Prompted by his policy of religious toleration, Akbar arranged in later years for the education of Hindus in madaras. Jahangir, possessed of some literary taste and well-read in Persian as well as Turki, issued a regulation to the effect that on the death of a rich man or traveller without any heir, his property would escheat to the crown and be utilized for building and repairing madarasas monasteries, etc. It is recorded in the Ta’rikh-i-Jan-Jahan that, soon after his accession to the throne, Jahangir “repaired even these madrasas that had for thirty years been the dwelling-places of birds and beasts, and filled them with students and professors”. Shah Jahan, though more interested in magnificent buildings than in anything else, was educated in his early youth in Turki, spent a part of the night in his own studies, and encouraged learning by granting rewards and stipends to scholars. He founded one college at Delhi and repaired the college named Dar-ul-Baqa (Abode of Eternity), which had been almost in ruins. In Dara Shukoh the Mughul imperial family possessed one of the greatest scholars that India has ever produced. Well-versed in Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit, he was the author of some famous works, including Persian translations of the Upanishads, the Bhagavat Gita and theYoga Vasishtha Ramayana; a calendar of Muslim saints; and several works on Sufi philosophy. Looking at the grave of this unlucky person, Sir William Sleeman rightly thought that had he lived to occupy the throne, the nature of education, and therewith the destiny of India, would have been different . Aurangzeb, though highly educated, did nothing substantial to promote learning in general, though he extended every encouragement to Muslim education, and founded, according to Keene, “numerous colleges and schools”.
Female education of some sort existed during the Mughul period. The daughters of the imperial household, and of rich nobles, were given tuition in their houses, and we may assume that the daughters of the middle-class people among the Hindus received primary education along with the boys in the schools and that some of them were conversant with religious literature. The Auxiliary committee of the Indian Statutory commission rightly observed in September, 1929, that there is ” nothing inherent either in the Hindu or in the Muslim religion which militates against the education of women. In fact, there were in India even in early days many examples of women possessing wide knowledge, particularly of sacred and classical literature”. In Akbar’s time “regular training was given to the ladies of the royal household “. Some of the ladies so instructed distinguished themselves in the sphere of literature. Thus Babur’s daughter, Gulbadan Begam, authoress of the Humayunnamah, Humayun’s niece, Salima Sultan, authoress of several Persian poems, Nur Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, Jahanara Begam and Zeb-un-Nisi were highly educated ladies, well-read in Persian and Arabic literature. Besides being a fine Arabic and Persian scholar, Zeb-un-Nisa was an expert in calligraphy and had a rich library.
As we have already noted, the Timurid rulers of India were patrons of literature and gave a considerable impetus to its development in different branches. Many scholars flourished and wrote interesting and important works under the patronage of Akbar. One of Akbar’s contemporaries, Madhavacharya, a Bengali poet of Triveni and author of Chandi-mangal, bestows high praise on the Emperor as a patron of letters.
The Persian literature of Akbar’s reign may be considered under three heads: (i) historical works, (ii) translations, and (iii) poetry and verse. The well-known historical works of the reign are the Ta’rikhi-‘Alfi of Mulla Daud, the ‘Ain-i-Akbari and Akbarnamah of Abul Fazl, the Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh of Badauni, the Tabaqat-i-Akbari of Nizam-ud-din Ahmad, the Akbaranamah of Faizi Sarhindi, and the Ma’asir-i-Rahimi of ‘Abdul Baqi, compiled under the patronage of ‘Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan. The most accomplished writer (in Persian) of the reign was Abul Fazl, a man of letters, a poet, an essayist, a critic, and a historian. By order of the Emperor, many books in Sanskrit and other languages were translated into Persian. Different sections of the Mahabharata were translated into that language by several Muslim scholars and were compiled under the title of Razm-Namah. After labouring for four years, Badauni completed the translation of the Ramayana in A.D. 1589. Haji Ibrahim Sarhindi translated into Persian the Atharva Veda; Faizi the Lilabati, a work on mathematics; Mukammal Khan Gujarati the Tajak, a treatise on astronomy; ‘Abdur Rahim Khan -i-Khanan the Waqiat-i-Baburi; and Maulana Shah Muhammad Shahabadi translated the History of Kashmir. Some Greek and Arab works were also translated into Persian. A number of famous poets or versifiers produced works of merit under the patronage of Akbar. The most famous among the verse-writers was Ghizali. Next in importance to him was Faizi, a brother of Abul Fazl. Other prominent poets were Muhammad Husain Naziri of Nishapur, who wrote ghazals of great merit, and Sayyid Jamaluddin Urfi of Shiraj, the most famous writer of in his days.
Jahangir, possessed of an excellent literary taste, also extended his patronage to scholars. His autobiography is second only to that of Babur in matter and style. Among the learned men who adorned his court, of whom the lqbalnamah-i-Jahagiri has given a comprehensive list, we may mention here the names of Ghiyas Beg, Naqib Khan, Mu’tamid Khan, Niamatullah and ‘Abdul Haqq Dihlawi. Some historical works were written during Jahangir’s reign, the most important of these being the Ma’asir-i-Jahangiri, the Iqbalnamah-i-Jahangiri and the Zubd-ut-Tawarikh. Shah Jahan followed his predecessors in patronizing learned men. Besides many poets and theologians, there flourished in his court some famous writers of history like ‘Abdul Hamid Lahori, author of the Padshah-namah, Aminai Qazwini, author of another Padshahnamah, Inayat Khan, author of the Shah-Jahannamah, and Muhammad Salih, author of ‘Amal-i-Salih, all of whom are important authorities on the history of Shah Jahan’s reign. The scholarly works of Prince Dara Shukoh, to which reference has already been made, are masterpieces of Persian literature. A zealous Sunni, Aurangzeb was a critical scholar of Muslim theology and jurisprudence. He had no taste for poetry. Though opposed to the writing of histories of his reign, so that the Muntakhab-ul-Lubab of Khafi Khan had to be written in secrecy, there are some well-known works of this kind, such as the ‘Alamgirnamah by Mirza Muhammad Kazim, the Ma’asir-i-‘Alamgiri of Muhammad Saqi, the Khulasat-ul-Tawarikh of Sujan Rai Khatri, the Nuskha-i-Dilkusha of Bhimsen and the Fatuhat-i-Alamgiri of Ishwar Das.
