Development of Provincial Literature
Besides producing far -reaching social and religious effects, the reform movements also gave a great impetus to the development of Indian literature in different parts of India. While the orthodox scholars continued to write in Sanskrit, the religious reformers, with their aim of preaching before the uneducated masses, wrote and spoke in a medium which could be easily understood by them. Thus Ramananda and Kabir preached in Hindi and did much to enrich its poetry; and the dohas and sakhis of Kabir, permeated with devotional fervour, are brilliant specimens of Hindi literature. Namadeva greatly helped the development of Marathi literature; Mira -Bai and some other preachers of the Radha-Krishna cult sang in Brajabhasha; Nanak and his disciples encouraged Punjabi and Gurumukhi; and Bengali literature owes a heavy debt to the Vaishnava teachers. The famous Vaishnava poet Chandidas, who was born, probably towards the end of the fourteenth century, in the village of Nannur in the Birbhum district of Bengal, is still held in great esteem and his lyrics are known even to the common folk of Bengal. His contemporary, Vidyapati Thakur, though a native of Mithila, is regarded as a poet of Bengal and his memory is venerated by the people of this province. The patronage of the princely courts also considerably helped the growth of literature. Vidyapati was the court poet of a Hindu chief named Siva Simha. The Muslim rulers of Bengal engaged scholars to translate the Ramayana and the Mahabharata from Sanskrit into Bengali, which they understood and spoke. Himself a learned man, Barbak Shah patronized scholars like Raimukut Brihaspati Misra, a highly accomplished and famous writer of several works, Maladhar Basu,
Literary Activity in Sanskrit
The period was not entirely barren of important compositions in Sanskrit, religious as well as secular, though in this respect it suffers in comparison with the preceding two or three centuries. About A.D. 1300 Parthasarathi Misra wrote several works on the Karma Mimansa, of which the Sastra Dipika was studied most widely. Some works which expounded the doctrines of the Yoga, Vaiseshika, and Nayaya systems of philosophy were produced during this period. The more important dramas of the time were Hammir-mada – mardana by Jay Singh Suri (A.D. 1219-1229), Pradyumna-abhyudaya by the Kerala prince Ravivarman, Pratap Rudra Kalyan by Vidyanath (A.D. 1300), Parvati Parinaya by Vamana Bhatta Bana (A.D. 1400), Gangadasa Pratapa Vilasa, celebrating the fight of a prince of Champaner against Muhammad II of Gujarat, by Gangadhar, and the Vidagdha Madhava and the Lalita Madhava, written about A.D. 1532 by Rupa Goswami, minister of Husain Shah of Bengal, and author of no less than twenty-five works in Sanskrit. Smriti and grammatical literature flourished during this period in Mithila, and Bengal, the most famous writers being Padmanabha Datta, Vidyapati Upadhyaya and Vachaspati of Mithila and Raghunandan of Bengal. It was also marked by the production of a mass of Jaina literature, secular as well as religious. The Vijayanagar rulers extended considerable patronage to scholars like Sayana, his brother, Madhava Vidyaranya, and others, and there was consequently a wide Sanskrit culture. We find instances of Muslim scholars possessing a knowledge of Sanskrit.
Persian Literature and Muslim Education
The Sultans and Amirs of Delhi, and the Muslim rulers and nobles in the provinces, naturally encouraged literary activities in Persian, which they appreciated better. Amir Khusrav declared with pride that Delhi developed into an intellectual competitor of Bukhara, the famous university-city of Central Asia. The then Muslim rulers of India extended patronage to the Persian scholars who flocked to their courts from other
parts of Asia under the pressure of Mongol inroads; established institutions for Muslim learning at Delhi, Jullundur, Firuzabad and other places; founded libraries, the most important one being the Imperial Library at Delhi, of which Amir Khuasrav was appointed the librarian by Jalal-ud-din Khalji; and also helped the growth of Muslim literary societies. The most famous of the Indian scholars who wrote in Persian during this period was Amir Khusrav. He was a prolific writer, whose genius unfolded itself in poetry, prose and music, and whom destiny granted a long tenure of life. He first rose to fame during the reign of Balban and was the tutor of Prince Muhammad, the eldest son of the Sultan. Subsequently he became the court-poet of ‘Ala,-ud-din Khalji, also enjoyed the patronage of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq, and died in A.D. 1324-1325. Another poet of the time, whose fame was recognised outside India, was Shaikh Najm-ud-din Hasan, popularly known as Hasan-i-Dihlavi. The first Khalji ruler did not forget to patronize learning, and his successor, ‘Ala-ud-din, also seems to have been an enthusiastic friend of it. We are told by Barni that “the most wonderful thing which people saw in ‘AIa-ud-din’s reign was the multitude of great men of all nationalities, masters of every science and experts in every art. The capital of Delhi, by the presence of these unrivalled men of great talents, had become the envy of Baghdad, the rival of Cairo, and the equal of Constantinople”. The pious and learned scholar Nizam-ud-din Auliya, and several other scholars flourished during this reign. Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq, too, encouraged learned men; and, in spite of his fanciful projects, Muhammad bin Tughluq, himself a man of accomplishments, freely patronised poets, logicians, philosophers and physicians, and held discussion with them in his court. The most notable of the literary men of his time was Maulana Muaiyyan-ud-din Umrani, who wrote commentaries on the Husaini, Talkhis, and Miftah. Firuz Shah, himself the author of Fatutat-i-Firuz Shahi, showed great zeal for the cause of education and established several colleges with mosques attached to them.
Among the learned men of his time, the most eminent were Quzi ‘Abdul Muqtadir Shanihi, Maulana Khwajagi, and Ahmad Thanesvari. Among the Lodis, Sultan Sikander was himself a poet, and gave considerable encouragement to learning. Most of the rulers of the Bahmani kingdom and other independent Muslim dynasties, like those of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golkunda, MaIwa, Jaunpur, Bengal, and even Multan, were also patrons of letters. The Muslim writers showed their skill in a branch of study which had been comparatively neglected by the Hindus. They wrote several first-rate historical books in elegant prose. Thus we have Minhaj-ud-din’s Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, which is a general history of the Islamic world and was named after one of his patrons, Sultan Nasir-ud-din Mahmud. Amir Khusrav’s historical mesnevis are full of valuable information, and his Ta’rikh-i-‘Alai especially “contains an interesting account of the first few years of the reign of ‘Ala-ud-din Khalji.” The most famous historian of the period was Zia-ud-din Barni, a contemporary of Muhammad bin Tughluq and Friuz Shah. Two other important historical works of the time are the Ta’rikh-i-Firuz Shahi of Shams-i-Siraj ‘Afif, written during the reign of Friuz Shah, and the Ta’rikh-i-Mubrak Shahi of Yahiya bin Ahmad Sarhindi, which was written about eighty years after the death of Muhammad bin Tughluq and was largely used by later writers.
