{"id":163,"date":"2019-05-30T04:21:09","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T04:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engp11.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&p=163"},"modified":"2019-05-30T04:51:42","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T04:51:42","slug":"amir-khusrau-and-indian-poetics","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp11\/chapter\/amir-khusrau-and-indian-poetics\/","title":{"rendered":"Amir Khusrau and Indian Poetics"},"content":{"raw":"
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\u00a0<\/strong>In this module we will briefly learn about Amir Khusru and his poetic contribution in Indian poetry and music. And we will also learn about his thought on poetry. Amir Khusru is a talent with multiple layered of artistic expression. He wrote his poetry in Persian and Hindi and so skillfully accommodated many words of Arabic into his work. He also knew quite a few other Indian languages, including Sanskrit. He is also a renowned critic of Indian poetic works in medieval India. He practiced multilingualism in his work and in his knowledge. Amir khusru appears as a symbol of multilingual ethos of India. His work can be considered as work of Comparative Literature in today\u2019s sense, Ganesh Devi opined. In this module we will try to portray different dimensions of such a great mind of India.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Khusro's enduring fame in India rests on the riddles, quibbles and songs written by him\".\r\n\r\n \r\n

Jawaharlal Nehru<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Discovery of India <\/em>(1961)<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Amir Khusru is originally a Turkish by birth. His family settled in India few generations back before Amir Khusru\u2019s birth. He took birth 1253 A.D. and he died in 1325 A.D. He began his career as a soldier but he also was well known for his poetic talent since the childhood. Famous saint of Delhi Nizamuddin Auliya was his spiritual guru. Auliya was impressed by Khusru\u2019s talent when Khusru was a boy. One side he is a poet of high talent and in the other he is popular among the common people of India. A poet and a composer Khusru successfully reached to the heart of the common people of India with his masterly skill on language and power of expression. His songs and poems are so popular even now.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Ganesh Devi informed, though Khusru knew Sanskrit very well he never translated any of the theoretical texts from Sanskrit into Persian. He tried to represent his own theoretical philosophical understanding of poetry and literature through his poetic practices. According to Devi, \u201c\u2026 he believed literature to be a matter of creation in the languages that are spoken and understood\u201d (Devy, Ganesh;). He was much advance in literary practice than his time was. When different languages, especially Sanskrit was very much confined within the access of the upper caste Hindus, Khusru practiced poetry in the language of the people. He wanted to send the poetry in the inner world of domestic life of the people. And the language as a tool, he used showed that poetic spirit passionately kept in his mind.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

His Nuh Siphir is one side reflection of his literary wisdom and in other side it reflects the reality of literary appreciation in medieval India. In this work he introduced a comparative study of Sanskrit philosophy and knowledge of art with other established scholarship like Rumi.<\/p>\r\n

Nuh-Siphir and Its Significance<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

Nuh Siphir <\/em>was written in 1318. Nuh Siphir means \u201cThe Nine Heavens (or Spheres).\u201d This book was written by him in his old age when he is extremely rich by his experience and knowledge. He also talks about the time of and the reign of Kutbu-d d\u00edn Mub\u00e1rak Sh\u00e1h, as he lived during this time.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

This book is encyclopedic in nature. It is a narrative pictoriography of the then India observed by Amir Khusru. He talks about birds, animals, flowers, trees, people, culture, religion, languages, religions, rituals etc. in this book. His Sufi orientation makes him to observe every aspects of India in very keen manner. He also appreciated some Hindu customs and religion. A critical mind also is very much reflected in this book. Khusrao was disciple of Sufi Saint Nizamuddin Auliya. He very sincerely thought about religious harmony and he presented a conversation between a Muslim Haji going to Mecca and a Hindu Brahmin going to Somnath temple. Throughout this book we can observe a strong feeling and powerful expression of secularism. His poetry is reflection of secular mind. It is that secular what is practiced by Khusru himself throughout his life.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

He is very much significant because of introducing an alternative critique of literature and also for offering alternative poetics other than established high merit of Sanskrit philosophy of art and literature in early medieval India. As we mentioned it in beginning that\u00a0his works carry a comparative spirit and ethos of multilingualism which is India\u2019s very reality. We go back to Khusru and his Nuh Siphir not because of its merit only but because of the methodology and philosophy what he offers for the contemporary India.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

In his Nuh Siphir<\/em> (1318) he talked about different issues on literature, language, multilingual culture. Caste and wisdom etc. This book is translated into English by R. Nath and Fayez \u2018Gwaliari\u2019, under the title India as Seen by Amir Khusru<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Different Spheres in Nuh Siphir<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n

A website persian.packhum.org holds famous writings of the Persian authors and poets. This website naturally holds writings of Amir Khusru along with a full English translation of Nuh<\/em> Siphir <\/em>.Here a very brief introduction about different spheres have been extracted from the aforementioned web source.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

\u201cThe First Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nPraise of God and the Prophet, and of the author's spiritual teacher, Niz\u00e1mu-d d\u00edn Auly\u00e1.\r\n\r\n \r\n

The Second Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nKhusr\u00fa Kh\u00e1n is despatched for the conquest of Arangal (Warangal), in Tilang,* with an army consisting partly of Hindus.\r\n

The Third Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nPraises of Hind\u00fast\u00e1n.\u2014Its Climate.\u2014Animals.\u2014Learning and Languages.\r\n\r\n \r\n

The Fourth Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nAdmonitions and precepts for kings, chiefs, soldiers, and the common people.\r\n\r\n \r\n

The Fifth Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

The king's fondness of hunting.\u2014His preserves.\u2014Praise of the seasons of Hind\u00fast\u00e1n.\u2014 Dialogue between the king's bow and arrow.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

The Sixth Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Birth of Prince Sult\u00e1n Muhammad on the 23rd of Rab\u00ed'u-l awwal, 718 H. (June 25th, 1318 A.D.).\u2014The king distributes gold and jewels among the nobles after seeing the child.\u2014Its education.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

The Seventh Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Encomium upon spring and new year's day; on flowers and birds.\u2014The king's public audience, and the honours and robes bestowed by him upon the nobles, especially upon Khusr\u00fa Kh\u00e1n.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

The Eighth Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nThe king's skill in the game of chaug\u00e1n<\/em>.\u2014Dialogue between the bat and the ball.\r\n\r\n \r\n

The Ninth Sphere<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

The poet exalts his own merits, and boastingly says that though at that time, in all 'Ajam and \u00cdr\u00e1n, the two poets of chief celebrity were Shaikh Sa'd\u00ed Sh\u00edr\u00e1z\u00ed and Hak\u00edm Hum\u00e1m Tabr\u00edz\u00ed, yet he excelled them both; because, whatever might be the merit of their verses, they possessed not the same multifarious accomplishments as himself\u201d. (NUH SIPIHR OF AM\u00cdR KHUSR\u00da)<\/p>\r\n \r\n

In this book, Khusru described about his learning of Sanskrit from the Brahmins and how this knowledge and wisdom was secret to the Brahmins only. To talk about this, he expressed his great regards for Indian knowledge and wisdom. He stated that there are objects to be learnt in every nook and corner of India. He observed the language practice and linguistic communication of different communities. India has several language living and the Indians\u00a0are able to speak more than one language and dialects where as it is difficult for others like Chinese Turkistan, Turk, Arabs etc.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

He stated that Indians are master of learning different languages. The skill what Indians have for learning a language is comparable to the Indian\u2019s power to conquer a land. Then he went into travel of knowledge and knowledge exchange. He rightly pointed out that the Brahmans never go outside to learn new things from others and they also do not bother to evaluate their knowledge by others through visiting new lands. But India is very much famous for its arts and science what attracts scholars across the world.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Later he argued about the greatness of Dimna Khaliala<\/em> or Panchatantra<\/em>, what he consider as best book of knowledge, written in India. Panchatantra<\/em> does not have \u2018excellent flight of imagination\u2019 as poetry generally has. It is only the stories which is told by the animals and birds. This book is translated into Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Dari in his time. He claimed that different scholars of the world got their inspiration from this book. Such a book of wisdom is rare creation in the history of the world, Khusru claimed.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

His Nuh Siphir<\/em> is an excellent writing on Indian literature, language, art, music and poetics. He stated in detail about Indian music and its cross cultural genealogy. In his impression, Indian music already had reached in the highest of merits and different scholars and musicians who had come to India, got inspired with the Indian music, they put their own excellent inputs and merits in it and brought a new move in the musical journey. In the course of the time in history, different musicians and scholars of music who ever came to India, put new features in Indian music but they (foreigners) could not influence or change the basic structure of the Indian music. With journey and cross cultural encounter new genres of music have been introduced, new turns in known musical genre has been observed. And this how the whole history of Indian music has become the history of many voices, many cultures and multiple stories of Indian civilization.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

He also added that our (Indian) music is so sweet that it can hypnotize the animals like deer. Several instances are there what shows that deer is hypnotized by the Indian music. With this Khusru tried to bring the sweetness in the notice of the people, he also claimed again and again about the high merit of Indian music what not only attracts the scholars of different parts of the world but also attracts another world of living creatures.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Khusru\u2019s understanding and his commentary on Indian languages is not only based on the elite languages or the languages of power. But he did field survey on Indian languages and then put his expert comment on it. He commented that he even learned and gather knowledge on the languages of peasants which shows his vision about language study. He understood that the language only cannot be learnt from the books written but true languages also is lying down on the fields and roads of the common masses. He understood that the knowledge is not only the sole property of the elitist or established language\/s or the language of power but, world view and wisdom is also there in the vision of common masses who use different dialects and mode of language to express their content of speech. And so, he learnt from the Indian peasants also.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Each language has its own feature and distinct nature. Many communities of India believes their language is best and they do not allow other language to rule over them. Though gradually in the fate of history, we observe that it was not Khusru\u2019s time, much later than Khusro, few languages are started ruling over others.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

He believed in the morality of authenticity. As he is Indian, he lives in India, he believed that he is only eleigible to talk about Indian languages not about the Arabic or Turkish language. So in his master piece Nuh Siphir<\/em> he talked, debated, argued about Indian knowledge, Indian Poetics, Indian Music and Indian Languages. He specifically mentioned about Hindwi, Sindhi, Lahori, Kashmiri, Kubri, Dhur Samundri, Tilangi, Gujar, Maabri, Ghouri, Bengali, Oudhi, Delhi and many other languages. His note on Indian languages is one of the early notes which gave description about the modern Indian languages. It is considered as an early history of modern Indian languages also. He considered the Sanskrit, which he mentioned as the language of the Brahmans as the best language among all these aforementioned languages. He describes Sanskrit as \u2018pearl among the pearls\u2019. He also mentioned about knowledge on literature, grammar, poetics, philosophy found in Sanskrit language.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Other Works of Amir Khusru<\/strong>2<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nHis works include poems, masnavi, and other historical writings. Those are,\r\n