Culture during Delhi Sultanate Period

Culture during Delhi Sultanate Period

Historian holds divergent opinions regarding the position of Persian literature. Some scholars believe that the Delhi Sultanate was a cultural kingdom, but the others have opined that the Sultanate period was a dark age from cultural point of view. In fact both these opinions are exaggerations and hence, are removed far from the reality. As the Muslim rulers were foreigners and their religion, creed, customs and inspirations foreign, they oppressed the Hindus and their culture. Hence it would be a white lie if we call Delhi Sultanate a cultural state. But at the same time it would be false to presume that the Sultans of Delhi were semi-barbarous soldiers and they did not have any attraction for literature and arts of the contemporary period.

No doubt, the Turkish rulers were great warriors and they devoted most of their time in suppression of revolts and in waging wars against their Hindu rivals, however, they patronized the Muslim learning and arts. From the Qutbuddin to Sikandar Lodi, all the rulers of Delhi Sultanate gave liberal patronage to Persian writers, poest, philosophers and theologians. Some of the Sultans had their own court historians. The names of Hasan Nizami, Minhaj-us-Siraj, Ziauddin Barani, Shams-Siraj Afif, Yahya-bin-Ahmad Sirhindi and Isami who were the writers of Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Tarikh-i-Firozshahi, Fatawa-i-Jahandari, Tarikhh-iMubarak Shahi and Fatuhat-i-Firozshahi, respectively merit special attention. 

There were some other poets and scholars in provincial courts who devoted themselves to the progress and development of Persian literature but unfortunately they gave up the use of Hindu words and Indian imagery and did not follow the path of Amir Khusrau.

Although, the Muslim rulers were warriors, they paid some attention to the development of education also. In fact, they made some arrangements for the education of Muslim subjects and founded some Maktabs and Madarassas but no attention was paid towards the education of Hindu subjects. Generally, a Maktab was attached to a mosque where the children got their early education and learnt the reading and writing of Persian.

Among the royal writers the name of Sultan Firoz Tughluq who wrote his autobiography, Fatuhat-i-Firozshahi and Sikandar Lodi, who wrote several poems and Mahmod Gavan, the prime minister are worth mentioning.

Thus, we see the Persian literature flourished not only in the courts and under the patronage of the royalists but eh provincial rulers also helped in the rise and development of Persian literature to a great extent.

Sanskrit and Hindu Literature

Hindi literature also flourished during the Delhi Sultanate. Although the speed of its progress was not as fast as that of Persian literature, yet it progressed. The saint of the Bhakti movement such as Kabir, Nanak, Dharamdas, Dadu, Malookdas and Sunderdas also contributed to the rise of Hindu literature through their excellent Bhajans.

Muslim rulers did not patronize Sanskrit literature. No doubt, some Sanskrit books were translated into Persian during this period but it was not the result of the love of Muslim rulers for Sanskrit literature.

Besides Persian, Hindu and Sanskrit and some other languages also flourished during this period. Guru Nanak wrote in Punjabi, Narsi Mehta, Namadeva composed songs in Gujarati and Chandi Das and Nusrat Shah enriched the Bengali literature. Marathi literature also flourished. Thus, the Sultanate of Delhi was a literary state and all literature developed during this period.

Rise of Urdu

A new language flourished during the reign of the Sultans of Delhi known as Urdu. It was a link language amongst the Turks and the Central Asian tribes and Hindus. Earlier, it was known as Hindivi but later it came to be known as Urdu. It had words of various provinces but its grammar was Indian. Gradually, the words of Persian and Arabic languages were also included in it. Amir Khusrau was the first writer who made use of it but the Turkish rules did not patronize it as they were lovers of Persian.

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Milan Tomic

Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.

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