Contribution of Muslims to the Sanskrit Literature

It is indeed a matter of great pleasure and pride for Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, Ramtek to have this rarest opportunity of hosting the 50th session of All India Oriental Conference at Nagpur. This AIOC-50th session at Nagpur will be forever remembered by all as the year 2019 also happens to be the year of Centenary Celebration of AIOC. The premier objective with which the great scholars of yester years had contemplated and established this national academic event called All India Oriental Conference has been achieved through these years with scores of young scholars contributing significantly to the treasure house of knowledge through their valuable research work.

The research of yore and of the present should be properly recorded so as to make it easily available to all lovers of knowledge and wisdom in the years to come. With this objective, we have contemplated to commemorate the 100th year of this grand event of 50th session of AIOC by way of publishing 100 monographs on different subjects in four languages viz., Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi and English. It is no doubt a herculean task but still worth of it, for the reason that these 100 monographs will inspire many young scholars to take upon a fresh study and research of the oriental subjects with more vigor and zeal.

The AIOC Centenary Publication Series includes wide variety of subjects like Literature, Language, Veda, Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit Grammar, Law, Children Literature, Yoga, Astronomy and Astrology, Ayurveda, Pali, Prakrit, Jain, Buddhism, Education, Library Science, Poetics, Aesthetics, and Indology. It also includes reprint of some rare texts of academic importance which have gone out of print are not easily available. We wish to mark these centenary celebrations with this series that connects the glory of the past and aspirations of future. I place on record my sincere gratitude to all the authors of these monographs who have kindly contributed to the richness of this series.

I am confident that the books published in these series will definitely inspire the lovers of Oriental Learning in general and of Sanskrit Language and Literature in particular.

On this occasion, we have published a memorable book of all the speeches of Section-Presidents of all previous sessions of AIOC. It is indeed a very capacious addition to any collection. I with all respect thank two eminent scholars of our times - Prof. Gautam Patel, President and Prof. Saroj a Bhate, General Secretary, the torch bearers of AIOC who have not only encouraged us in this venture but also made all efforts to provide these valuable historical speeches for us. I thank all executive members of AIOC and my colleagues of the varsity for making this event a grand success.

My words fall short in describing the painstaking efforts and scholarly commitment of my esteemed colleague Prof. Madhusudan Penna, local secretary of this session in bringing out this series.

I also take this opportunity to profusely thank Shri. Subhash Jain and Shri Deepak Jain, the proprietors of New Bharatiya Book Corporation, New Delhi for their enthusiastic approach and timely work with all precision and grace.

Let us all sanctify ourselves in the eternal flow of wisdom by reading these books and recommending these to others also!

Dr. Abdul Ghani has been one of my close associates for the last several years. I have seen him visiting many libraries in then Andhra Pradesh in connection with his research. I admired him for his interest in studies, persistency in research and fascination for Sanskrit. He reminded me of the childhood days our family had spent in our village Narkatpally, about 85 km away from Hyderabad. I saw in him our beloved teacher Khwaja Moinuddin sir, our family friend Shri Moinbabu and other village friends. We never felt any reservation in our hearts while living in the village. Nonetheless, our life in Hyderabad too had left sweet memories in us when we, all the four brothers, stayed in a Muslim house for about four years. We received all affection; respect and care from the Muslim family there, in spite of our individual religious convictions. We respected each other while staunchly adhering to our own religious belief.

Dirty politics change everything into bad. Days changed along with politics. Political focus had shifted to religious interests and consequently religious hatred began to spew venom everywhere under the blanket of democracy. It has created boundaries between families and made humans become suspicious of each other. The peace and harmony achieved through democracy became dominated by mutual hatred cultivated by few selfish individuals as always. The nation which always takes pride in praising itself as a Nation of religious harmony has begun to witness more hate-speeches and differences. Raising voice against any atrocity is witnessed as dominance and tolerance is looked upon as weakness. As a matter of fact, it is not the religion but the individual that is sinful always. Because of some immature individuals, everyone gets exposed to ill treatment. But, good and bad exist together. It is but natural.

In such a state of affairs, it is quite interesting and pertinent to know about the contribution of Muslims, both the rulers and common individuals, to the cause of Sanskrit Language and literature. Dr. Ghani has made efforts to bring into fore the positive side of things through his book "Contribution of Muslims to the Sanskrit literature". This book contains much interesting information about Muslim contribution, which I hope all Sanskrit lovers will welcome. The objective behind the effort is very clear in the words of the author himself, for he says; "the reality is that very few Muslims study the Sanskrit language and its literature. In the same way, very few Hindus learn Arabic, Persian and Urdu. But, whoever studies other languages, he must be encouraged impartially. National Integration will be strengthened with their literary work. And Indian culture and civilization also become rich and ample. Indian people will also feel happy in their common life". A very apt observation of reality!

Before the Muslim invasion and rule in India also, Sanskrit attracted the attention and interest of many Muslim individuals of Bagdad who got many Sanskrit works on Astronomy, Ayurveda, Mathematics and other classical literature translated into Arabic and Persian languages. Abu Jafar al-Mansur of 754-775 A.D. himself translated many such works. Along with Sanskrit texts many Greek texts were also translated into Persian and Arabic. Abu Jafar al-Mansur (754-775 A.D.), Haroon al-Rasheed 170-194 A.H (786-809) and Al- Mamoon (813-833) are some of the names remembered for such work.

The long rule of Muslims in India was from the year 1206. This state is called Delhi -Sultanate. Persian was the Official Language of rulers of Sultanate period. During this period also, the creative work in Sanskrit literature continued. Sanskrit literature developed independently. Many Sanskrit books of high quality were written during this period. Rulers of Jaunpur, Bengal, Gujarat, Kashmir and independent rulers of the South promoted the Sanskrit literature at that time. The establishment of the Sultanates 'did not materially affect Sanskrit literature'. The author observes that the Sanskrit inscriptions had still continued to be set up during that period.