AURANGAZEB'S LETTER TO HIS TEACHER

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.)