Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures (seven volumes)

by Satya Vrat Shastri | 2006 | 411,051 words

The series called "Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures" represents a comprehensive seven-volume compendium of Dr. Satya Vrat Shastri's research on Sanskrit and Indology. They feature a wide range of studies across major disciplines in these fields, showcasing Shastri's pioneering work. They include detailed analyses like the linguistic apprai...

9. Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit

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In Medieval Period—The Hindu sciences were known to the Arabs before the advent of Islam. Indian drugs and spices were imported into Arabia in large quantities and the Quraish of Mecca handled this trade and came into frequent contact with India. Al-Haritha, an Arab physician and a contemporary of the Prophet, travelled to India where he probably studied Ayurveda. The Sanskrit language was probably properly introduced to the Muslim world when the Caliphate was transferred from Damascus to Baghdad in the second quarter of the Hijra (750 A.D.) and the Abbasids came to power. The well-known book on Astronomy, the Suryasiddhanta, was translated from Sanskrit into Arabic by the command of the Caliph al-Mansur. Ibrahim al-Fazari and Yaqub B. Tariq did the translation with the help of a Pandit whose name is not preserved. During the same period a large number of Sanskrit medical works were translated into Arabic. The most important among them was the Book of Shanaq (Canakya). The Arabs were greatly influenced by this book and by the ideas of Indians on toxicology. Jahiz Ibn Abi Usaybiyah and Ibn al-Nadim have given the names of a large number of Hindu scholars who were teaching Sanskrit to the Dr. K. Nath Memorial Lecture at the Constitution Club, New Delhi on May 5, 1977 under the auspices of the Institute of Indology, New Delhi. Chair: His Excellency Dr. B.D. Jatti, the Acting President of India. Chief Guest: Padmabhushan Suraj Bhan, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 251 Arabs and helping Muslim scholars in translating Sanskrit works The association of Muslims begun under Caliph al-Mansur reached its zenith under Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni whose armies carried away al-Biruni from Kharzim to Ghazni in 1018 A.D. A profound scholar of Greek, Roman and the ancient Iranian sciences, Abu Raihan B. Ahmad al-Biruni was the first Muslim scientist who came to India in the vanguard of Mahmud's armies and who stayed on in the country to study Indian sciences and Hindu wisdom. Al-Biruni not only learnt Sanskrit and read Hindu classics, such as the Puranas and the Bhagavadgita, but also studied Hindu astronomy, mathematics, chronology, mathematical geography, physics, chemistry and minerology. After this preparation he wrote his monumental history Tahqiq Ma Lil Hind. Al-Biruni translated not only Patanjali's Yogasutras, Isvarakrsna's Samkhyakarika and Varahamihira's Brhatsamhita and Laghujataka into Arabic, but also translated Euclid's Elements and Ptolemy's Almagest into Sanskrit. During Sultanate period Amir Khusrau continued the great tradition of al-Biruni. During the same period Abdul Aziz Shams Lahauri translated the Brhatsamhita. Another Muslim scholar whose name has been lost translated the Amrtakunda into Persian under the command of Alauddin Khilji. One of the oldest languages of the world, Sanskrit has grown and developed in India over the past thousands of years. Its literature consists of some of the finest specimens of human creation. It has been enriched by people of different cultural and ethnic groups, different religious and social backgrounds, different linguistic and speech habits. It is Indian in the true sense of the term, not possible to be associated with any particular community or group of people. Still in popular notion it has come to be associated with the Hindus just as Persian and Urdu have come to be associated with the Muslims. It is to remove this erroneous notion, arisen in all probability from lack of adequate information, that the present exercise is being undertaken. CC-0. ew Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

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It may in passing be pointed out here that there is a basic difference between the condition of Sanskrit and that of Persian/ Urdu. The latter have been after the introduction of Islam in India for almost a thousand years the languages of the Muslim rulers enjoying the privilege of being the languages of State. If the Hindus took to them, they did so in all probability for gaining an access to the ruling class with all its attendant advantages. Again, these two languages, Persian and Urdu, were spoken at least by an important section. There was no such outward advantage with Sanskrit. If in spite of this, non-Hindus, the Muslims in particular, patronized it, studied it and interpreted its vast literary wealth, they did so for the mere love of it. They were probably so deeply impressed with its charm, its sweetness, its rhythm and its richness that they thought to drink deep at its fountain-head, either directly or through translations. It has been the special characteristic of the country that two parallel planes have continued to exist in it side by side. While on the actual plane it has accepted distinctions of caste and creed, on the intellectual plane it has discarded them, resulting in its development, in spite of a multiplicity of castes and creeds in it, as a haven of peaceful co-existence. There has as a consequence been a good deal of give and take between castes and castes and communities and communities. The quest of knowledge for the realization of the Supreme has been common to all the inhabitants of this ancient land. Any pious person or a spiritual leader would find adherents in it from all communities-Hindus, Muslims and Christians. It was in this country that Andal, a woman of low caste could win the veneration of the Alwars in the South. It was in this country again that the work of Pariahs like Thirupam could secure recognition from such stalwarts as Ramanuja. The religious leaders who influenced large sections of society in their times like Caitanya of Bengal, Sankaradeva of Assam, Tukaram of Maharashtra, Nanak of Punjab, to mention only a few, did not believe in the distinctions of caste and community and had among their adherents both Hindus and Muslims. As a more telling instance of this could be mentioned Ramananda who had

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 253 Ravidasa a shoe-maker, Kabir a Mohammedan weaver and Sena, a barber, among his disciples. Communal harmony was therefore ingrained in the very thinking of the country which had evolved itself along higher paths over the centuries. That is why the two principal communities in it, though maintaining their separate identity and following their separate religious practices, have achieved a kind of fusion that defies all description. Hindus visit Muslim saints and their Dargahs and offer prayers. The Muslim saint Saiyad Ali-al Hujwiri is as much honoured by the Muslims as the Hindus. The same can be said of the disciples of Muinuddin Chishti and many others. It is again because of this that the Hussaini Brahmins of Rajasthan are found following Mohammedan practices, though adhering at the same time to Hindu rituals and customs. It is again due to this that the Imam Shahi sect of the Muslims is seen following the authority of the Atharvaveda and of Niskalanka. And it is due to this again that most of the Sufi saints like Nizamuddin Aulia, Fariduddin Shakarganj, Shah Inayat Shah Kalandar were initiated by Hindu spiritual leaders. With such give and take among the Hindus and Muslims it was but natural for them to feel attracted towards the languages and the literatures of each other. In the medieval period arts and letters flourished under the patronage of rulers. If royal or official patronage had not been available to Sanskrit it would not have flourished to the extent it did. Many of the rulers of the period, especially the Mughals, and some of the high officials working under them extended their patronage to it. Of the Sanskrit writers patronized by them could be mentioned Bhanukara, Akabariya Kalidasa, Pundarika Vitthala , Gangadhara, Krsna, Rudrakavi, Jagannatha Panditaraja, Vedangaraya, Amrtadatta, Harinarayana Misra, Vamsidhara , Laksmipati and so on. Bhanukara or Bhanudatta enjoyed the patronage of emperor Sher Shah whom he eulogizes in one of his verses. He also eulogizes Nizam Shah, identified with Burhan Shah of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA Shahi dynasty, who ruled from 1510-1515 A.D. He -0. Prof

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was the author of eight works two of which are commentaries on his own writings. One of the greatest of the poets of the 16 th Century A.D. Akabariya Kalidasa, as his very name shows, was indebted to Akbar for his patronage to him, which had probably prompted him to go in for this peculiar name which was his pseudonym, his original name being Govindabhatta. In his quite a few verses preserved in the anthologies he speaks of a number of kings of his time such as Ramacandra of Rewa, who sent Tansen to Akbar's court, a king of Gurjara, Gurjarendra, King Jallala, a Vaghela king and one Dalapati. Emperor Akbar was a great lover of literature and a number of Sanskrit poets, scholars and men of letters enjoyed his patronage. Bhanucandra and his disciple Siddhacandra wrote an exhaustive commentary on the Kadambari. Bhanucandra, as he himself says in the prefatory verses, was Akbar's favourite: akabbaraksmapatidattamanah. Ramacandra wrote Ramavinoda an astronomical work in Sanskrit for Ramadasa Bhupala, a minister of Akbar, which gives his (Akbar's) full genealogy. His brother Nilakantha wrote Todarananda, a work on Civil Law, Astronomy and Medicine for Todarmal, one of Akbar's ministers. Behari Krishna Das wrote a work Parasiprakasa which, as the author himself states, was composed for the pleasure of Akbar: akabaranrparucyartham, so were composed the work Nitisara and Nartananirnaya on music, dancing and so on by Gangadhara and Pundarika Vitthala respectively. As was Akbar so were his son Jehangir and grandson Shah Jehan. In the former's reign a scholar Srikrsna in whom he placed great confidence wrote Bijanavankura, a commentary on Bhaskaracarya's Algebra and a poet Rudrakavi wrote three works, the Kirtisamullasa, and the Danashahcarita on emperor Jehangir, on the emperor's son prince Khurram and Akbar's son prince Danyal. In the latter's reign there flourished a number of Sanskrit poets and scholars, the most prominent of them being Panditaraja Jagannatharawhori wrote, raw numbertized by rationike the

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 255 Rasagangadhara, the Bhaminivilasa, the Gangalahari and so on and who spent quite a few of his earlier years under his benevolent patronage: dillivallabhapanipallavatale nitam navinam vayah, having been invited to his court when his fame had spread with the defeat by him of a Jaipurian Kazi at the disquisition concerning Islam. In a verse ascribed to him he praises the munificence of the lord of Delhi or the emperor. According to him it is either the lord of Delhi or the Lord of the universe who can fulfil people's desires: dillisvaro va jagadisvaro va manorathan purayitum samarthah. Of the gifts by other kings, he says: (They are too tiny), they can procure for us a vegetable or a pinch of salt in a meal: anyair nrpalaih paridiyamanam sakaya va syal lavanaya va syat. According to a tradition he married a Muslim girl, Lavangi. He enjoyed Shah Jehan's patronage in full. It was he who conferred on him the title of Panditaraja for his Asafavilasa, a work written by him in praise of Nawab Asaf Khan, brother of Nur Jehan and the minister of Shah Jehan: sarvabhauma- srisahajahan-prasadadhigatapanditarajapadavivirajitena... He is said to have left Delhi after the death of Dara Shikoh whom he greatly admired for his learning. Among other writers of Shah Jehan's reign mention may be made of Munisvara who wrote the Siddhantasarvabhauma also called Siddhantatattvartha, a versified compendium of theoretical astronomy, Nisrstarthaduti, a commentary on the well-known mathematical work the Lilavati and Marici, a commentary on the Ganitadhyaya and the Goladhyaya of Bhaskara's Siddhantasiromani besides a small work, the Patisara; Bhagavativamin who wrote Kavyavrttiprabhodha a treatise on metres used in Kavyas; Nityananda who wrote two works on astronomy the Sarvasiddhantaraja and Siddhantasindhu, the latter at the instance of Asaf Khan, the minister of Shah Jehan: so 'yam vasafakhan vibhati sakalan varnasraman palayan tasya preranaya ; CC-Vedangarayas who wrote a number of astr by 93 Foundation USA astronomical and religious

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treatises, the more prominent of them being the Parasiprakasa, dealing with the methods of conversion of the Hindu dates into Mohammedan and vice versa and Arabic and Persian names of the week, the months, the plants, the constellations and so on, which he wrote to please the emperor and gain his favour: srimacchahajahanmahendraparamapritiprasadaptaye Harinarayana Misra no work of whom has come down to us except the two verses in the anthologies in one of which he praises his patron, the emperor Shah Jehan. It is interesting to note that it was not only the emperor who patronised Sanskrit scholars, his queen Mumtaz Mahal too did the same. Vamsidhara Misra, a Sanskrit poet of note, enjoyed her patronage. The anthology, the Padyamrtatarangini records a verse by him. There appears to have been a rivalry between the two great contemporaries Panditaraja Jagannatha who enjoyed the favour of the emperor and Vamsidhara Misra who enjoyed the favour of the queen. The said anthology has a verse by the Panditaraja too. Both the poets through a verse each are interpreted to have a dig at each other. The Panditaraja says that he does not find an elephant anywhere near him, not to speak of a lion, on whom he could show his prowess: digante sruyante madamalinagandah karatinah karinyah karunyaspadam asamasilah khalu mrgahi idanim loke 'sminn anupamasikhanam punar ayam nakhanam pandityam prakatayatu kasmin mrgapatih "The elephants with their temples soiled with ichor, it is heard , are at the end of the quarters, the she-elephants are an object of pity, the deer are no match in bearing. On what now in the world is the lion to show the skill of its claws with matchless rays of light?" Vamsidhara Misra says that the favourite of Mahadeva (oblique reference to Shah Jehan) is a bull. The favourite of Durga (oblique reference to Mumtaz Mahal) is a lion. Since it enjoys Her favour (meaning that since he enjoys Mumtaz's favour) it does not find any body to test its prowess; not CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Dinot, even the Siva's

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 257 bull, (meaning Panditaraja Jagannatha who enjoys Shah Jehan's favour, Siva being taken as symbolic of him) for that is a bull after all: dinnagah pratipedire prathamato jatyaiva jetavyatam sambhavyasphutavikramo 'tha vrsabho gaur eva gauripatehi vikranter nikasam karotu katamam nama trilokitale kanthekalakutumbinikarunaya siktah sa kanthiravahi "The quarter elephants being in the species that they are accepted that they were conquerable, the bull of Siva which could be supposed to have visible valour is (after all) a bull, To what should a lion drenched with the mercy of the consort of Siva (= Parvati) is to turn to serve as touchstone to its valour?" Not only the Mughals, other Muslim rulers or noblemen or officers too extended partronage to Sanskrit scholars and writers of their time. King Shahabuddin, in all probability a ruler of Kashmir, had in Amrtadatta a court poet in Sanskrit who recorded the fact of the despatch of a message by him (Shahabuddin) to one Mir asking him to desist from invading Kashmir. King Burhan Shah of the Faruqui dynasty which ruled between 1320-1600 A.D. at Anandavalli at Khandesh had in Pundarika Vitthala, a writer of repute, who concentrated on writing on music in Sanskrit at his court. Vitthala later shifted to the court of Madhava Singh of the Kacchapa dynasty at whose instance he composed the well-known work on music the Ragamanjari. He was also a favourite of Akbar, the Great. Shayesta Khan, Aurangzeb's maternal uncle and general had in Caturbhuja, a poet and a rhetorician like Panditaraja Jagannatha. He composed the poem Rasakalpadruma in glorification of his patron. Laksmipati, a poet of the 17 th cen. A.D., flourished during the reign of Aurangzeb's son Muhammed Shah the life-story of whose minister Abdullah he poetizes in his work, the Abdullacarita. There is an old work called Udbhatasagara (of unknown date) which has a verse that looks like having been composed by by 53 Foundation USA

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an anonymous Hindu poet as should be evident from the expression of disgust by invoking Lord Siva where the lack of devoutness among both Hindus and Muslims is decried: na sandhyam sandhatte na niyamitanamajan prakurute na va maunjibandham kalayati na va sunnatavidhim i na rojam janite vratam api harer naiva kurute na kasi makka va siva siva na hindur na yavanah 11 "Does not perform morning, noon and evening prayers, nor Namaz, does not wear girdle nor has undergone Sunnat; has no idea of Roza; does not go in for the austerities going with Hari; there is no Kasi for him nor Mecca; he is neither a Hindu nor a Muslim". The Muslim rulers and the noblemen not only extended patronage to Sanskrit by admitting Sanskrit poets and writers of eminence to their courts, providing them with all incentive and encouragement by honouring them and giving them help, financial or otherwise, to enable them to carry on their literary activities unhampered, they also extended patronage to Sanskrit by arranging for the translations of the classics into it. They were actuated herein by the desire to make this vast wealth of knowledge available to their co-religionists who had to have a thorough acquaintance with Sanskrit before they could execute their assignments. It is through their efforts that the translations into Persian of such works as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata-purana and so on were undertaken and brought successfully to completion. It is interesting to note that at the intance of Akbar the translation into Persian of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata was undertaken. The Ramayana was translated again during Jahangir's reign by Mulla Sadullah Masih. Sadullah spent twelve years in Varanasi studying Sanskrit. It was Akbar's great grandson, the learned prince Dara Shikoh, who carried out the translation into Persian of the Upanisads under the title-Sirr-ul-Akbar. He also translated the Yogavasistha into Persian. Among his original compositions may be mentioned the Samudrasangama on the technical terms of Hindu pantheism and Sufi phraseology, CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delogy, and Mukalamah-i-Baba

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 259 Lal Das, a dialogue between himself and Baba Lal Das in the course of which he dealt with the ideals of Hinduism. An interesting fact that bears reproduction here is that a condensed version of the Mahabharata under the title Razmnamah, Book of War, was prepared under orders of Akbar. It was richly decorated with pictures. For its manuscript alone Akbar spent an amount equal to some 40,000 dollars. Abul Fazl contributed the preface to it and its copies were distributed under royal orders to nobles. Among other notable translations of Sanskrit works into Persian, under orders of Muslim kings, mention may be made of the Atharvaveda first by a converted Mohammedan of the South Abdul Quadir who could not complete it and later by Haji Ibrahim Sarhindi; the mathematical work, the Lilavati, by Faizi; the astronomical work, the Karnabharana, under the title Gurrat-iviz-Zijat by al-Biruni; the astronomical work Tajaka by Muquammal Khan Gujarati; the historical work, the Rajatarangini by Maulana Imamuddin; the Harivamsa by Nasarulla Mustafa; the Pancatantra under the title Kalilah Damnah by Maulana Hussain Waiz. An easier adaptation of the last was also attempted under the title Ayar Danish. The Naladamayanti story was rendered into Persian under the title Naldaman. The Dvatrimsatputtalikasimhasana was translated into Persian by Abdul Quadir with the help of a learned Pandit under the title Khirad Afza-Namah. The Gangadhara and the Mahesamahananda were translated under the general supervision of Abul Fazl. Aurangzeb according to popular perception was opposed to music but it was during his reign that excellent Persian translations of two scholarly works on music were prepared. Faqirullah translated the Ragadarpana while Mirza Rawshan Zamir translated the Sangitaparijata. Mirza Fakhruddin compiled a book on Hindu literature and sciences titled Tuhfatul Hind (The Gift of India). During the twilight of the Mughals the Muslims produced two great scholars of Sanskrit, Sirajuddin Ali Khan and Ghulam Ali Azad Bilgirami. The latter wrote a book extolling the beauties of Sanskrit literature comparing them. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA with Arabic rhetoric.

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When Nadir Shah left India after looting and plunder he took with him not only jewels, gold and silver but also a hundred and thirty writers. The first Bengali translation of the Mahabharata was carried out under the orders of the Bengal ruler Nasir Shah (1282-1325 A.D.) to whom the well-known poet Vidyapati dedicates one of his Padas. Similarly, emperor Hussain Shah was responsible for providing inspiraton for the translation into Bengali of the Bhagavata-purana. His general Paragal Khan was equally devoted to Sanskrit learning. It was under his orders that Kavindra Paramesvara translated the Mahabharata upto the Striparvan which was listened to every evening by himself and by the congregation of his courtiers in his palace. His son Chuti Khan encouraged Srikaranandin to undertake a translation of the Asvamedhikaparvan of the Mahabharata which he successfully brought to completion. The Muslims were not only great patrons of Sanskrit learning, they, at least some of them, were good writers as well in the language. A few verses of Shayesta Khan, the maternal uncle of Aurangzeb, are found in a manuscript of Caturbhuja's Rasakalpadruma which is preserved in Alwar Maharaja's Manuscript Library. A more important Muslim composer in Sanskrit, however, is Nawab Abdul Rahim Khan-i-Khana, the noted literateur and the occupant of the highest post of Vakil under Akbar. He wrote nine works apart from preparing the Persian translation of the Tuzk-i-Babari, the autobiography of Babar in Turkish: (i) The Dohavali (ii) The Nagara-sobha, a collection of 172 Dohas (iii) The Barve Nayikabheda (iv) The Barve (v) The Madanastaka (vi) The Phutakar pada (vii) The Srngarasoratha (viii) The Rahima-kavya and CC-(x). The Khetakautuka, an astrological workFoundation USA

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 261 Of these v, viii. and ix are in a mixed style, a commingling of Sanskrit and Persian/Arabic or Braj/Awadhi. When the Mohammedans came to India from Arab lands and Iran they brought with them their languages, Arabic and Persian. For centuries these served as official languages. Later, due to local environments a local language with a preponderance of Arabic and Persian words under the name of Urdu came to replace them. Even while Arabic and Persian were the official languages of the Muslims, the local nobility continued to use Braj and Awadhi. Literary composition was predominantly carried out in them. Their beauty and grace attracted the Muslims too. They also took to them for their works. Sanskrit, though nowhere in the picture at the official or the popular level was by virtue of the vast fund of literature always on the side-lines. It could furnish to the literateurs of the period thoughts and images which they could incorporate in their works in their own media. A study of it was, therefore, considered useful for a high-quality literary production. It was this usefulness which prompted many a Muslim and Hindu writer of the medieval ages to take to its study. Creative writers, at least some of them, were attracted by its charm, its rhythm, its cadence, its richness. They started trying their hand at it. Alongwith it they continued with their own language , Urdu / Persian or Braj/Awadhi. Their writings, therefore, came to appear in all the three languages Persian/Urdu, Braj/Awadhi and Sanskrit. Sometimes they would write exclusively in Persian/Urdu or Braj/ Awadhi or Sanskrit. The readers of the contemporary period could understand all of them. It created no difficulty if any one of them or all of them or any two of them were adopted in a composition. It would also prove the proficiency and the skill of the authors in different languages. This resulted in the emergence in the medieval ages of a literary style called the Manipravala where one line in a couplet would be in Sanskrit and the other in Persian/ Urdu or one line in Braj/Awadhi and the other in Persian/Urdu. The metre in each case would invariably be that of Sanskrit. Further, Persian or Arabic words would figure in a couplet with Sanskrit suffixes. The earliest example of this is found in the Verses of poet Laksmipati, as for example :

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(1) sa naro gostanim tyaktva karoti gostabhaksanam (2) yatas tato maya 'nuktva jaharam tyajyate vapuh (3) vajiresu ca yositsu dusmani yair vidhiyate (4) phramosi na vidhatavya baradastam vidhiyatam The above style has been followed as stated earlier in three of his works by Khan-i-Khana too. In a pure Sanskrit verse in the beginning of his Khetakautuka he says that he is following in the footsteps of earlier writers who composed their works with an admixture of Persian vocabulary: pharasiyapadamisritagranthah khalu panditaih krtah purvaihi samprapya tatpadapatham karavani khetakautukam padyaihi A verse from each of the three works of Khan-i-Khana where he employs the mixed style would suffice to give one an idea of it. From the Khetakautuka: avvalakhane yada rasah khismanakas ca kahilahi manujah svarthakarta syad bhaved bero tu jahilahu "If Rahu were to be in the Janmalagna, a person would remain unhappy, would be indolent, ugly, selfish, needlessly hostile and foolish." From the Rahima-kavya: ekasmin divasavasanasamaye main tha khada baga men kacit tatra kurangabalanayana gul todati thi khadi tam drstva navayauvanam sasimukhim main moha men ja pada no jivami vina tvaya srnu priye tu yara kaise milell "One evening I went to a garden when a damsel with eyes like those of the young one of a deer was picking up flowers. When I spotted that young lady with a moonlike face I lost my consciousness. O my darling, listen, I can't live without you. How can I, O loved one, have you?" From the Madanastaka: vigataghananisithe canda ki rosanai saghanaghananikunje kanha vamsi bajail sutapatigatanidrah svamiyan choda bhagin madana sirasi bhuyah kya bala ana lagill

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 263 "The moon was shining in the cloudless midnight. Krsna played on the flute in a thick bower. The Gopis woke up and ran leaving their husbands and sons. O Cupid, what a great problem set on the head?" Khan-i-Khana has not invariably followed the mixed style, he has written in pure Sanskrit also often times. A few of his Sanskrit verses are marked with intense spirituality and can easily steal the palm over similar compositions of the Vaisnava saint-poets, e.g., ahalya pasanah prakrtipasur asit kapicamur guho 'bhuc candalas tritayam api nitam nijapadami aham cittenasma pasur api tavarccadikarane kriyabhis candalo raghuvara na mam uddharasi kimi "Ahalya was a stone. The army of monkeys was animal by nature. Guha was Candala. All of those three were taken by you to your abode. I am a stone in mind, an animal in offering you worship etc., and Candala in actions. O Rama why don't you then come to my rescue?" In the same strain is another verse of his that has gained wide currency in Sanskrit circles because of bringing out the absolute devotee in him to the point of total absorption of his thoughts in his Lord. In this he offers his own mind to the Lord, He being without it in Radha having taken it away: ratnakaro 'sti sadanam grhini ca padma kim deyam asti bhavate jagadisvarayal Radhagrhitamanase 'manase ca tubhyam dattam maya nijamanas tad idam grhanall "The ocean, the repository of jewels, is thy abode. Padma (Laksmi, the Goddess of Fortune) is thy wife. What is that which can be offered to thee, the Lord of the Universe? To thee who has lost His mind in Radha having carried it away I offer my own mind. Pray thou accept it". Tradition has it that once Jagannatha Trisuli, a poet friend of Khan-i-Khana recited to him a couplet composed by him: prapya calan adhikaran satrusu mitresu bandhuvargesul CC-0. Pinapakrtamsnopalatam nopakstam kim la Foundation USA krtam tenall

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"If by getting into office, which is impermanent, one did not harm the enemies, or favour the friends, or honour the relations, what has one done?" Khan-i-Khana quietly listened to it, changed only the Matra in the first syllable in the second hemistich and recited it back: nopakrtam nopakrtam nopakrtam kim krtam tenall What greatness! Even in the case of the enemies it should not be apakrtam, harm. It should be upakrtam, favour. Khan-i-Khana also introduced the style of himself rendering (i) some of his own verses (ii) or those of earlier authors in Braj. An instance of i is: Sanskrit original: acyutacaranatarangini sasisekharamaulimalatimalei mama tanuvitaranasamaye harata deya na me harital Braj rendering: acyutacaranatarangini sivasira malatimalai hari na banayo surasari kijo indava bhalall An instance of ii is: Sanskrit original: yacana hi purusasya mahattvam nasayaty akhilam eva tatha hi sadya eva bhagavan api visnur vamano bhavati yacitum icchanil "Supplication takes away from a person his entire dignity. Intending to beg even the Lord turns dwarf in an instant". Braj rendering: rahimana yacakata gahe bade chota hvai jata narayana hu ko bhayo bavana angura gatall "O Rahim, taking to begging even a big man turns small. Even Narayana (Visnu) came to have a body measuring fifty-two fingers".

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 265 Among other Muslims who could originally compose in Sanskrit mention may be made of Aurangzeb's half-brother the learned Dara Shikoh. The late P.K. Gode of Poona had discovered a Ms. dated 1708 A.D. of the Mughal Prince's Sanskrit composition, the Samudrasangama wherein are pointed out the common features of Hinduism and Islam. Since with the same theme the prince had written the work Majmul Bahrain (=the confluence of the two oceans) in Persian, it is difficult to say as to whether the Sanskrit work is merely a translation by the prince or by some Pandit of his Persian work. More important than the above work, however, is a letter written in Sanskrit by the prince which was published in 1940 in the Brahmavidya, the Adyar Library Bulletin. This shows the unusual command of the prince over Sanskrit which he handles almost in the style of Bana: svasti srimadvaidyanathapadyarajahprapadyamanagamyapunyasamasadyasattamadyaprasadyasammadyanigadyakavikadambavrndarakadhipabhivadyanirantarasvadyasudhasamvadyasamvitsamvedyanavadyahrdyagadyapadyavidhanavaisadyasalisarvavidyapradyotanoddyotasadyahkhadyotikrtanindyavandyavadindravrndesu 114 11 After Dara Shikoh, the great name among Muslim creative writers of Sanskrit is that of saint Akbar Shah who adorned the court of Nawab Tana Shah of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golcunda. Akbar Shah is also known as Kalimullah Hussain or simply as Bade Sahib. He is famous because of his very valuable work in Sanskrit the Syngaramanjari. In this the devout Muslim starts with paying respects to Hindu divinities and his preceptor, the Guru: gurum ganapatim durgam vatukam sivam acyutami brahmanam girijam laksmim vanim vande vibhutayell "I offer salutations to Guru, (preceptor), Ganapati (Ganesa), Durga, Vatuka, Siva, Acyuta, Brahma and Sarasvati". Akbar Shah or Bade Sahib was born, as he informs us in the Introduction to his work, in the family of Saint Gesu Daraz who lived between 1321-1422 A.D. and who came to the Deccan during the time of Feroz Ahmed 1 st of Bahamani . CC-0. of. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

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The Srigaramanjari like the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana, is a work on Erotics. The author deals with the subject in a scientific and authoritative manner. He says that one of the special features of his work is the description of the varieties of women called Padmini, etc. which the earlier works quoted by him had not dealt with. He deals with the varieties of the Nayikas on the basis of the different kinds of moods and reactions in love and also classifies them by Gunas. As regards the Nayakas he mentions four types, Bhadra, Datta, Kumara and Pancala. The corresponding Nayika types are Hastini Citrini, Sankhini and Padmini. The Srngaramanjari elucidates some unknown facts in Nayaka-Nayika relationship, gives more precise illustrations than those in the earlier treatises and wherever necessary abridges the treatment of the subject. The author's high conception of love with which he makes his definition of the Sviya, Parakiya and the Samanya accord, is praiseworthy. Love, according to him, is only one indivisible object whether it is Sviya or Parakiya. It is to him an act of God: daivayoga eva karanam. Well-known scholars like Stein 2 have said that for a time Sanskrit was adopted as an official language by some of the Mohammedan rulers of Kashmir. Sanskrit inscriptions have been found on a number of Mohammedan tombs there. One of them on a tomb in the cemetery of Baha'uddin Sahib at Srinagar bears a date corresponding to A.D. 1484. A stone inscription of Dhurail in the District of Dinajpur, West Bengal, of 1455, Saka Era records the construction of a bridge by one Faras Khan, Minister of Ministers in the reign of Muhammed Shah.3 While talking of the inscriptions mention needs to be made of the one on the silver coins of Sultan Mahmud, Hijri 418 (1018 A.D.). The coins have two sides. On one side in a circle they have the writing in Devanagari and on the other side in a circle in Arabic. The Devanagari has the words (a) avyaktam eka [m] (b) muhammadah

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 267 (c) [a] vatara [h] nrpa (d) ti [h] mahamudah Arabic side has the words (a) al-Qadir Billah (b) la ilahi al-Allah Muhammad Rasul allah (c) Amin al-dawala wa Amin almulk Mahmud As can be seen from the above the Devanagari version appearing on one side of the same coins is the Sanskrit rendering of that in Arabic. In this Allah is rendered by Avyakta and Rasul by Avatara. La ilahi means one. La ilahi al-Allah means God is one. The same has been put in Sanskrit as avyaktam ekam. Muhammad Rasul Allah means Muhammad is the messenger of God. This has been conveyed by the words Muhammadah avatarah. The Gold Coins of Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam (1193- 1205 A.D.) also have Sanskrit writing on them: 1. [Sri]ma[da]- 2.2. [Mi]ra...maha[ma] [da]...sa[ma] [Srimaddhammiramuhammada] sama[putrah] Hammira, it may be pointed out in passing, is the Indian form of the Arabic word Amir, commander, leader. The term in course of time came to be applied to kings, rulers and noblemen. The National Museum, Kolkata has an inscription of the time of Aurangzeb (1657-1707), Saka Year 1588, Bengali Year 1074 (1667 A.D.). Its language is Sanskrit and script is Bengali. It says that when Aurangzeb Badsha was the emperor, when Nawab Shaista Khan was the Governor of Gaudamandala appointed by the emperor, when Ispinder Khan was the Jagirdar appointed by the Governor and Nandalala was the Sikdar appointed by the Jagirdar, a Candala named Gopala sold himself along with his wife, son and daughter to one Ramajivana Maulika at Rs. Nine only to free himself from debt: Astasityadhikapancadasasakasatabde sullutanapratapantargatadhama[rai] gramantargatakayasthapadanivasi srigopinathamajumadarasadasyanet CC-U.Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

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striputrakanyasametam atmanam rnany apahatya svecchaya likhitavittadatri sthapani vikritavan iti Of the inscriptions a rather interesting one is the one found from Somnath where one side has Sanskrit and the other Arabic. Though the contents in both the versions are the same, the presentation in Sanskrit is more detailed. It gives an account of one Nuruddin Feroze who is said to be a sea-merchant called nakhuda in Arabic and nauvittaka in Sanskrit. The inscription was put up in 1264 A.D. Daraf Khan who is identified with Jaraf Khan and who conquered Saptagrama in Bengal is said to have written a hymn to the Ganga called Gangastrotra which in its diction is simply remarkable. An example from it would bear it out: suradhuni munikanye taraye punyavantam sa tarati nijapunyais tatra te kim mahattvam/ yadi ca gativihinam taraye papinam mam tad api tava mahattvam tan mahattvam mahattvam// "O the celestial river, the daughter of a sage, if thee delivereth a holy person, then what special is in that about thee? If thee were to deliver me, the sinner who has no other recourse, that is thy greatness; that greatness is greatness. One of the most conspicuous monuments of the cultural intermingling of the Hindus and the Muslims is the appearance in the periodically increasing Upanisadic lore of the Allopanisad which reveals the means of the realization of Allah, God, as the Muslims would see it. In Modern Period The pursuit of Sanskrit by Muslims is not limited to the medieval or the early modern period only, it is being carried on even now. The number of Muslim Sanskrit scholars pursuing Sanskrit may not be very large but it is not too small either to be ignored. The very fact that there are some Muslims who have come forward to learn Sanskrit language and literature and acquire an amount of proficiency in it speaks well for the interaction and

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 269 cultural integration in India which all of us so ardently desire. Some of these Muslims have a deep and abiding love for Sanskrit so much so that one of them, Shri Ghulam Dastgir of Bombay, sent out an invitation for the marriage of his younger brother in Sanskrit which reads as follows: avyaktamekam mahammada akarah iti gajani mahamudasya nanake gamanagamane capi bhaso bhavati yadyapi sammano vardhate mama avasyamupasthatavyam | ( racayita gulama dastagira ) mama caturthaputra mahammada isahaka ityasya subhavivahah srigulabasahiba sekhamahodayasya (bhutapurva indapuranagaradhyaksasya ) kanistha - sukanyaya rasida ityanaya saha suniscitah krtah| ayam vivahasamarohah asya disembaramasasya ekavimsatitame dinanke ravivasare (21.12.1975) pratah sardhadasavadanasamaye (10.30) pomalavadi relayanasthanaka - samipe vinirmite mandape samarajitah bhavisyati iti samudam nivedaye| asmin subhavasare bhavadbhih saparivaramagatya subhasisah samarthayitavya iti manasa sagraham prarthaye | bhavadiya vinita masuma bi abbasa ali virajadara Shri Dastgir is one of the Sanskrit scholars honoured in 1976 by the Govt. of Maharashtra and is its Coordinator for Sanskrit at present. In the early part of the present century a Muslim scholar of Aligarh Shri Habibur Rehman Shastri had devoted years to the study of Sanskrit and come to be known as Pandit Habibur Rehman Shastri. He published a commentary called the Tattvaprakasa on the Isopanisad besides a critique on Rasa called the Rasadarsana. He was a frequent contributor to the Tattvacintamani, a magazine published from Vrindavan. Prof. Fatehullah Mojtabai, Former Cultural Counsellor of the Embassy of Iran in India is a noted Sanskrit scholar and a wellknown exponent of Hindu philosophy. He has translated into Persian the Gita, the Laghuyogavasistha and the Mahopanisad with Notes and Text- study. During his stay in India he had Satyarat Shasti Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

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delivered in New Delhi three Zakir Hussain Memorial Lectures on 'Hindu-Muslim relationship'. Being one of the premier centres of learning for Muslims of India, the Aligarh Muslim University has led, among other subjects, to the spread of Sanskrit education among Muslims a number of whom have pursued it upto Post-Graduation and research. The honour of being the first alumnus of that University who did Post-Graduation from there and was the first one to teach Sanskrit there goes to Habibur Rehman Shastri referred to above. His main interest was the comparative study of the Hindu-Muslim philosophy. To follow him was Dr. Nazir Mohammad, who having done Ph.D. in Hindi after Post-Graduation in Sanskit from that University, got appointment there in the Department of Hindi where he rose to the position of Professor and Head. Dr. Ayub Khan, another product of that University, is now Professor and Head, Department of Sanskrit, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, the first Muslim in all probability to occupy the post. The most illustrious product of that University so far has been Dr. Mohammad Israil Khan, Ex-Professor of Sanskrit, University of Delhi, who after obtaining the Ph.D. degree from that University had worked for some time in its Sanskrit Department before moving on to other places and who is the only one among the Muslim scholars of Sanskrit of India who got the State recognition in the form of the President of India Certificate of Honour in 2001 apart from winning many awards and honours from a number of institutions like the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, the Vikramshila Vidyapeeth and the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan. He has published ten books and 105 research articles. Two of his books Sarasvati in Sanskrit Literature and Brahma in the Puranas have gone into second edition. A dedicated scholar, he continues with his studies and researches. His forthcoming titles are the Naisadha with explanation and notes, Sources of Sanskrit Drama, Some Common Features of the Rgvedic Society and Culture, Glimpses of the Vedic Lore, A Peep in the Atharvavedic Herbs and the Etymologies in the Nirukta besides three or four works CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by $3 Foundation USA

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 271 of general interest. He has carried out a good survey of the present-day Muslim Sanskritists in his monograph in Hindi Musalmanon ka Sanskrit ko Yogadana. Shortly he will be coming out with a collection of Sanskrit poems of his composition under the title Samskrtalatikayah Katipayani Prasunani. Apart from his work, critical and creative, he has furthered Sanskrit studies by guiding a large number of young scholars for the M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees and attended many conferences and seminars, national and international. Another notable Muslim scholar who received her education at the Aligarh Muslim University is Dr. Salma Mahfooz. She came to occupy the position of Professor and Head, Department of Sanskrit there from where she retired recently. She has the rare distinction of being the first Muslim woman to have done Ph.D. in Sanskrit. The topic of her research was "Sanskrit Natakon men Nayikabheda", The Classification of Nayikas (Heroines) in Sanskrit Dramas. She had got enrolled at the Department of Sanskrit, Aligarh Muslim University in 1967 and had completed her work in the record period of two years, qualifying herself for the Ph.D. degree in 1969. In 1977 she brought out her work in book form. Under the research scheme of the University Grants Commission she worked on the Samudrasangama of Dara Shikoh. Her three-year stay in Iraq from 1979-81 brought her in contact with Arabic as also the commonality between Hinduism and Islam propelling her to work on Sirr-e-Akbar, the translation of the Upanisads by Dara Shikoh. She translated the Persian gloss of the Prince (Dara Shikoh) on the first chapter of the Brhadaranyakopanisad into Sanskrit and published it with the original text of the said Upanisad. She also translated into Hindi the entire Sirr-e-Akbar with the original Upanisadic text. She is a frequent contributor to oriental research journals which have carried scores of her research studies. Among others who studied at the same University, mention could be made of Dr. Mohammad Ali who did his Ph.D. on the "Etymologies in the Aitareya Brahmana" and is working at present in the Kishori Raman College, Mathura; a couple , Dr. CC-U. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Confection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

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Rukhsana Parween who worked for her Doctorate on "References to Akbar the Great in Sanskrit Literature from 16 th-18 th Centuries" and teaches Sanskrit at the Govt. College, Bijnor and her husband Mr. Raunaq Ali who teaches Sanskrit at the Govt. College, Nuh (Haryana); Dr. Nizamuddin who did Ph.D. on "Pracina Bharatiya Sahitya men Varnita Bharatiya Khel"; Dr. Shakir Ali, who produced a thesis on "Bhoja ke Nama se Pracalita Yuktikalpataru ka ek Alocanatmaka Adhyayana"; Dr. Rizwana Begum Shamsi who did Ph.D. on "Pali Tripitaka men Srstiprakriya"; Dr. Shaheen Ahmad whose thesis was on "Akbarshah-krta Srngaramanjari ka Alocanatmaka Adhyayana"; Dr. Khalid-bin Yusuf who did Ph.D. on "Rgvediya Acarasastra"; Dr. Rizwana Parveen whose thesis was on "Paramananda ka Sivabharata: Samiksatmaka Adhyayana"; Dr. Shamim Ahmad who worked on "A Critical Study of the Cidgaganacandrika attributed to Kalidasa"; Dr. Nazni Parveen who did Ph.D. on "Hariscandra ka Jivandhara campu Ek Alocanatmaka Adhyayana"; Dr. Nagma Sultan whose research topic was "Kavisamaya evam Brhattrayi men uska Anupalana"; Dr. Ayesha Anwar who worked on "Bhojarajapranita Srngaramanjarikatha : Ek Samiksatmaka Adhyayana"; Dr. Wahid Nasroo who did Ph.D. on "Rajasekharasurikrta Prabandhakosa : Ek Samiksatmaka Adhyayana" and Dr. Marufur Rehman whose Ph.D. topic was "Brahmavaivartapurana ka Darsanika Adhyayana". Apart from the above who did Ph.D., more than ten Muslims have done M.Phil. from that University. Two of the old alumni of that University have association with the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi. One of them, Dr. M.K. Durrani Shastri retired from there some years back while the other Dr. Mohammad Hanif Shastri is still in service. Dr. M.K. Durrani Shastri, worked for his Ph.D. dissertation on "A Comparative Study of the Duties of Man as prescribed in the Gita and the Koran" and wrote a commentary in Urdu on the Uttararamacarita apart from publishing a few verses in the Malini metre on Visvabandhutva, universal brotherhood, in the Sanskrit Ratnakara in addition to publishing articles in Sanskrit journals

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 273 like the Gandiva, the Surabharati and so on. Dr. Mohammad Hanif Khan Shastri wrote his thesis for the Vidyavaridhi (Ph.D.) degree of the Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University on the topic "Artha, Prayoga aur Mahatmya ki Drsti se Mahamantra Gayatri aur Surah Fatiha ka Tulanatmaka Adhyayana" which he later published under the title Veda aur Quran se Mahamantra Gayatri aur Surah Fatiha. His other publications include the Mohanagita, the translation of the Srimadbhagavadgita in easy Hindi verse (the title Mohana he picked up to indicate the first letter of the two parts of his name (Mo for Mohammad, Ha for Hanif and the last letter, of the last part of it, Khan, na), Gita aur Quran men Samanjasya, Vedon men Manava Adhikara, Vaidika Sahitya men Manava Kartavya, Mahamantra Gayatri ka Bauddhika Upayoga, Mantrasastra aur Upayoga and Yantramahima. Besides the above books he has publishd well over fifty articles in different magazines and journals. At present he is working on Sanatana Dharma aur Islam : Samana Drsti (Commonalities between Sanatana Dharma and Islam). In the context of the Aligarh Muslim University reference had been made to the work on Dara Shikoh by Dr. Salma Mahfooz. Another scholar to work on Dara Shikoh is Dr. Ghulam Mustafa who produced a thesis through the medium of Sanskrit on the learned Mughal Prince under the title "Dara Shikohasya Vyaktitvam Krtitvam ca" for the Vidyavaridhi (Ph.D.) degree from the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi. A good speaker of Sanskrit, he likes to write letters in Sanskrit a good number of which he has addressed to his supervisor Prof. Bhagirath Prasad Tripathi "Vagish Shastri", former Director of Research, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University which the latter proposes to bring out in course of time in the form of a monograph. From another University of Varanasi, the Banaras Hindu University, a gentleman the late Shaukat Sultan did M.A. in Sanskrit and taught Sanskrit at the Shibly National School at Azamgarh. From still another University of Varanasi, the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, & Muslim by Foundation USA lady, Dr. Naheed Digitized S 3 a

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Abidi, did Ph.D. in Sanskrit on the twin deities Asvins. A part time teacher in Sanskrit at the above Vidyapith and some other institutions for the past twenty years or so, she has taken up propagation of Sanskrit as a mission. Apart from her thesis on a Vedic topic which introduced her to Vedic lore, she has translated into Sanskrit under the title Devalayasya dipah the poem Chiraghe-dair of the well-known Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib as also the poems of Rahim. Dr. Mohammad Sharif who is now teaching Sanskrit at the Aligarh Muslim University is a product of the Allahabad University wherefrom he did his Ph.D. on "Naladamayantikatha ka Alocanatmaka Adhyayana" and D.Litt. on "Sanskrit Katha Sahitya ka Alocanatmaka Anusilana". His wife Dr. Shaheen Jafri, also a Sanskrit scholar, had worked on "Hariharananda-Aranya-krta Bhasyavati ka Alocanatmaka Adhyayana" and is presently teaching Sanskrit as Reader and Head at the National Shibly College, Azamgarh. Mr. Ausaf Ali, a specialist in Veda, is presently teaching Sanskrit at the Gorakhpur University. Dr. B.C. Hussaini of the Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati had worked for his Ph.D. on "A Study of the Madhaviya Dhatuvrtti." Three Muslim ladies of Saharanpur have done Ph. D. in Sanskrit from C.S.S. University, Meerut. One, Dr. Hamira Anjum, worked on "Mahabharata men Sapa-Ek Vivecana", the second, Dr. Atiya Danish, on "Smrti Sahitya men Grhasthasrama" and the third, Dr. Shiba Parveen, on "Vartamana Kala men Manusmrti ki Prasangikata." Dr. Atiya Danish's work was published in 2004 while that of Dr. Shiba Parveen is under publication. Dr. Atiya Danish is continuing with her researches. Under the U.G.C. Unemployed Women's Research Scheme she has undertaken a project on a "Study of the Brahmacaryasrama in Smrti Literature with reference to Modern Period." There are about a dozen Muslim Sanskrit scholars who are teaching Sanskrit in different educational institutions full details about whom are being collected and will be put on record as soon as they are ascertained. Similarly are these being collected about unattached Muslim Sanskritists whose number could be fairly large. About Muslim women, some discontinued studies after M.A. or M.Phil. studierized by S 3 Foundation USA

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 275 in Sanskrit and returned to family life. It is a task daunting enough to trace information about them. Not all Muslim Sanskritists are in the teaching line or are connected with educational institutions or had any formal education. In the first category comes Dr. Nizamuddin, a Ph.D. in Sanskrit, as mentioned earlier, from the Aligarh Muslim University (he had worked on games in ancient Sanskrit literature), who is working at present as District Supply Officer at Badaun. In the second comes Mr. Bashir Ahmad Mayukh who, a simple farmer of Salpura of Kota District of Rajasthan has translated some of the Vedic hymns into simple Hindi and is recipient of the K.K. Birla Foundation's prestigious Bihari Award. Of the Indian States it is in Kerala that there is a regular tradition of Christians and Muslims learning Sanskrit, unlike in other States where it is a casual phenomenon. It is not uncommon to come across there a good sprinkling of Christian and Muslim students studying Sanskrit along with their Hindu class fellows even in traditional institutions, the Gurukulas, Vidyalayas and what are called Sanskrit Colleges. It is a happy experience to see them specializing in such difficult branches of learning as Nyaya, Logic, Vedanta, Monistic Philosophy and Sahitya, Poetics that require a high degree of application and dedicated effort in learning the rather abstruse texts replete with technical jargon. A couple of students of these institutions have completed their studies and are now teaching Sanskrit in one institution or the other. There is one Kadija Bibi who did her M.A. with Sahitya Special from the Sanskrit College, Pattambi and is now teaching in the same institution after serving for a time in the Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapitha, Pavaratti. A gentleman of the name of Puru Kannu is now a lecturer in the Govt. Sanskrit College, Thriruananthapuram after having passed from the same institution M.A. with Nyaya Special. He also worked for Ph.D. on the Prasastapadabhasya. Abdul Rahman, another gentleman like him is a lecturer in Sanskrit in Cochin College after having passed M.A. in Sanskrit with Sahitya Special with a First Class First. In Kaladi, the birth place of Shankaracharya, a lady, Pathuma Bibi, C-6. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

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who is just a house wife now, not serving anywhere, did her M.A. with Vedanta Special from the Govt. Sanskrit College, Thriruananthapuram with a First Class First. She did M. Phil. Another scholar matching Pathuma Bibi in brilliance is Zubaida Bibi who did her M.A. with Sahitya Special from the Govt. Sanskrit College, Thriruananthapuram. She is now a lecturer in the Govt. Sanskrit College, Pattambi. The present Professor who till recently was also the Head of Department of Sanskrit at the Kerala University, Thriruananthapuram is Prof. Bashir Ahmad, a Muslim. The writer of these lines had the opportunity of working in two Universities of Bangkok, the Chulalongkorn University and the Silpakorn University from 1977-79 and 1989-91. In both of these he had a colleague each from the Muslim community, Dr. Mrs. Pranee Lapanich and Dr. Mrs. Kusuma Raksamani. Dr. Pranee is an M.A., Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Dr. Kusuma, an M.A., Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, Toronto. For her M.A. dissertation Dr. Pranee worked on the 'Vipralambha Srngara in Sanskrit Literature." For her Ph.D. she worked on 'Ksemendra and his Kalavilasa.' Dr. Kusuma Raksamani worked for her M.A. dissertation on a study of the Sanskrit, Lao and Thai Texts on Pravahlika, a kind of Sanskrit short story. For her Ph.D. she worked on the Southern Recension of the Tantropakhyana comparing in the course of her study the first part of the said work with that of the Lao and the Thai recensions. Dr. Kusuma is younger in age to Dr. Pranee, the latter having taught the former the Pali language. Interestingly enough, both of them have their private names, a practice common among Thai Muslims, which differs from their public names. Dr. Pranee's private name is Jamila and Dr. Kusuma's Maria. Dr. Pranee's main source for inspiration for learning Sanskrit was Dr. Chaluay, the former Head of the Department of Sanskrit in the Chulalongkorn University. While in the Fourth Semester, Dr. Pranee had read through the Thai medium such Sanskrit texts as the Vetalapancavimsati, Hitopadesa, the the

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Contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit 277 Abhijnanasakuntala and so on. When she wanted to proceed further in her Sanskrit studies, Dr. Chaluay, her Buddhist teacher, said to her as if to test the extent of her interest in the subject: "Pranee, you are a Muslim. You come from a different cultural background. You will not be able to carry on with a literature of a different culture." Dr. Pranee's answer to this was: "Madam, I am not only a Muslim, but a staunch Muslim. But my religion cannot come in the way of my Sanskrit studies. I shall pursue them." Dr. Chaluay would be all smiles at this and would begin to teach her with renewed vigour. Dr. Pranee can recite the Ayats of the Qoran with as much ease and felicity as the Mantras of the Vedas. When a friend had said to Dr. Kusuma the same thing as Dr. Chaluay had said to Dr. Pranee; her, Dr. Kusuma's, reaction was exactly the same as that of Pranee. Both of them are strongly of the opinion that religion has nothing to do with learning a language. The result is that both of them are scholars of Sanskrit in their own right. Dr. Pranee has recently published her Thai translation of the Manusmrti. Before closing, a word is due here about the students studying Sanskrit at the School, College and the University level. Some of them have done exceedingly well in the subject. A notable example of this is Ayesha Sardar, daughter of Prof. Abdul Karim, Professor of Persian, Ahmadnagar College, who topped the list in 1973-74 in the subject of Sanskrit in S.S.C. Examination in the whole of the State of Maharashtra. More recently, in October 2006, Shajeena S., a Muslim girl from Kerala, topped in the Kerala University M.A. Sanskrit examination. She is the first Muslim topper in the University's history. The 25 year old is the second of the three daughters of Shahul Hamid, a labourer. She opted for Sanskrit four years ago with her parents' blessings. When asked by some people as to why she did not choose Arabic in place of Sanskrit, Shajeena said that "Sanskrit is the most apt language for Indians since most Indian languages are its offshoots." When Shajeena recites slokas at home, her family finds them melodious. She herself says that Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

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there is poetry in every syllable of them. She wants to launch a Sanskrit magazine to help Sanskrit lovers in India express their creativity. She wants some day to teach her children Sanskrit and mourns: "It is a shame this beautiful language is reduced to a Cindrella in her own land." From what has been said above, it should be clear that the Muslims, both past and present, have done a lot for the cause of Sanskrit which they have owned, loved and fostered. They have proved, if proof was ever needed, that languages and literatures cannot be identified with any particular section of society. Sanskrit is as much of the Hindus as that of the Muslims. Like the varied channels enriching the waters of the sacred Ganga it has continued to be enriched by different communities over the centuries. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, all have contributed to its growth and development. They, all of them, are a shining example of the close cultural synthesis of the different religions and races which makes for better cohesion in human relationship leading to a more peaceful, a more happy and a more purposeful life. REFERENCES 1. Edited with a Critical Study by Dr. V. Raghavan, Hyderabad Archaeological Department, Hyderabad, 1951. 2. Kalhana's Chronicle of the Kings of Kashmir, Vol. I, p. 130, f. n. 2; Z.D.M.G., XL, 9; Ind. Ant., XX, 153. 3. Sanyal, N., List of Inscriptions in the Museums of the Varendra Research Society, Rajshahi, p. 14. 4. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta, Vol. XVI, 1847, pp. 393 ff.

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