EMPEROR AURANGAZEBS REPLY TO HIS TEACHERS

REQUESTING FOR FAVOUR

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).

Dont 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 should 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 praising 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 kings
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 you are. Lead the rest of your
life as an ordinary citizen.