Page:History of Aurangzib (based on original sources) Vol 1.djvu/35

CHAP. I.] That Aurangzib had a natural keenness of mind and quickly learnt what he can readily believe. His correspondence proves that he had thoroughly mastered the Quran and the Traditional Sayings of Muhammad (Hadis), and ever ready with apt quotations from them. He spoke and wrote Arabic and Persian like a scholar. Hindustani was his mother tongue, the language used by the Mughal Court in private life. He had some knowledge of Hindi, too, and could talk and recite popular sayings in that language. He acquired a mastery over Chaghtai Turki, as he had served in Balkh and Qandahar, and the Mughal army contained a large body of men recruited from Central Asia. Under exactly the same circumstances Jai Singh had learnt that foreign tongue.

Aurangzib wrote Arabic in a vigorous and masterly naskh hand. In this he used to copy the Quran, a deed of piety in Muslim eyes. Two manuscripts of this book he presented to Mecca and Medina, after richly binding and illuminating them. A third copy is preserved at the tomb of Nizam-