This week of Amir Khusro
Celebrating the life of one of the most creative Delhi artists
sophistication to the earthy sensibilities of the masses. His love poems for God shaped the possibility of the idea that
Hindus and Muslims could not only co-exist but also celebrate each other’s cultures. Today, the soul of the subcontinent’s Sufi shrines lie in Khusro’s qawwalis. His verses steer many to spirituality, love and, occasionally, ecstasy.
Over the years, Khusro’s appeal has seamlessly merged with popular culture. The film song, Zihal-e-miskin mukun baranjish (lyricist Gulzar, 1985 film Ghulami), was inspired from Khusro’s poem, which had alternate lines in Persian and Brij.
Zihaal-e-miskeen mukon taghaful (Persian) doraaye nainaan banaye batyaan (Brij)
[Do not overlook my misery by blandishing your eyes, and weaving tales; My patience has overbrimmed.]*
Another famous Khusro song, Chhap tilak, is completely in Brij.
This playful duality defined Khusro. Devoted to a Sufi who disliked emperors, he himself made his living by serving in their courts. It was a shrewd balance of sense and sensibility: day job in the court, evening spirituality in the shrine.
Born in Patiali, a village in the present day Etah of Uttar Pradesh, Khusro’s Turkish father died when he was eight. His mother was Indian. He grew up in Delhi with his maternal grandfather who took him regularly to literary soirees. As a court poet, Khusro went on to produce works such as Mathnawi Miftah ul Futuh, Ghurrat ul Kamal, Khaza in ul Futuh, Ashiqa, Baqiya Naqiya and Khamsa. The voluminous Ijaz e Khusrawi is vivid with details of everyday life in 14th-century Delhi. Khusro also compiled a Hindi-persian dictionary and composed several pahelis, the wordplay riddles.
The modern-day tradition for devotees at Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah is to first pray at Khusro’s tomb, though he did not officially inherit Nizamuddin’s spiritual mantle in the Chishti order of Sufism, which went to Hazrat Naseeruddin Chiragh Dilli. Indeed, the poet’s special status in Sufism is linked to his creation of an extraordinary idiom, which devotees have used to articulate their passion for the divine. Above all, he was loved by Hazrat Nizamuddin, who occasionally wrote letters calling him Turkullah, God’s
Turk. Those were said to have been buried with Khusro.
Khusro’s Urs will be observed from June 9 to 13. In these exceptional times, it will be marked only with quiet prayers conducted across the five days by a small group of dargah’s khadims, or hereditary caretakers. The shrine will be closed to the public. During the ceremony, discloses Mr Nizami, “we’ll also pray for the health of all.”
*Translation taken from a book on “languaging” by Ramanjaney K Upadhyay