LITERATURE

LITERATURE

The Mughal emperors were patrons of literature and they did much to remove the barriers between Hindus and Muslims to promote a happy fusion of t..wtures. In this connection, we may mention the name ot' 'Malik Muhammad Jayasi who in his Padmavat describes the story of Padmini, and Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan whose ex­quisite dohas are still read and admired all over northern India. It was Akbar's patronage that gave a vigorous stimulus to literary activity. The Persian literature of his reign comprised historical works, translations and poetry. The great historical works of his reign are the Akbarnamah and Ain-i-Akbari of Abul Fazal, the Muntkhab-ul-Twarikh by Badauni and Tabaqat-i-Akbari. by Nizam-ud-din Ahmed. Akbar was a keen student of Hindu culture and so by his orders many Sanskrit works wer~ translated into Persian. Badauni translated Ramayana and Faizi the Lilavati. The Mahabharata was translated and renamed Razm-namah. The translator of the Atharva Veda was Hazi Ibrahim Sarhindi. Other works translated were Rajatarangini and Panchatantra. Among the important poets of the period were Ghizali, Faizi and Muhammad Hussain Naziri. Jahangir also had a fine taste for literature and his memoirs are second only to that of Babur. During Shah Jahan's period many historical works were composed i.e. Padshahnamah by Abdul Hamid Lahori, Shah-Jahan-namah. by Inayat Khan etc. Aurangzeb was a learned man but he disliked history and poetry. His taste was for Muslim theology and jurisprudence of which he was a critical writer. It was under him that the Fatwah­i-Alamgiri was written. The most famous history of his reign, the Muntakhab-ul-Lubab of Khafi Khan, was prepared in secrecy.

This period has been described as the "Augustan Age of Hindustani Literature" as Akbar gave impetus to Hindi poetry. Persons like Birbal, Raja Man Singh, etc. were poets of no mean order. Among the most notable poet was Tulsidas who wrote the famous Ramcharitamanas. Surdas, the blind bard of Agra, wrote numerous verses in Brij Bhasa, the most important being Sur Sugar. The two famous poets of Shah Jahan's time were Sundar, the author of Sundar Srinagar, and Bihari Lal, the author of Satsai. In Bengal there developed in this period remarkable literature dealing with the life of Chaitanya Deva.

The Mughals did 'not have any systematic organisation for imparting education. Some sort of elementary education was imparted in maktabs and pathsalas. Further it was mainly confined to the upper sections of society and the clergy. Most Mughal emperors were educated and so were their ladies. Gulbadan Begum was an accomplished lady. She wrote the Humayun namah. Nur Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, Jahanara Begum and Zeb-un-Nisa were highly educated ladies.