Hazrat Ameer Khusau
was a phenomenon that just came off seven centuries ago. His was indeed a
multi-splendored life of 72 years. A versatile scholar par excellence, Khusrau was also a singer, poet, author who left an
everlasting impact of his personality on whatever he touched.
His deep insight into Persian and Indian music inspired him
to evolve and enrich Turko-Hindustani music: it acquired new facets. It assumed
new dimensions.
His name is traditionally associated with the innovations qawwali, qual, qalbana, tarana and khayal, in ragas like Sazgiri and Farghana or their variations, in
instrumental music, the sitar and the tabla, while in ghazals, he was the pioneer of Dogana
(fusion of Persian and Hindustani lines into one). He wrote songs of sawan and of the parting daughter. He
invented Do Sukhne, versified puzzles
and Kah Mukarni. And because of all
this Mir Khusro is still a name to
conjure with in far flung villages of north India.
Born of a Turk father, a chieftain, and an Indian mother, Abul Hassan Yaminuddin Khusrau was
brought up in maternal lineage. Khusrau
called himself Turk-e-Hindustani and was proud of being an Indian. His love of
the motherland filled him with a sense of fulfilment and pride which is so
evident in his writings.
Author of five romantic masnavis
(long narratives) in succession, he wrote them voluminously-18 thousand
couplets on the pattern and theme of Nizami.
He added five historical masnavis to
the treasure of source material of medieval India.
Selections from his five Persian divans, compiled by
himself, have appeared in five countries, namely Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
USSR and India.
Khusrau was a
courtier and he held high positions in the courts of five emperors. He moved
with the royal entourage and yet, was averse to blood-shed and flattery. He was
a spiritual disciple of Hazrat
Nizamuddim Aulia Chisti (1234-1325). The Chistia School of Sufism made Khusrau truly catholic and humane in
his outlook. Therefore, in his normal life, he was very close to the masses and
shared their hopes and aspirations, travails and tribulations.
The greatest Persian lyricist, Hafiz of Shiraz transcribed thousands of his lines and described
him as Tooti-e-Hind (Songbird of
India). European orientalists rated him among the world’s eminent poets.
Iranians recognised him as an integral part of the history of their literature.
He infused into Persian ghazals the
amorous touch of Indo-Iranian music. Afghanistan owned him as Khusrav-e-Bulkhi, known as Dehlavi. His ghazals are sung in Soviet Asia and form a par of the curricula
there.
While Khusrau
could bravely stand the loss of his mother and youthful brother (1299) and continue
to compose poetry, he could not bear the loss of his spiritual mentor, the 92
year old Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. He
burst out with only one doha and later the same year, followed in the footsteps
of his Master to the heavenly abode:-
Gori Sove Sej pe Mukh par Dare Kes
Chal Khusrau Ghar Apne Sanjh Bhayee
Chahun Des
Dr. Zoe Ansari (1975)
From the liner notes of this wonderful LP. Full of
everything from qawwali to khayal by some of the greatest of India’s
musicians.
Track
Listing:
01 Dohe (Nizamuddin Peer Auliya /Chakwa Chakwi do Jaane) [Ustad Ghulam
Mustafa Khan]
02 Bandish (Jo Piya awan kah gaye) and Sawan Geet (Amman mere baba ko
bhejo ji) [Sudha Malhotra, Krishna Kalle, Dilraj Kaur and Pushpa Paghdare]
03 Ze haal-e-miskin makun taghaful durae naina banae batiyan [Mukesh
and Sudha Malhotra]
04 Yaar-e-man beaa beaa (Ektaal) [Kankana Banerjee]
05 Mukarniyan [Vani Jairam and Krishna Kalle]
06 Raga Zilaf [Pandit Jasraj]
07 Raga Emen Kalyan [Pandit Pratap Narayan and Kankana Bannerjee]
08 Man kunt-o-maulaho fa aliyun maulah [Shankar Shambu Qawwal]
09 Aaj Ranj hai [Shankar Shambu Qawwal]
10 Dohe (Khusrau rain suhag ki Gori sowe sej pe) [Ustad Ghulam Mustafa
Khan]
