Biography of Ustad Amir Khasru of 13th Century

Amir Khusro (1253 – 1325)
Ab’ul Hasan Yamin al-Din Khusrow (Persian: / Urdu
:Hindi
better known as Amir Khusrow (or Khusrau) Dehlawi was an ,)
Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural
history of the Indian subcontinent. A Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of
Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, Amir Khusrow was not only a notable poet but
also a prolific and seminal musician. He wrote poetry primarily in Persian, but
also in Hindavi.
He is regarded as the “father of qawwali” (the devotional music of the Indian
Sufis). He is also credited with enriching Hindustani classical music by
introducing Persian and Arabic elements in it, and was the originator of the
khayal and tarana styles of music.The invention of the tabla is also
traditionally attributed to Amir Khusrow. Amir Khusrow used only 11 metrical
schemes with 35 distinct divisions. He has written Ghazal, Masnavi, Qata,
Rubai, Do-Beti and Tarkibhand.
A musician and a scholar, Amir Khusrow was as prolific in tender lyrics as in
highly involved prose and could easily emulate all styles of Persian poetry
which had developed in medieval Persia, from Khaqani’s forceful qasidas to
Nezami’s khamsa. His contribution to the development of the ghazal, hitherto
little used in India, is particularly significant.
Early Life and Background
Yaminuddin Abul Hasan Ameer Khusro was born in Patiali near Etah in
northern India. His father, Amir Sayf ud-Din Mahmud, as a Turkic Officer and
a member of the Lajin (Lachin) tribe of Transoxania, themselves belonging to
the Kara-Khitais. His mother hailed from Delhi. Born of a Turkish Lajin
(Lachin) later Saifuddin Shamsi, Amir Khusro eclipsed all his predecessors.
His interests were kaleidoscopic and his genius versatile. But he enjoyed
fame in the field of Persian poetry, in which his position is next to Saadi and
can favorably be compared with Hafiz in lyrics.
The road to the well is much too difficult,
How to get my pot filled?
When I went to fill the water,
In the furore, I broke my pot.
Khusro has given his whole life to you, O Nizam.
Would you please take care of my veil (of self respect),
The road to the well is much too difficult.
Later Life
http://www.PoemHunter.com – The World’s Poetry Archive
3
Amir Khusro served seven kings and three princes from the times of Sultan
Balban to Mohammad Bin Tughlaq. His passion for his birthplace Delhi was
ripped to the extent that when he was posted in Patiali, he not only lamented
but completed a masanwi under the title ‘Shikayatnamah-e-Patiali’.
Condemning Patiali and recalling the beauty and pleasure of his hometown
Delhi, he compares himself with Joseph, who in separation from his home
town Kan’an, feeling himself distressed, always pined for it.
“As Joseph, after having been taken away as a captive from his home town,
Kan’an, used to sing the praise of his home town, so is the case with me.
Though I happen to be faraway from my home town, yet I always sing of its
beauty. My place was Quwat-ul-Islam (a title of Delhi) a qibla of the kings of
seven climes (i.e. of the entire world). That place is Delhi, which is a twin
sister of the holy paradise and true copy of Arsh (throne of God or a highest
heaven) on the page of the earth.”
Literary Life
Poetry was inherent in Ameer Khusro. The day he was born, his father took
him to a God absorbed darwesh, who said to his father, “You have brought
one who would go two steps a head of khaqani (nightingale).”
In his early childhood, Khusro had developed a putting together in verse
form worse of discordant meaning. Up to the age of sixteen, whichever book
of verse he happened to lay his hand on, he tried to follow its author in the
art of composition.
His adolescence ushered him under the guidance of both Mufti Muizzudin
Gharifi and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, his mentor. Both of them guided him to
the path of following the style of Saddi and Kamal Isfahani. Even at that
young age, he used to lambaste his contemporaries, including Hasan Dehlavi
in qitah (quatrains).
“And occasionally I used to lambaste my contemporary poets, with the sword
of my tongue in a qitah form.” Ameer Khusro was quite indifferent in politics,
he never indulged himself in the intrigues of courtiers. He is considered as
the pioneer figure of the Indo-Muslim music. In fact, it was he who started
the process of synthesizing Turko-Persian music with Indian music. He has
credited three books on music just as three diwans of poetry.
“My verses have so far been collected in three diwans, would you believe,
that if there were a system of notation for registering musical compositions,
my performance in the field of music too, would have been collected in three
registers” He invented number of ragas and raginis which include such
novelties as Qaul, Qulbanah, Taranah. He also composed verses in Persian
and Hindwi.
Royal Poet
On the one hand Sultan Aalauddin, for the sake of righteousness and
expediency of empire, stamped out all kinds of intoxicants, the prohibited
things, the wherewithals of disobedience, debauchery and wickedness with
the use of chastisement and and on the other side Ameer Khusro opened
wide the gate of discipleship and accepted all kinds of men as his murids, be
they high or low, wealthy or impecunious, noble or faqir, learned or ignorant,
high born or low born, urbane or rustic, soldier or warrior.
They all abstained from improper acts and if anyone would commit a sin, he
would come and confess his guilt before Khusro and would indeed renew his
discipleship. Men and women, young and old, merchants and ordinary men,
slaves and servants and even young children began offering prayers
regularly including the late morning prayers. Even the royal ameers, the
armed acquirers, secretaries, clerks, sepoys and royal slaves, were particular
about offering these supererogatory prayers. Owing to Khusro’s barakah
(blessings), most people of the area including the high and low and
irrespective of cast and creed became involved in prayers, tasawwuf