AURANGAZEB’S
LETTER TO HIS TEACHER
Sir!
What do you expect from me? Is
there any justification in your asking that I, in my capacity of a famous
Muslim ruler, should take you into my court?
May be your request would have been reasonable if you had imparted
education to me in proper way. A
student, who receives good education, should respect his teacher as he respects
his father. But, what have you taught me?
Firstly, you taught saying that Europe means a small island called
Portugal, that the king of that country alone is great, in the next position is
the king of Holland and then comes the king of England. You also said the king of the France and
Spain are like the petty rulers in our country and that the King of Hindustan
are greater than all those Kings, that they are the emperors who conquered the
whole world and the kings of Persia, Uzbek, Tartar, China, Eastern China, Pegu,
Machina, will shiver at the mere mentioning of the names of Hindustan
kings. Ah! You have taught excellent
history and Geography, indeed! Instead, you should have taught me about the
different countries in the world and their varied interests, the strengths and
weaknesses of those kings, their war strategies, their customs, religions,
Government policies, the advantages, History, progress, downfall, what disasters
and blunders had led to great changes and revolutions-you should have taught me
all these things. I did not learn
anything from you regarding the great men, who established the Mughal empire.
You did not teach me anything about their life histories. You did not teach about the policies and the
strategies that they followed to achieve glorious victories.
You wanted me to learn how to read
and write Arabic. You wasted much of my
time on something, which cannot be mastered unless I worked hard for ten to
twelve years. Perhaps, in your opinion,
it is a great thing if a prince becomes a great linguist and a perfect
grammarian. May be you thought this
esteem is enhanced by learning other languages and foreign languages instead of
learning his mother tongue, the language of his people and the languages of
neighboring states! Infact, he does not need these languages. Time is quite precious during the childhood
for the people like me, who belong to the royal family, since we have to
shoulder so many responsibilities. There
is an urgent need to learn many things during the limited time that is
available to us. You have wasted all my time in teaching Arabic for such a long
time, which was boring activity. Study
of an Arabic was tragic event in my life.
It was useless pursuit. I had to
learn it with extreme reluctance. It has
even blunted my intellect. (Persian was
the official language at that time).
Don’t you know that happy
childhood memories are preserved forever, that thousands of things can be
learned which makes everlasting impression on the young minds and that because
of their influence, he can be mentally prepared to take up greater
responsibilities? Is it not possible to learn the laws, prayers, and sciences
in our mother tongue instead of learning them in Arabic?
You have told my father
Shahjahan that you would teach me philosophy.
I distinctly remember it. For
several years you have fed my mind with half knowledge of many things which
would not satisfy me. All that fanciful
stuff is not at all useful to human society.
It is very difficult to understand them but very easy to forget.
I cannot say how long you had
taught me that kind of speculative knowledge.
I could only remember that those ugly and horrible vocabulary which
could surprise and confuse even the most intelligent people. Ignorant egoists like you, who would like to
hide their bad qualities, must have created such words. By listening to such bombastic words, we
should think that you are knowledgeable and omniscient! We should think that
those wonderful words contain some wonderful inner meaning, which could be
understood only by scholars like you!
You should have trained me to
be a person with analytical thinking.
You shoaauld have taught me the techniques of being a person of
equanimity and imperturbable mind! You
should have told me the laws and grandeur of the universe and the fundamental
principles of life. You should have
filled my mind with this kind of practical philosophy. Had you done these things, I would have shown
you same kind of reverence that Alexander showed to his teacher Aristotle. I would have helped you more than that.
Instead of raising me to the
skies with flattery, you should have taught me the essentials of being a good
king. You should have given me the
knowledge of a king’s responsibilities towards his subjects and their
responsibilities towards the king. You
should have foreseen that a day would came when I should use the sword in the
battle with my brother. You should have
taught me how to lay siege to a town and rally the soldiers who are scattered
in confusion. However, I learned all
these things from others, but not from you.
Therefore, now you must go to
your village. I will not help you in any
manner. Let not the people know who are
you. Lead the rest of your life as an
ordinary citizen.
(We have published in an earlier issue of ‘Triveni’ Abraham Lincoln’s
letter to his son’s teacher. Perhaps
they are studies in contrast.)
