Amir Khusrau

Amir Khusrau

Amīr Khusrau was born in 1253 in Patiyali, Kasganj district, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, India, in what was then the Delhi Sultanate. He is regarded as the \”father of qawwali\”, and introduced the Ghazal style of song into India. His first divan, Tfatan Tuhan, containing poems composed between the ages of 16 and 18, was compiled in 1271 and published in 1272.

About Amir Khusrau in brief

Summary Amir KhusrauAmīr Khusrau was born in 1253 in Patiyali, Kasganj district, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, India, in what was then the Delhi Sultanate. He was a mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, India. He wrote in many verse forms including ghazal, masnavi, qata, rubai, do-baiti and tarkib-band. He is regarded as the \”father of qawwali\”, and introduced the Ghazal style of song into India, both of which still exist widely in India and Pakistan. His first divan, Tfatan Tuhan, containing poems composed between the ages of 16 and 18, was compiled in 1271 and published in 1272. He died in 1280, and is buried in the city of Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. His son, Amir Saif ud-Dīn Mahmūd, married Bibi Daulatnaz, the daughter of Rawat Arz, a Hindu noble and war minister of Ghiyas u d-Din Balban, the ninth Sultan of Delhi. He had four children: three sons and a daughter. His love and admiration for his motherland is transparent through his work of Persian lyricist Hafize-Hind -Hind, the singing bird of the Shiraz – of India : 3. He started learning poetry at the age of nine, and joined the army of Chajju Malik, Khaju’s grandfather, when he was 20 years old, when his grandfather was 113 years old.

His father’s influence, he imbibed Islam and Sufism coupled with proficiency in Turkish, Persian, and Arabic languages. He used 11 metrical schemes with 35 distinct divisions. His contribution to the development of the ghZal was significant. His poetry is sometimes referred to as the ‘voice of India’ or ‘Parrot of India.’ He was an expert in many styles of Persian poetry which were developed in medieval Persia, from Khāqānī’s qasidas to Nizami’s khamsa. He also wrote in Hindavi and was a Sunni Muslim. His wife was a native Hindu, and he was a member of the Lachin tribe of Transoxania, themselves belonging to the Kara-Khitai set of Turkic tribes. In 1230 he was granted a fief in the district of Patiyli, and in 1230, AmirSaif ued-Dēn Mahmud died in1260, when KhNusrau was only eight years old; he was buried in Agra in 1281. His mother is said to have called him ‘Tooti-e-landland’ (‘the land of love’). He was also known as ‘Khusrau Dehlavī’.