Highlight the growth of literature during the Mughal period.

Ans. From 1526 to 1707 CE, the Mughal emperors were patrons of literature and contributed to its all-round development in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Babur himself was a learned man of letters and knew Arabic, Persian and Turkish and was a scholar critic. He composed several poems and works in Turki. His memoirs have great literary finesse. Humayun loved learning and took great pleasure in composing poetry and having literary discussions with scholars. He was very fond of studying astronomy and geography. He got the message of his death on the stairs of his own library. The author of ‘Taj Kiratul Wakiyaat’ was Humayun’s personal diarist and his servant. Humayun built a madrasa in Delhi and converted the Anand Bhawan built by Sher Shah into a library. 

Under Akbar's patronage, many scholars produced various literary texts. He encouraged knowledge and art through rewards and pensions. The 'Tavakat e Akbarie' has an extensive list of 95 individuals who were recipients of the emperor's patronage. 

The Persian literature of Akbar's time can be divided into three parts:

1. History 

2. Translation

3. Letters and Poetry

The famous historical books of this time are ‘Tarikhe Alfi’ by Mulla Dawood, ‘Ain-e-Akbari’ by Abul Fazl, ‘Muntakhabut Tawarikh’ by Nizamuddin Ahmad, ‘Akbar Namah’ by Fouzi Sarhindi and ‘Nasire Rahimi’ authored by Abdur Rahim Khankhana. Among these writers, Abul Fazl was the most capable and famous.

Translations of Sanskrit and other language texts into Hindi or Persian happened. Various sections of the Mahabharata were translated into Persian. In 1589, Abdul Qadir Badayuni completed the translation of the Ramayana. Haji Ibrahim Sarhindi translated the Arthaveda into Persian and Faizi translated the mathematical treatise ‘Lilavati’. Muhammad Shahbandi translated the Sanskrit “History of Kashmir”. Some Greek and Arabic texts were also translated. 

There were many poets or rhyme makers in Akbar's court. Abul Fazl wrote that the court has thousands of poets in attendance everyday. In the field of poetry, Faizi was prominent. Till 1572 he was the poet laureate of Akbar. Another famous scholar and writer was Abul Fazl’s brother Faizi. He remained the emperor’s favorite poet throughout. Other famous poets included Muhammad Husain Naziri and Sayyad Jamaluddin Harfi. The works of these poets are unique and of very high literary standard.

Jahangir was no less than his father in qualities, he was a connoisseur of high-quality literature. In his reign, he instituted this edict in the state - "Whenever a religious person dies without an heir, his property will be considered the property of the emperor and will be spent on building or improving madrasas and religious places." During his reign, he also improved those madrasas which had been deserted and left to birds and animals for the past 30 years. He filled them up with students and learned teachers. The scholars of his court included Gayasbeg, Nakiw Khan and Niyamat etc.  

Shah Jahan followed in the footsteps of his father in education works. He spent some part of the night in self-study and encouraged scholars by giving them rewards and pensions. He established a royal college in Delhi. The scholars of his reign included Abdur Hamid Lahori, Inayat Khan etc. who present many facets of the history of that time. The prince himself was a learned man of Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit. Translations of Upanishads, Bhagwad Gita and Ramayana were also done under his patronage. He himself authored books. Shah Jahan revived the ‘Darul Wakaa’ college.

Being an orthodox Muslim, Aurangzeb demolished Hindu schools and temples, but contributed in various ways to the education of Muslim children. Kohn says, “He established countless schools, summarized Muslim laws in brief as ‘Fatawa Alamgiri’. Although he was against writing the history of his reign, still we have the histories of his rule like ‘Muntakhabul Lubab’, ‘Alamgir Namah’ etc. Some of the best works on history in Marathi were also written during this time."

Women's education was also not unknown in this era. During Akbar's time, "the women of the royal family received regular training." This is what the historians say. Babur's daughter Gulbadan Begum was a learned woman and wrote ‘Humayunama’. Salima, Sultana, Mahak Anga, Nur Jahan, Mumtaz and Zebunnisa were all educated women and had great interest in literature and arts. Women had scholarly exchanges with the famous scholars and theologians of the court of this era. But generally, Muslim women were bereft of such liberal education. 

During this period, the stream of indigenous literature also flowed vigorously. Kabir conveyed the current of nirguna bhakti in Hindi literature and Jayasi wrote the beautiful narrative poem ‘Padmavat’ in 1540, which is also an allegory. Padmavat is an excellent love story. Although it lacks the element of poetic narration, still its imaginings are so intense and spiritual that even today it is considered a unique poem in Hindi.

The security, peace and glory that Akbar provided to the country had an inspiring effect on people's minds and manifested in various forms. In addition, his love for Hindi and patronage of poets and singers contributed significantly to the promotion of Hindi literature. Some of his courtiers like Raja Bhagwan Das, Raja Man Singh and Birbal were also accomplished writers, but the most famous Hindi poet was Abdur Rahim Khankhana. 

The poetry and literature of this era has more influences related to the Rama and Krishna traditions. The great poet Surdas of Agra described the enchanting childhood pastimes of Krishna in 'Sur Sagar'. Nanddas and other poets and rasikas of Braj conveyed such a sweet stream of Krishna poetry which can compete with any art form in world literature. Tulsidas, the composer of Rama poetry, is the most popular poet in North India. He was a saint, social reformer and poet and his influence is still evident everywhere from his lifetime till today. He was the most influential saint of North India. ‘Ramcharitmanas’ is his best work. Nabhadas also composed the famous devotional poetry ‘Bhaktamal’. 

In Bengal too, during this period, various branches of literature progressed. The various types of Vaishnav literature of Bengal, the autobiographies and songs of Chaitanya Dev taught the lessons of devotion and love. Govind Das, Krishnadas Kaviraj, Vrindavan Das, Jayanand and many others wrote chayals and charitras. In addition, translations of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita and Chandi were presented in this period.