His prose is more attractive than flowing water, his poetry is clearer than limpid water;

(he is) a peerless singing nightingale and an unparalleled sugar-tongued parrot.

For the date of his death, when I bowed my head above the knees of though,

A chronogram occurred ‘peerless’ and another ‘sugar-tongued parrot’…”

The chronogram used for Hazrat Amir Khusrau’s death was Tooti-e-shakkar maqaal or “sugar-tongued parrot”.

In fact, he has often been called the Tooti-e-Hindustan or parrot of Hindustan. For me, however, he is Mr Hindustan. There’s not a day in the life of ordinary Indians when we don’t consciously or subconsciously use or consume one of his inventions, sayings or words of wisdom.

Amir Khusrau’s real name was Ab’ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn and “Khusrau” his nom de plume. His father, Amir Saifuddin Mahmud, was of Turkish descent, who migrated from Balkh in Central Asia and settled in Patiyali in present day Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh.

Amir Khusrau was born in 1253 AD. His mother was the daughter of Rawat Arz, a Rajput and the famous war minister of the Delhi Sultan Balban.

Today, when Kasganj is in the news, it is time to take a look at Khusrau’s life and legacy. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that this son of Kasganj was the father of the ganga jamuni tehzeeb that is under threat today.

He had become the disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi at the age of seven and the love between Khusrau and the Peer o Murshid is legendary. However, Khusrau maintained a fair balance between his spiritual and worldly lives. He served under various nobles and the five sultans of Delhi, including Jalaluddin Khilji, Alauddin Khilji and Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq.

Even today, he is one of the most celebrated poets and writers of India. Khusrau wrote a total of 99 books out of which only few are available today; he gained fame during his lifetime itself.

The famous historian Ziauddin Barani, who was his contemporary, says: “A man with such mastery over all forms of poetry has never existed in the past and may perhaps not come into existence before the day of judgment.”

Barani adds that apart from being conspicuous in prose, Khusrau was an advanced mystic and excelled in playing and composing music. High praise coming from a contemporary!

Maulana Shibli Numani wrote in Shir’ul Ajam that, “no person of such comprehensive ability has been born in India in the last 600 years”.

While most poets excelled in one form or the other, Khusrau wrote qasida, masnavi, ghazals, rubai, mustazad and his verses went into several lakhs.

His masnavi Qiran-us-Sa’dain, written at age 36, earned him the post of poet-laureate in the court of King Kaikobad, the grandson and successor of Balban.

This is also called “Mathnavi dar Sifat-I-Dilli” as it was his ode to the city of Delhi.

In “Mathnavi Nuh-Sipihr (songs of nine heavens)”, Khusrau pays further tribute to India’s birds and animals, flowers and trees, its languages and people.

He talks of the religious and cultural plurality of Hindustan of those times. He talks of the mutual love between Hindus and Muslims and equates a Haji going toMecca with a Hindu pilgrim going to Somnath.

A Muslim haji proceeding to Mecca met a Brahman pilgrim going to Somnath. Owing to the strength of his devotion, the Brahman was measuring the ground with his body and the stones of the road had torn off the skin of his breast.

“Where to, friend?” the haji inquired.

“I have been travelling like this for several years,” the Brahman replied. “But God has given you your two feet; why do you crawl on your breast instead of walking upon them?”

“Ever since I have dedicated my life to my idol, I crawl towards him on my breast and my heart,” the Brahman replied.

And you, who laugh at the Hindus for being idolaters, at least condescend to take a lesson from the sincerity of their faith.

(Habib Mohammad; Hazrat Amir Khusrau Of Delhi)

Prof SH Qasmi, the well-known Persian scholar and former head of department of Persian at Delhi University, says that in “Qiran-us-Sa’dain”, Khusrau has talked of the communal amity and harmony between Hindus and Muslims. Khusrau writes that Hindus also believe in one God and that he has talked to the Hindu priests and scholars and has come to the conclusion that the idols are just representations of various aspects of Khuda.

He believed that just as Muslims have various angels, death et al, Hindus have multiple gods but believe in one khuda called Om.

Khusrau says that Hindustan is called Hindustan jannat nishaan (reflection of heaven) because we get all the things that are found in heaven, such as peacocks, fruits et al.

“I know that in this land lie concealed wisdom and ideas beyond compute.Greece has been famous for its philosophy but India (Hindustan) is not devoid of it. All branches of philosophy, if one examines carefully are found here. Logic, astrology, kalam (metaphysics) — in fact, every scince except “faqr” (sufism) is found. Physics, mathematics, astronomy, divination of the past and the future are known. In divinity (or metaphysics) alone the Hindus are confused, but then so are all the peoples. Though they do not believe in our religion, many of their beliefs are like ours.”

(Translation from The Life And Works Of Amir Khusrau, by Mohammad Wahid Mirza.)

On the instruction of his spiritual guide Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, Amir Khusrau started writing in the local bhasha, which he called Hindavi — akin to today’s khari boli. His work in Hindavi is almost as extensive as his work in Persian. He had also learnt Sanskrit. In that sense he can be called Baba e urdu, or father of Urdu.

His genius was not confined to poetry alone and by Khusrau’s own admission, “I am a master of music as well as poetry. I have written three volumes of poetry and my musical compositions would also amount to three volumes, if they could be reduced to writing.”

No one after him could get the title of Naik.

According to Sangeet Natak, “A superb musician in his own right and credited with the invention of several musical instruments and with having laid the theoretical basis for much of Indo-Muslim music, Khusraw imparted to his ghazals a lilt and melody that have assured their inclusion in musical programmes in India to the present day.”

In addition to inventing many ragas and raginis, he is believed to have invented the tabla. He is also the originator of tarana, khyaal and qaul and credited with the creation of 17 talas (patterns of rhythm), including those prevailing today such as teen tal, Jhoomra and Ara Chautala, and a number of ragas, including Yaman Kalyan, Sazgiri and Sarparda.

Though he himself has modestly stated that they already existed in Indo-Iranian music.

“Nevertheless, subsequent scholars consider Khusro to be the creator of a number of them. They point out that the Ragas mentioned are actually blends of existing Indian and Persian melodies. Yaman, for example, is an amalgam of the Indian Hindol (as it existed then) and the Persian Nairez or Nairiz. Similarly, Saazgiri comprises the ancient Indian forms of Purbi, Vibhaas, Gaud and Gunkali along with the Persian Ahang.”

Though mystic singing or sema existed much before, it is Khusrau who gave it the present shape of qawwali.

He was entrusted with the task of setting the Prophet Muhammad’s qaul (saying) “Man kunto Maula” to music.

“Man kunto maula,

Fa haza Ali-un maula ”

“whoever accepts me as a maul (master), Ali is his master too”.

It was set to music by the genius Amir Khusrau on the spot. He added the famous tarana,

“Dara dil-e dara dil-e dar-e daani.

Hum tum tanana nana, nana nana ray

Yalali yalali yala, yala ray”

to help to induce a trance; to give body and soul to it, as it were.

The word “qawwali” comes from “qaul”. Amir Khusrau was entrusted with developing it as a complete form of music, and he chose 12 young students to accomplish the task — and called them the qawwal bachcha.

It is through them that he presented Qaul Qalbana and other forms of qawwali.

Hazrat Amir Khusrau lives on in our hearts through his mystic poetry, his musical inventions, his simple riddles, kah mukarnis and wedding songs.

Which girl in North India has not left her house to the words of “Kaahe ko biyahi bides (why was I married and sent to a foreign land?)”?

Published on DailyO.in

Every field is filled with yellow mustard blooms
Mango buds open, flame of the forest trees blossom,
Every branch echoes with the koyal’s call
The lovely maiden dons her make up
The garden ladies bring fragrant bouquets,

These Purbi lyrics sung in the raag bahar melody herald the beginnings of Basant (on the eve of Basant Panchami) festivities at the Dargah of the Sufi saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the reader were taken aback by these words, this occasion and the connection with a Sufi saint.

Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya (1238-1325 A.D.) was a saint of the Chistiya silsila and the successor of Baba Farid. He is called the People’s saint and was given the title of Mehboob e Ilaahi or Beloved of God. He believed that for a saint the three necessary things were ishq (love) aql (wisdom) and ilm (knowledge.) It was only through this that one could reach one’s goal of fulfillment. He used them all in generous amounts.

His belief was that one can devote one’s life to God through two ways :
1. 1. lazmi or intransitive — where an individual comes closer to God through prayer and meditation, and
2. 2.muta’addi or transitive — where you assist your fellow beings to lead a smoother life.

He practiced both and touched many hearts. Though he lies buried close to many Emperors and noblemen from the medieval ages, his dargah sees more visitors and devotees than any of the Emperor’s tombs. In fact the area where his Dargah lies was called Ghiyaspur after the Delhi Sultan Balban who built his palace there. But today it is known by the name of the saint as Nizamuddin basti.

One of my favourite sayings of Hazrat Nizamuddin which explains the deep devotion that he commanded is
“The wilayat (domain) of gnosis and faith can
suffer decay. The wilayat of compassion can not.”

Altamash Nizami one of the direct descendants of Hazrat Nizamuddin and part of the Dargah committee told me this story about the origins of Basant celebrations in the Dargah.
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya did not have children and was very attached to his sister’s son Khwaja Taqiuddin Nuh. The attachment was deep and mutual. Alas a fatal illness took Khwaja Nuh from this world.

His death was a deep blow for Mehboob e Ilaahi and he grieved over the loss and was extremely saddened. His followers particularly Hazrat Amir Khusrau longed to see him smile once again.
One day Hazrat Amir Khusrau saw a group of village women, dressed in yellow, carrying mustard flowers and singing on the road near the Khwaja’s khanqah .
His khanqah ( retreat or monastery) where he spent his life reaching out to people is a little way behind Humayun’s tomb.
He asked them where they were going dressed like this. The women replied that they were going to the temple to offer the flowers to their God. Amir Khusrau asked them whether this made their God happy? On hearing an affirmative answer he immediately dressed up in a yellow Saree and carrying mustard flowers came into the presence of his pir ,Khwaja Hazrat Nizamuddin singing ‘sakal ban phool rahi sarson.’
The Khwaja recognizing his favourite disciple smiled at his get up and song.

This was an occasion for rejoicing and since then the tradition of dressing up in yellow, carrying mustard flowers and singing qawwali on Basant Panchami started.

This year I had the good fortune to attend the celebrations myself. The atmosphere in the dargah was electrifying with a langar ( food for all) being held in the dargah complex and various qawwali groups singing in the courtyard.

After the asr ( afternoon) prayers all the qawwali singers gathered in a lane opposite Ghalib’s grave and the celebrations started from a small by lane there.
I presume the significance of that lane must be that this is the original spot from where Hazrat Amir Khusrau started his song. I asked many people there but no one could give me a satisfactory answer, except that this is from where it has always started.

There was a ceremonial prayer, lighting of incense sticks and then the singing commenced.
Young and old, everyone joined in the procession which went into the by lanes of Nizamuddin Basti, stopping at the grave of Khwaja Tajuddin Nuh and entering the Dargah.

Once in the dargah, they took a yellow chadar (sheet) and holding it above their heads, entered the shrine itself. This is apparently the only occasion on which the qawwali singing is done inside the shrine. On all other occasions it is outside in the courtyard.

After that they all assembled outside and encouraged by the SajjadaNasheen Hasan Nizami, the various qawwals sang and rejoiced.
The qawwali session lasts for a few hours after which they go to the choti dargah or Hazrat Amir Khusrau’s grave and make their offerings there.
The shrine’s courtyard was full of people from different areas, regions and faiths: all united with a common love for the people’s saint, dressed in yellow to celebrate the occasion when he smiled once more on the eve of spring.

Aaj Basant Manaley Suhangan

Aaj Basant Manaley
Anjan Manjan Kar Piya

Lambay Neher Lagaaye
Tu Kya Sovay Neend Maasi

So Jaagay Teray Bhaag, Suhagan
Aaj Basant Manalay…;

Thank You Asif for taking me to the Dargah

Thank You Pari for showing us the sama Room of Mehboob e Ilahi
and a big thank you Syed Mohammad Qasim for these beautiful Photographs

Thank You Raj Prajapati for the photographs