars with the help of state assistance or donations, (iii) those
that were attached to the mosques, (iv) those that were attached to the tombs,
(v) those that were started and maintained by individual scholars, and (vi) those
that were attached to the Sufi hospices. The famous „madrasas‟ were the
Muizzi, the Nasiri and the Firuzi madrasas in Delhi, Mohammed Gawani‟s
madrasa in Bidar and Abul Fazl‟s madrasa in Fatehpur Sikri. With the
foundation of the Delhi Sultanate, the sultans of Delhi promoted education and
learning. They were:
Muhammad Ghori:
Muhammad Ghori was the first Muslim ruler of India who devoted himself to
the cause of education in India. At Ajmer, he set up some schools, colleges and
seminaries for the spread of Islamic culture and education. He was generous to
the men of letters. He took great pleasure in educating his Turkey slaves.
Qutubuddin was one of them. He patronised both literary education as well as
practical training in the art of administration or running the government.
Qutubuddin Aibek:
Qutubuddin, the founder of the slave dynasty, was personally educated,
acquired proficiency in Persian and Arabic and also some knowledge of
science.
Iltutmish:
Altomash (Iltutmish) was also a distinguished scholar and a man of learning.
He built mosques and madrasahs (colleges). During his reign Delhi became a
refuge for learned men from Central Asia. Scholars like Amir Khusrau, Fkhr-
ul-Mulk and Amir Kuhani received his patronage.
 Sultana Raziya: Sultana Raziya, Iltutmish‟s daughter, was also well educated
and a cultured queen. She encouraged men of letters. She was well-versed in
the Quran. She established a college at Delhi called the Muizzi College.
Nasir-Uddin Mahmud:
Nasir-Uddin Mahmud occupies a prominent place in the educational history of
Muslim India. He was himself a scholar and devoted much time to the
advancement of education. He respected and encouraged scholarship. He was a
great patron of Persian literature. The celebrated Tabaqut-i-Nasiri was written
at his court. The celebrated writer Minhaj-i-Siraj enjoyed his patronage. He
founded the famous Nasirryya College at Jalandhar. Minhaj-i-Siraj was its
principal for some time.
Ghiyas-Ud-din Balban:
Ghiyas-Ud-din Balban was also a great friend of literature on his court was a
resort of talented and learned men like Amir Khusrau, Sheikh Usman Tirmizi,
and Amir Hasan etc. Delhi at that time became an asylum for men of letters
because of Mongol invasion under Changiz Khan. It became the most splendid
and cultured city in Asia.
He organised a royal library and patronised regular meetings with poets. Amir
Khusrau, the great poet, was the tutor of the princes. Sayyad Maula was a
profound and competent scholar. He was one of the most distinguished
advocates of education. He also founded an academy and an alms-house at
Delhi.
Prince Muhammad, the oldest son of Balban, was a talented man with literary
taste. The prince, with his marked literary tastes, took the lead in the formation
of literary societies. Amir Khusrau was the president of the royal literary
society. Muhammad collected twenty thousand couplets. Balban‟s second son,
Prince Bughra Khan, also organised another literary society which included
musicians, dancers, actors and story-tellers.
Jalaluddin Khilji:
Jalaluddin Khilji was of a marked literary taste. He organised a royal library
and held regular meetings with renowned literary men of the time. Amir
Khusrau was appointed the Librarian of the Imperial Library at Delhi. The
Sultan held him in high esteem. He used to pay learned men their due honour,
and a literary atmosphere was created in the royal court. The Sultan was thus a
great lover of learning.
Alauddin Khilji: Alauddin Khilji was at first an uneducated and illiterate man.
But within a very short time he acquired literacy and some knowledge of
Persian. He encouraged discussions of literary subjects and showed favours to
all eminent men of that age. Alauddin soon rose to the rank of an eminent
educationist and patron of learning. Ferishta says that under the Sultan‟s orders
“mosques and colleges went up like magic”. During the time of Alauddin,
Delhi was the great rendezvous for all the learned and erudite personages.
Muhammad Bin Tughluq:
Muhammad Bin Tughluq was the most learned among the crowned heads of
the middle Ages. He was a man of poetic talent and well-versed in many
subjects such as mathematics, astrology, astronomy, military science, Persian
and Arabic. He was a versatile genius. His literary genius attracted intellectual
luminaries from far and wide. He was an unfailing friend of the learned.
He used to converse with learned men and men of merit. Many scholars and
theologians received liberal benefactions from the monarch. But in spite of his
best intentions the Emperor could not, unfortunately, contribute much to the
cause of education. This was because of his failures in the administrative field.
Because of the transfer of capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (Debgiri), the
greatest centre of Muhammadan learning in India was deserted by the literate—
its schools and colleges were closed. However, the Royal court throughout the
reign of Sultan Muhammad was marked by a high literary tone. Probably the
Sultan had set up a Madrasah in the new capital.
Firoz Shah Tughluq:
Widespread diffusion of education took place during the reign of Firoz Shah
Tughluq. The Sultan founded a new capital called Firozabad. The focus of
culture was now shifted to Firozabad from Delhi. Firozabad rose in prosperity
and fame as an educational centre. He himself wrote an account of his reign,
called Fatuhat-i-Firoz Shahi.
Historians like Siraj Arif and Ziauddin Barni and his contemporaries like Jalal
Uddin Rumi, Qazi Abdul Qadir and Aziz Uddin Khabid received his patronage.
Rumi was a great scholar and poet. During Firoz‟s reign Jaunpur became a
famous centre of learning. Delhi also regained its old glory. The scholars wrote
on theology, Islamic jurisprudence, history, geography, philosophy and several
other sciences. Firoz is said to have built the “Place of Grapes” where he held
learned assemblies.
It led to an extensive diffusion of education. He spent 136 lacs of rupees
(tankas) in pensions and gifts, of which 36 lacs were given to the learned and
religious for their rehabilitation. He not only repaired and reconstructed the old
schools, colleges and madrasahs, but built many new ones. According to
Ferishta and Nizam- Uddin, he founded no less than thirty colleges in his
kingdom and provided them with paid professors of proud merit.
Firoz Shah was deeply interested in the education and well-being of slaves.
There was a separate department of officers for their maintenance and welfare.
A separate treasury was kept for their pensions and gratuities. There were as
many as 18,000 slaves for whose maintenance and education the Sultan made
suitable provisions. As many as 12,000 slaves were trained in different arts.
Firoz Shah had a fine taste for archaeology, fine arts and Hindu monuments.
This quality of character was rare in those days. The Sultan destroyed the
Jalamukhi temple at Nagarkot, yet he had deciphered 1,300 manuscripts, seized
from there. By the application of great engineering skill he had a monolithic
Asokan piller brought from a great distance and re-erected at Delhi.
The pillar is still there at Firoz Shah Kotlah. He appointed pundits for
“deciphering and explaining the Asokan script thereon. Though Firoz Shah was
a bigot, yet during his reign the Hindus began to culture Persian just as Muslim
scholars began to culture Sanskrit.
Sikander Lodi:
Sikander Lodi was himself a poet of distinction. He used to compose verses
under the pen-name of Gulrukh. Shah Jalal, a talented poet, was his preceptor
in poetry. The Sultan attended meetings of the elite. Abdullah records that
“seventeen accomplished and learned men of tried merit were constantly with
him in his private apartment.”
Abdullah further records that the Sultan covered his kingdom with colleges and
filled them with professors and students. Sikander was a bigoted Muslim. He
destroyed many shrines and in their places built colleges. Ferishta informs that
education made much progress during his reign. He persistently insisted on the
compulsory education of his military officers.
He gave a fresh impulse to the arts of writing, compilation and translation.
Under his encouragement, standard literature of a very high order was
produced. At his instance the learned physicians of India and abroad jointly
complied the Tibbi Sikandari—the famous book on the science of medicine and
treatment of diseases. This book was the foundation of the practice of the
physicians of Hind. Miyan Budh greatly helped in this compilation. He
employed learned men in writing books on every science. He assembled the
physicians of Hind and Khurasan to compile the famous book on the science of
medicine.
During Sikandar‟s reign, men of learning and erudition from Arabia, Persia and
Bokhara poured into it in ever increasing numbers at the prospect of receiving
better patronage from the monarch. These learned men settled in the new
capital permanently and were granted lands and rewards by Imperial Farman‟s.
As a result, Agra grew into a great university-city, a famous centre for higher
education.
During Sikandar‟s reign, the Hindus for the first time began to receive Persian
education in the Muslim schools. Ferishta observes that “the Hindus who had
hitherto never learned Persian, commenced during this reign to study
Muhammadan literature.”
Progress of Education in the Provincial Kingdoms:
Provincial rulers patronized learning and education in their kingdoms,
independent of the Delhi Sultans. The breakdown and decline of the central
government at Delhi left them a fair field for making their own contributions to
the cause of learning. Apart from the older centres of learning at Delhi,
Ferozabad and Agra, new centres now developed at Bijapur, Bidar, Golconda,
Malwa, Khandesh, Jaunpur, Allahabad, Ajmer, Multan, Ahmedabad and Gour.
The medium of instruction was Persian and the study of the Arabic was
compulsory for the Muslims. Corporal punishments were inflicted on students.
The admission to Madrasa was given only to a small section of people and the
non-Muslims were usually denied admissions.
As Prof. N. N. Law says:
“The education of the majority of the population was not regarded as a
responsibility of the State, and it was only towards the end of the period during
Sikandar Lodi‟s that the Hindus connected with the courts of Muslim rulers,
commenced to study Persian literature.”

REFERENCES:
1. Chattopadhyaya, B.D., The Making of Early Medieval India, Oxford
University Press, Delhi 1997.
2. Hardy, Peter, Historians of Medieval India: Studies in Indo-Muslim
Historical Writing, London 1966.
3. Alam, Muzaffar, The Languages of Political Islam in India, 1200-1800. New
Delhi: Permanent Black, Delhi 2004.
4. M. Athar Ali, Medieval India: Essays in the History of India, 1200-1750,
New Delhi 1999.
5. Sharma, R.S. India’s Ancient Past, Oxford University Press, Delhi 2006.