remained practically untouched. In upper class Muslim society, women had to observe purdah and were secluded in the zenana (the female quarters) without any contact with any men other than their immediate family. Affluent women travelled in closed litters. However, Muslim women, despite purdah , enjoyed, in certain respects, higher status and greater freedom in society than most Hindu women.
They could inherit property from their parents and obtain divorce, privileges that Alai Darwaza XI History - Lesson - - Advent of Arabs and Turks received an impetus in the official court. Zia- ud-din Barani lists the names of Nusrat Khatun and Mihr Afroz as musician and dancer respectively in the court of Jalaluddin Khalji. Literature Amir Khusrau emerged as a major figure of Persian prose and poetry. Amir Khusrau felt elated to call himself an Indian in his Nu Siphr (‘Nine Skies’).
In this work, he praises India’s climate, its languages – notably Sanskrit – its arts, its music, its people, even its animals. The Islamic Sufi saints made a deep literary impact. The Fawai’d-ul-Fawad, a work containing the conversations of Sufi Saint Nizam-ud-din Auliya was compiled by Amir Hassan. A strong school of historical writing emerged with the writings of Zia-ud-din Barani, Shams-ud-din Siraj Afif and Abdul Malik Isami.
Zia-ud-din Barani, emerged as a master of Persian prose. Abdul Malik Isami, in his poetic composition of Futuh-us-Salatin, records the history of Muslim rule from Ghaznavid period to Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s reign. Persian literature was enriched by the translation of Sanskrit works. Persian dictionaries with appropriate Hindawi words for Persian words were composed, the most important being Farhang-i-Qawas by Fakhr- ud-din Qawwas and Miftah-ul-Fuazala by Muhammad Shadiabadi.
Tuti Namah , the Book of Parrots, is a collection of Sanskrit stories translated into Persian by Zia Nakshabi. Mahabharata and Rajatarangini were also translated into Persian. Amir Khusrau (modern representation) as a gateway to the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque is adorned with the first true dome. The palace fortress built by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and Muhammad bin Tughlaq in Tughlaqabad, their capital city in Delhi, is remarkable for creating an artificial