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Intro: Language goes with dialect and culture. A master in absorbing local cultures, he created a synthesis of Sanskrit, Prakirt, Khari Boli, Awadhi and Brij Bhasha. He took the rich vocabulary from Persian, Turkish and Arabic — and ‘Indianised’ it
By Hafeezur Rahman
In the modern era, Amir Khusro of the 13th century is extremely relevant. So why is his role important even in this fast-paced, breathless world, driven by digital obsessions?
Khusro (1252-1325 AD) was an iconic Sufi musician, poet, historian, a soldier, mystic, and creator of qawwali, who had crafted a Sufi devotional style of singing. This style is still extensively practised in all the famous shrines in the Indian sub-continent. He was associated with the courts of various Delhi Sultanate rulers and his most outstanding works were created during the reign of Alau-Din Khilji.
While World Urdu Day is commemorated all over the world on November 9, on the birthday of the famous Urdu poet and philosopher, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, we believe that the celebration of Khusro needs to take precedence over Iqbal. This is because Khusro is considered to be an early custodian of Urdu language, and the first Urdu poet.
He was the first Indian-Persian poet in the 13th century, long before the respected Iqbal. He was truly a master of multiple languages like Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit and Brij Bhasha, from which the roots of Urdu were derived. He called it Hindvi.
The beauty of his Hindvi was that it was the locally spoken language of common folks — a synthesis of local and international languages. Its beauty was that he adopted the local dialect with ‘Persianised’ phrases. If he were alive in the 18th and 19th centuries, then, maybe, he would call it Urdu or Hindvi.
Language always goes with its dialect and culture. He was a master in absorbing local cultures, dialects and vocabulary from other languages, including Sanskrit, Prakirt, Khari Boli, Awadhi and Brij Bhasha. He took the complexity of the rich vocabulary inherited from Persian, Turkish and Arabic — and ‘Indianised’ it. Yet, as lyricist Javed Akhtar said in a Jashn-e-Rekhta programme, Urdu and Hindi these days have hardly any difference.
The relevance of Khusro resounds in the modern era and here is why. In a world raging with violent conflict, schisms and racism, he embodied unity, harmony, peace.
He has been an inspirational role model across the boundaries of faith, gender and geographies, because of his deep feelings, wisdom and knowledge. His is a work of a genius.
Khusro called himself a proud Indian, creatively renaming himself, ‘Turk-e-Hindi’. Son of a Turkish father, Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud, and an Indian mother, Bibi Daulat Naz, he wrote a deep poem, grieving over her loss, “Where ever the dust of your feet is found, is like a relic of paradise for me.” The role of his mother in his life was powerful. It propelled him to draw his origins from India.
Khusro proclaimed ten points as to why India is superior to the rest of the world. He called it an earthly paradise, citing that after Adam was expelled from heaven, he sought sanctuary here. He said, “As Hind was just like heaven, Adam could descend here and find repose.”
India was the land of the peacock, a heavenly bird. “Had Paradise (Firdaus) been in some other country, this bird would have gone there,” he said.
He believed that zero started in India. The concept of zero is believed to have originated in the Hindu cultural and spiritual space around the fifth century. In Sanskrit, the word for zero is śūnya — nothingness.
Logic (mantiq), astrology (tanjim) and scholastic theology (kalām), except fiqh (Islamic law), were well-understood here. All rational sciences, natural sciences and mathematics, stemmed from India, he claimed.
Khusro pointed out that scholars from all over the world came to India to gain knowledge and expertise. However, a Brahman never left its boundaries to acquire knowledge, as there is no need for it. He claimed that Brahmans are far superior than all the books of Aristotle. The Greeks might have revealed their knowledge of philosophical thought to the world, but the Brahmans have a greater wealth.
He mentions the linguistic versatility of Indians. Whereas an Indian can fluently converse in any of the foreign languages, people outside are unable to speak ‘Indian dialects’. He praises Sanskrit for its rich literature, calling it the language of the Brahmans, though, even among them, many could not master this complex language. He said, “Sanskrit has the quality of a pearl among pearls. It is not inferior to Arabic in its grammar, but superior to Dari (Persian).”
He glorifies India as his motherland by citing a well-known tradition of the Prophet: “The love of motherland is an essential part of the true faith (hub al-watan min al-īmān)”. This is an essential part of his creed (dīn).
He said that although ‘Rum (Greece), Khurasan (Iran) and Khotan (China)’ allege their superiority, he had knowledge of the efficacy of India’s magic, and could prove that Hind is better than any other country. He exalted the Indian ‘wheatish-coloured’ skin and features, calling it much more attractive than the beauty of Egyptians, Central Asian and Europeans.
He praised its flowers, fruits, fragrances. He celebrated the spring season, the greenery and beautiful, fragrant flowers, which do not lose their fragrance even after they wilt.
Among the juicy fruits, mangoes and bananas are the finest; then follows the sugarcane. Cardamon, camphor and cloves are the dry fruits. The betel leaf is eaten like a fruit and there is nothing elsewhere in the world like it, he said.
Khusro says that in India, it is a miracle that a poor peasant can spend a freezing night in the pasture-land, grazing his flock, with only a single worn-out cloak wrapped around him, a Brahman can take his bath in the chilly waters of a river early in the morning, while a mere branch of a tree is enough to shade the poor.
He was a good friend and disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, legendary Sufi saint of the Chishti order in Delhi. Auliya often said about him, “I get tired of everyone, except this Turk Khusro.”
His mentor recited Abu Saeed Abul Khair’s Persian couplets. They mean that if people spread thorns in your path, and, in return, you also spread thorns, then the whole path would become thorny. Hence, you should spread flowers in response to thorns, so that people can walk over the flowers.
It would be worthwhile if s a prestigious central university can establish a Department of Khusro Studies or a Khusro Chair to extol his unique and harmonious messages to the younger generations. The most important contribution of his life and teachings is that it helped to build a strong bond of solidarity and brotherhood between the Hindu and Muslim communities.
Dr Hafeez Ur Rahman is an Islamic scholar and author.