A celebratory tribute to Hazrat Amir Khusrow
RANG-E-KHUSROW
22nd December, 2017, At 7pm , at Amaltas Hall, India Habitat Centre
Poetic reflections – Laxmi Shankar Bajpai,
Sitar- Maestro Dr Sudeep Rai
Kalaam-e-Khusrow – – Shakeel Ahmed
Rang-e-Khusrow,- remembering Hazrat Amir Khusro whose tremendous body of work is beyond comparison – he left us a heart warming, soul enriching legacy in many spheres of science, literature and the world of music and dance. Using Persian and Khadi boli within the same poem, writing all ou belovedly familiar songs at weddings and other happy occasions, Khusrow straddles the many worlds he inhabited with consummate ease and flair.
Khusro’s life , (from his very birth to a Muslim Father and Hindustani mother, to his many accomplishments and deep love of India and his writings on Religious toleration and mutual respect and love) , – is a unique metaphor of our rich cultural legacy and exemplifies the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb of which we as Indians, are so justly proud.
WHY KHUSRO—Khusro was born in 1253 A.D. in Patiala, India, his paternal ancestors migrated from Transoxanyia to India in the thirteenth century. Khusro’s father served the Sultan of Delhi, Shamsuddin Il-tutmish, in a high position and married locally. Amir Khusro was educated in theology, Persian and the Quran.
From his mother who was of Hindustani origin and from his maternal grandfather he acquired both, an intimacy with the local languages as well as a rooting in the immediate cultural ambience. When his father died when Khusro was only eight he came under the care of his maternal grandfather.
Amir Khusro wrote poetry from a tender age. His genius thrived and sustained itself as his talent found support of patrons in nobles, princes and kings. He emerged as one of the most original poets of India, innovating new metaphors and similes. To him the sun, for instance, would be the galloping deer, streams of fire, darts in the sky, washing agent for water and earth, and so on.
His second collection of verses, Wast-ul-Hayat, spread his worldwide. The famous poet of Persia, Sa’di sent him compliments.
It was with his long, unique poem, Qiran-us-Sa’dain, written with ceaseless labour of six months, at the age of thirty six, that Khusro became the poet-laureate of King Kaiqobad at Delhi. This poem also got named as Mathnavi dar Sifat-I-Delhi because it is embellished with rich and poetic descriptions of Delhi that was the Garden of Eden for Khusro. The poem is soaked in his love for Delhi ; he also writes on the mutual love between Hindus and Muslims there.
In Nuh Sipihr (1318), Khusro’s fascination with India’s birds and animals, flowers and trees, its languages and people finds an impassioned expression. It was indeed due to his Sufi orientation, acquired mainly from his spiritual mentor, Nizamuddin Auliya, that he chooses to appreciate aspects of Hindu religion and customs in Nuh Sipihr. In fact, through an anecdote in Hasht-Bihisht, he preaches religious toleration by narrating a dialogue between a Muslim Haji going to Mecca and a Brahmin pilgrim going to Somnath. Amir Khusro’s poetry offers a powerful metaphor for secular thinking and living.
He wrote poetry in Persian as well as what he called Hindvi,a combination of local Bhojpuri and Persian, which later evolved into Hindi and Urdu.
He composed songs and riddles in the more common spoken dialect of the time, called “Dehlavi Hindi” though he himself did not take these seriously they appealed greatly to the common people. Jawaharlal Nehru,the first Prime minister of Independant India in his book,”Discovery of India” (1961) has written “Khusro’s enduring fame in India rests on the riddles, quibbles and songs written by him”.
Khusro’s contribution to the Hindi language and Hindi poetry is even acknowledged by the hindi critics of today. The language he used later developed into Hindustani. Many of his poems are even today used in Hindustani Classical as bandishes and as ghazals by Ghazal singers.
He had a deep and growing attachment with Nizamudddin Auliya. When Nizammudin Auliya passed away Khusro’s grief knew no bounds. In a few months’ time, in 1325 A.D., Khusro too passed away and was buried near that grave as desired by the master. These graves are a place of pilgrimage for both Hindus and Muslims to the present day