C'"hap-tev Two-

TWO

A Brief History of Persian Literature Produced in India

The relations between Persia • and India are said to have been since

the time immemorial. The Persians long before the Islamic invasion, had

close relations with India. "Persian kings, until the end of the Sasanid

dynasty, had the Western Punjab, Sind and Baluchistan under their

rule. In the Achaemenian period (B.C. 521), King Darius had sent his

officer to discover the sea-route to India. The discovery finally led to

conquest of Sind, the Punjab and their annexation to the Persian

Empire. 1 The relations thus established between the Persians and

Indians evoked a natural regard for each other's culture, language and

mode of living.

As has been pointed out, interactions between Indians and

Persians have had a long history, but the full-fledged interactions in ... ~ ... , ~-·

·The name Persia in its various classical and modern European forms comes from Pars, the name of the South-Western province oflran, along the shore ofthe Gulf. The Arabs, whose alphabet contains no equivalent to the letter "P'', called it "Fars". In the way that Castilian became Spanish and Tuscan became Italian, so the dialect of Fars, known as Farsi, came to be accepted as the literary, standard, and ultimately national language. In the classical and western world, the regional name was also applied to the whole country, but this never happened among the Persians, who have used the name Iran-

_ the land of the Aryans - for millennia and formally adopted it as the official name of the country in 1935. 1 Jawaharlal Nehru. The Discovery of India (New Delhi :Oxford University Press, 1981), P. 147.

13

relation to the literary works evidently started during the reigns of

Mahmud of Ghazna and Muhammad Ghori respectively.

The great ruler, Mahmud of Ghazna invaded India for the first time

in 1001 A.D. and in the last years of his life ( 1026 A.D.) he added the

territory of the Punjab to his jurisdiction. In the next century, 150 years

later to be exact, Muhammad of Ghor(1175 A.D.) invaded northern India

and he made his slave Qutubuddin Aybak ruler over the Indian territory.

Aybak being an able ruler, expanded his domain covering Gujarat and

adjoining countries between 1192 A.D. and 1198 A.D. and ascended the

throne of Delhi as sovereign ruler and as the founder of the Sultanate of

Delhi in 1206 A.D.

The contact between India and Iran in the field of new Persian

literature dates back to the invasions of Mahmud's armies in India. The

Hindu nobility of the conquered Punjab was in high esteem at the court

of Mahmud and his successors and we learn from the historian Firishta2

that Ghazna had the appearance of an Indian city on account of the

many Indians who lived there.

When the rulers. shifted their base from Ghazna to Lahore, they did

their best to keep the cultural traditions of the court of Mahmud and

gave their full assistance to art and literature. 3 The bounty of the court

attracted poets from many parts of Central Asia such as Khurasan,

2 Abdul Wahab Buk.hari. Persian in India. P. 30. 3 For detailed discussion on Ghaznavid period See E. G. Brown. A literary History of Persia. Vol. II, (London: Cambridge University Press, 1969).

14

Transoxiana and other districts so that the city of Lahore bragged of

eminent scholars and artists from many parts of the Islamic world. It was

at the same place that the first Indo-Persian poetry, which played very

significant role in the further development of cultural and literary life of

the Indian subcontinent, was composed.4

The first poet who was born in India and wrote in Persian was Abu

'Abdullah Nuqati from Lahore. He was there during the reign of Sultan

Mas'ud and we practically know nothing about him and of his works

except for a few verses surviving in biographies.

Abul Faraj Runi, said to be born in Rune (Ruin) near Lahore, was a

poet of great calibre. He has left for us a divan of 2000 vers.~s5 in a fluent

and uncluttered style. He was during the reigns of Sultan Ibrahim ibn

Mas'ud (1059-1099) and his son Masu'd (1099-1115)6 • He began his

poetic career about the middle of the eleventh century. He was a reputed

poet and acknowledged master who made a departure from the poetic

style of the early Ghaznavid period. He left his impact on the later poets,

especially Anwari, who admits to have followed his style in writing

qasida.7 Masu'd Sa'd Salman Jurjani whose discussion follows, also

mentions him as his master in poetry.

~ M. Z. Huda. History of Persian Literature, pp. 87-93. s Dr. Naeemuddin. Persian Literature in India. (New Delhi: Nazia Printers, 1985), p. 94. 6 Iqbal Husayn. The Early Persian Poets of India, (Patna, 1937). pp. 64-66. 7 Dr. Na'.~emuddin. op cit. p. 81-100.

15

The other poet of great repute who was born in India is Masu'd

Sa'd Salman Jurjani (b.1046-7 in Lahore, d. about 1121-2 in Ghazna)s.

He spent his life in India as Governor of Jallandhar. He rose to the

prominence very soon and scholars from surrounding areas used to

/come to him. One of the well known among those who came to him was

Muhammad Rashid Shihabuddin. Muhammad Rashid Shihabuddin

excelled in lyrics, which are redolent of Rudaki Samarqandi and Sa'adi

Shirazi.

When the Persian literature came to India, it was already

pungently coloured by mysticism. The author of Kashful-Mahjoub, 'The

discovery of the Hidden', the earliest treatise on the life and doctrine of

the poets, Abul Hasan Ali ibn Usman al-Hujviri was born in Ghazna and

he spent a major part of his life in Lahore and also died there ( 1 07 2-7 3).

The Ghaznavid rule lasted for about two hundred years, beginning

from the coronation of Sultan Mahmud in 998 until 1188, when

Muizuddin Muha..umad Ghori wrested Lahore from the last Ghaznavi

King Khusrau, son of Bahram Shah.

Ta:i,uddin Riza of Delhi, Shihabuddin of Badaun and Aminuddin of

Sanam(Sirhind) were some of the great scholars of that time. Tajuddin

Riza was extremely sweet tongued and became known as 'Nightiangle of

8 Ibid.

16

India'9 . He wrote qasidas in praise of Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish and

his son and successor Ruknuddin Feroz.

Multan, ruled over by Sultan Qabacha from Sindh and Delhi ruled

over by Qutubuddin Aybak, one of the generals of Shihabuddin Ghori,

who had proclaimed himself Sultan were the centres of literary activity

after the rulers of Ghazna had lost their power. Lahore was no more a

centre of literary activity. There developed a healthy competition for the

support to art and literature between these two rulers. Scholars and

poets from Khurasan, Ghor and Ghazna, who were scared of the violent

attacks of the Tatars, flocked to India. We find many creative poets like

Shamsuddin Muhammad Balkhi, Fazli Multani and Ziyauddin at work at

the imperial court. The grand vizier of Sultan Qabacha, Aynul Mulk was

himself a talented poet and a patron of the arts. The great biographies of

the poets, Lubabul Albab by Muhammad Aufi were completed under 0

Aynul Mulk's guidance only. Aufi embarkep upon the colossal work

entitled, 'Javami-ul-Hikayat-va-Lavamiur-Rivayat', 'Necklaces of

Anecdotes and Rays of Stories' at the insistence of N asiruddin Qabacha

only. 10

Since the time of invasion of India by Mahmud Ghazni till Akbar

ascended to the throne of Delhi i.e. for about six hundred years, there

9 See LakshmiNarayan Shafiq, Gul-i Ra'na. 10 M. z. Huda. op cit. 93.

17

were no contributions to Persian from Hindus with some exceptions.ll

:One dynasty after the other, ascended to the throne but the books on

history do not throw lights on it. On the bases of some evidences, we can

tell that during this long period of time, Hindus did not pay attention to

Persian education. Although, some governments during their rules paid

some attention to this political necessity and probably there were small I

groups of Hindus during every government. For example, Hindus

associated with the Islamic courts must have been knowing Persian. 12

We can mention at least one prominent Hindu figure in the court

of Mahmud Ghazni who knew Persian. He was Tilak ibn Jaysen. 13 Tilak

was a barber but due to his distinguished individuality became the

private secretary of Khwaja Ahmad Hasan Memandi. He was a very

handsome person and good orator. He was an expert at writing. It is said

that he could write good Persian apart from Hindi. It can be said that he

must have been an expert at Persian because he had to perform the job

of interpretation being the head of the Hindi army .14

Likewise, other Hindu officers in the court of Mahmud Ghazni,

Sundar, Bijoy and other thousands of employees and sepoys must have

been good at Persian conversations. 1s

11 Syed Abdullah. Adabiyat-e Farsi Mein Hinduon Ka Hissa (New Delhi : Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu, Hind, 1992. p. 31. 12 Ibid. p. 31. 13 Ibid. p. 33. 14 Ibid. P. 33. 15 Ibid. P. 33.

18

Persian literature had many forms at that time. Qasida, Tazkirah,

odes were some of the prominent ones. Aufi wrote numerous odes to his

patron, Vizier Qiyamuddin Nizamul-mulk Muhammad Ali Sa'd al Junaydi

and to Sultan Iltutmish in the book, 'Kitab-e madaihus-Sultan', 'The Book

of Odes to the Sultan'. 16

Indians had had major contributions in tazkirah writing in Persian

as they did have in Persian dictionaries and Persian grammar. The first

Persian tazkirah of the world was written in India and that's 'Lubabul-

Albab', 'The Quintessence of the Hearts'.I7

There was not written even a single tazkirah in Iran after Lubabul-

Albab for about one hundred and seventy five years. As a wonderful

coincidence, there we do not find a single tazkirah in India too after

Lubabul-Albab for hundred years, which can be mentioned here.

II

After the death of Muhammad Ghori, the former Governor of the

Indian territories, QutubU:ddin Aybak was elected as the first Sultan to

the throne of Delhi. The confused political situation gradually came to a

stable state. The firm establishment of Central power in Delhi made

possible the development of culture and education. Thus became the

16M. z. Huda. op. cit. 11 Rais Ahmad Nomani in Fikr-o Nazar (Quartely) Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Vol. 35. No.4, 1998.

19

court of the Sultans of Delhi the centre for Persian literature. All the

rulers of this dynasty who ruled there in succession dur:ing the

thirteenth century showed great interest in Persian literature. The •)

cultivation of the language received great impetus under the patronage·of

Qutub-ud-din Aybak, Iltutmish and Nuruddin. Among historical works of

the time may be mentioned the following: the Taj-ul-Ma'athir of Hasan

Nizami Nishapuri, the Chach Nama, an early history of Sind, by, 'Ali bin

Hamid bin Abi Bakr al-Kufi, the Jamiul Hikayat, a compendium of

historical anecdotes, by Sadiuddin Muhammad Awfi Bukhari and the

Tabqat-i Nasiri by Minhajus Siraj. Bukhari is referred to have compiled

the Lubab-ul Albab, the first extant Persian anthology. Fakhr Mudabbir

compiled the Adabul Harb wal Shuja'at, a manual dealing with the

science of warfare. Abu Bakr al-Kashani translated and revised the Kitab-

us-Sydana(Book of Drugs) of Alberuni about 1215. Sultan Ruknuddin,

Ghiyasuddin Balban and his son Muhammad made a choice collection of

poems from the most celebrated authors, containing 20,000 couplets,

which were regarded the most select specimens then extantl8 . Balban's

court was the rendezvous of literary genius of the time. The most

prominent among those men of letters were Amir Khusrau, Shaikh

Usmani Tirmizi, Shaikh Badr-ud-din Arif, Amir Hasan, Syed Maula,

Shaikh Shakar Ganj, Bahauddin and Qutub-ud-din Bakhtiyar. Books

18 N. S. Gorekar. Persian Poets of India. P. 69; Ziaud-din Barni. Tarikh-e Firoz Shahi trans. from Persian by H. M. Elliot (ed.) John Dowson. 1st edn. Lahore, Sind Sagar Academy, 1974.

20

were written on the subjects like history, philosophy, poetry and other

sciences by eminent scholars of whom Amir Khusrau was the torch-

bearer.

There were many talented poets and prolific scholars in the court

of generous Sultan Qutubuddin Aybak. Ushi was the most distinguished

poet who composed delicate ghazals and was a resourceful scholar.

Jamaluddin Muhammad and Hamiduddin competed with him for the J

first place. There was a new influx in India of scholars and poets from

Central Asia during the reigns of Aybak's successor, Shamsuddin

- Iltutmish. They were escaping from the horrors perpetrated by the

Mongol tribes who, commanded by Chingiz Khan, invaded Iran during

the third decade of the thirteenth century and left a trail of devastation

and despondency behind them. Iran's loss culminated in India's gain and

enriched India's educational and cultural values. At this time, Nasiri of

Khurasap, t);!e author of many baroque odes to Sultan Iltutmish, 19 came 0

to the court of Delhi and also Amir Ruhani Samarqandi, who fled from

Bukhara to escape from Chingiz Khan and had been attracted by the

rumours that poets were liberally supported at the court of Iltutmish. It

!: is believed that the Sultan rewarded him magnificently for his qasidas 'fa i celebrating the conquests of Bihar, Ratnambhor and Mandur20 . Qasidas

at that time had .a very significant place in literature. It lauded the

I9 M. z. Huda. Op cit. pp. 170-173. 2o Abdul Qadir Badauni. Muntakhbat-ut Tawareekh, I, p. 65; English transl. by . Ranking, I, p. 93. ~

!('S~r)/'

~{, ( c: \~~ * o- ...... \ OJ :; \\ ~;-..__ -< /~// \',;/'.~-;;-;:-\~~\'/~·

"'-- ... _,...;, ~

21

bravery, courage, gameplan and methods of wars of the rulers. This form

of poetry was used by the poet to have access to the court of the ruler.

Tajuddin Rida, who was born in India and whose ancestors had

come from Khurasan, wrote in Persian.- He lived at the court of Sultan

Iltutmish and was a very "famous panegyrist. Panegyrism had flourished

as an important form of poetry at that time. He wrote very charming

qasidas and eloquent quatrains. Sincerity of the thought and simplicity

of style are the outstanding qualities of his poetry. But he met a very

tragic end. He fell into a disgrace and the Sultan got him trampled by an

elephant. 21

The thirteenth century saw a bloom of Persian panegyric poetry

written in Indian style. The Sultans, on their campaigns to the

battlefield, were accompanied by the poets of the court. They used to

describe battles, praise the heroic deeds of the soldiers and draw up

chronograms laying down the dates when the most strongholds had been

conquered. The themes of the qasidas were almost exclusively secular as

they portrayed only the valours of the soldiers. The first one to introduce

spiritual subjects in the qasidas was the court poet of Ruknuddin Feroz

Shah, the successor to Iltutmish, a man called Shihabuddin Muhmara

Badauni also known as Shihab-i Muhmara22, who is regarded as the

innovator of a new, more florid style of writing qasidas . . His panegyric

poetry does not depart from the usual scheme of the Indian style and is

21 Badauni. p. 67; Ranking. p. 95.

22

rich in rhetorical adornment, but it is remarkable for its integrity of

experience and delicacy of expression. i-l:is pupil Amir Khusrau who

called him, "the nightiangle in the garden of knowledge", attempted to

imitate some of his qasidas.

Amir Abul Hasan Khusrau23 , popularly kriown as Amir-Khusrau,

one of the greatest figures in Indo-Persian poetry, was born in 1253 in

Patiali, a small village in the western part of what is now Uttar Pradesh.

He began his career in the reign of Balban and served seven successive

rulers of Hindustan. In spite of his official duties, Khusrau found time to

attend to the Khanqah of Sheikh Nizamuddin Aulia, the great Chishti

saint of Delhi and became his most trusted disciple. He travelled

extensively in India, observed the diversity of life and society and saw

many political upheavals, including the attack of Mongols in which he

himself was taken prisoner. He died in 1325 in Delhi and lies buried near

the··grave of his master, Sheikh Nizamuddin Aulia.

Khusrau is considered the chief architect of the Indo-Persian

tradition. His versatile genius coupled with his knowledge of Persian,

Arabic, Turkish and Hindi enabled him to make diverse contributions to

poetry, epistemology, music and folk-song. Khusrau was a prodigious

writer. He left five divans. One khamsa, comprising of five mathnavis.

Apart from their poetic excellence, the mathnavis are a valuable source of

:22 Badauni. pp. 71-83; Ranking. pp. 99-119. 23 See Shibli N'umani, She'ero.l 'Ajam, Vol. 2; Wahid Mirza, Life and Works of Amir Khusrau; Life, Time and Works of Amir Khusrau Dehlaui, ed. Zoe Ansari.

23 0

political history. They also throw light on the geography and social

conditions of India of his tim~. Khusrau was also interested in Persian

prose writing but it was not as great as his poetry. Ei)az-i-Khusravi and

Dibachn-i-Ghurrat-ul Kamal, two of his works in Persian prose are quite

well known. Two historical books, Khazainul Futuh and Afzalul Fawaid

are also attributed to him, although the latter work is disputed.

Khusrau's favourite form of poetry is ghazal to which he made significant

contribution and earned the respect and admiration of masters like Hafiz

and Jami.

Until the middle of the thirteenth century, qasidas were almost the c

only form of poem written at the Indian court, while very few poets felt

inclined to the melodious form of ghazals. This habit was broken by

Fakhrul-Mulk Amiduddin, known as Amid Daylami, who was born in

Sanam and became a favourite panegyrist poet of Sultan Nasiruddin

Mahmud and of Ghiyathuddin Balban. He used qasidas to please his

patrons but for ~is mvn pleasure he preferred ghnzal, which resemble

qasidas in form, generally say things in simpler and more natural way

and are more musical and melodious. He is supposed to be the first

Indian poet to write munaazirah, 'fights', in ghazal form e.g. Munaazirah-

i-Shnb-o-Roz24.

The age of the Khaljis was a glorious period. There lived at Delhi;

scholars of such eminence and calibre as were not to be found in

24 Badauni, p. 96; Ranking, p. 138.

24

Bukhara, Samarqand, Tabriz and Isfahan and in their ,intellectual

accomplishments they equalled Razi and Ghazali. Unf:ier every stone lay

hidden a precious gem of literary excellence. In the midst of a host of

literary artists, the two outstanding persons were Amir Khusrau and

Sheikh Najmuddin Hasan, popularly known as Hasan Dehlavi. The

former is the greatest figure in the world of Persian literature in India. He

was a prolific and versatile writer of genius who is said to have composed

half a million verses and 99 works on different subjects. 25 His five literary

masterpieces or the Khamsah, composed as a rejoinder to the Khamsah

of Nizami, were Mutla-ul-Anwar, Shirin Khusrau, Laila Majnun, Ayina-i-

Sikandari and Hasht Bahisht. These were dedicated to his great patron

0

Alauddin Khalji. His five divans, Tuhfat-us-Sighar, Wast-ul-Hayat,

Ghurratul-Kamal, Baqiya-Naqiya and Nihayat-ul-Kamal, written at

various stages of his life, show the development of his lyrical talent at

best and give him a place next to Sa'di of Shiraz, his great contemporary.

His Khazain-ul-Futuh describes Alauddin's consquests. The Tughlaq-

Namah depicts the rise of Ghiyathuddin Tughlaq. The Qiran-us-Sadain is

the story of meeting between Sultan Muizuddin Kaiqubad of Delhi and

his father Nasiruddin Bughra of Bengal in 1288. His Miftah-ul-Futuh

gives an account of the four victories of Jalalud-din Khalji's reign. The

-· Duwal-Rani-wa-Khizr-Khan or Ishaiya is a special narrative of the love

adventure of Khizr Khan, son of Sultan 'Al&1Uddin KhaUi and Devala rani,

25

25

daughter of Rai Karan, the Raja of Gujarat. The Nuh-Se-paher contains a

poetical description of Qutubuddin Mubarak Shah Khalji's reign and

gives a glowing account of things found in India. Hasan Dehlavi, the

friend and contemporary of Khusrau, was also an eminent poet and the

quality of his ghazals won him the name of Sa'di of India. During the

reign of Alauddin KhaJji( 1295-1315), Persian literature reached one of its

glorious periods. The poets and scholars were unmatched. Persian

literature flourished in many forms. The peace and prosperity at the time

of Alauddin Khalji helped Persian literature flourish., The second big

factor to enhance the uprising of Persian literature was the immigration

of Iranian poets and scholars who made India their second home.

Hasan of Delhi was from a Saiyyed family but worked in a bakery

as a youth. A chance meeting with Amir Khusrau saw him meeting with

Nizamuddin Aulia, a Chishti saint. He Worked at the court of Sultans of

Delhi and became the court poet too. That is why he wrote panegyric

poems. Qasidas did not appeal to him and he abstained from extorting

money from the Sultans for writing panegyric poems. He excelled in

ghazals. Most of his ghazals are influenced by Sa'di, that is why his

friends called him 'Sa'di from Hindustan'. Hasan's ghazals are simple,

melodious and carries through itself one concept only. He was very

famous for his ghazals which were in short metres and lyrical. His

mathnavis, 'Ishq-Namah' or 'Hikayat-i-Ashiq-i Nagori' are outstanding. His

collection of prose works 'Fawaid-ul-Funoon', contains his dialogues with

26

Nizamuddin Aulia. They deal with various questions concerning religion

and mysticism and are interwoven with maxims (malfuuzaat). His famous

prose work is a marthiya describing the death of Prince Muhammad

Qa'an Malik, the eldest son of Sultan Balban in the battle against the

Mongol invaders. A friend of Hasan, Islami wrote Futuhus-Salatin, "The

victories of the Sultans", at the request of Sultan Alauddin Bahmani.

Sultan Ghiyathuddin Tughlaq and his son Sultan Muhammad

Tughlaq were two very enlightened rulers who were instrumental in the

restoration of Persian literature after a brief stint of Mubarak Shah Khalji

( 1316-1320 A.D.) and the disorder that had prevailed during his reign.

In the time of Tughlaq, many famous historians and poets adorned the

court of Muhammad Tughlaq. The historical works of Ziya-ud-din Barni,

the poetical writings of Muttahhar, the mathnavi of Abu Ali Qalandar, the

Futuhat-i-Feroz-Shahi by Sultan Feroz Shah Tughlaq himself, and the

Tarikh-i Feroz Shah of Shams-i Siraj Aafif, are of importance. The transfer

of the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad had the effect of extending the

influence of Persian literature and culture to South India. Badruddin

Chachi,. known as Badri Chach, "Moon of Tashkent", was Sultan

Muhammad's court poet and was very famous. His epic Shah-Namah,

"The book of the Kings", is a valuable historical source because it

contains a great deal of information about the reign of Sultan

Muhammad Tughlaq.26

2 6 H. Elliot. History of India as Told by its Own Historians, III, pp. 567-573.

27

Numerous biographies and lives of saints were written in Persian

p1:·ose during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq and his

~uccessors. There were also collections of letters (Maktoobaat) by mystics

such as Sheikh Sharfuddin Yahya Maneri ( 1263-1380) 27 . Sheikh Maneri

wrote in mixed Hindi-Persian as it was the trend of the time.

There were books also written on the Sufis' lives. Ziyauddin

Nakshabi Badauni28 (d. 1350) wrote the book of parrots, Tuti-Namah on

the subject of morality and noble-mindedness. He also wrote Gulrez,

"Scattering Roses".

Feroz Shah Tughlaq tried his best to bring back the laurels of the

Delhi Sultanate and get back the poets and scholars from Daulatabad.

Malik Ahmad wrote a divan comprising 16,000 verses, which was in

contrast to the style and offensive complacency of Badr-i Chacpi. His

ghazals are often satirical. Qazi Zahir from Delhi was another very

famous poet at the court.

In South India, the influx of eminent poets, scholars, saints, artists

and calligraphers from Persia turned Gulbarga in to a virtual capital of a

Persian prince. The founder of the Bahmani kingdom, Sultan Alauddin

Bahman Shah, was a great patron of learning. Isami composed Futuh-us-

Salatin in 1349 A.D. and dedicated it to him. Feroz Shah Bahmani and

Alauddin Ahmad Shah II Bahmani were also great patrons and the latter

27 M. A. Ghani. History of Persian Language and Literature at the Mughal Court, I, pp. 65-66. 2a Tuti-Namah trans. into English by M. Gerrans (London, 1792).

28

himself was a great poet. The reign of Muhammad Shah ( 1463-1482)

brings us to one of the ·?reatest figures of the history of Deccan, Khwaja

Jahan Mahmud Gawan, his illustrious vizier, who-se glori-ous

achievements, literary' productions and educational instit1-1tions remain

as historic monuments of the period. Khwaja Ubaidullah Ahrar (d. 1491

A.D.), the great saint of the Naqshbandi order, Sharafuddin Ali-Yazi­

Dawwani (d. 1453 A.D.), the author of the Zafar-Namah, Jalaluddin

DaW"wani (d. 1502 A.D.), who wrote the Shawakil-Hur and many other

scholars flourished under his patronage. The vizier himself was a writer

of no mean merit. The ruler of the Deccan Kingdom, Muhammad

Bahmani ( 1378-1379 A.D.), of the Kingdom of the Bahmanids patronized

scholars and artists. Sheikh Azhari of Isfarain was the poet laureate at

the court. He wrote a verse chronicle of the Bahmanids called Bahman

Namah apart from writing qasidas. The Bahman Namah was later

completed by Naziri and other poets.

\Vhen Timur invaded India in 1398-99 A.D., he had favourable

conditions before him. Hindu feudal lords had revolted against the

Muslim supremacy. Thus, Delhi ceased to be the spiritual and cultural

centre of northern India. Many scholars and poets had fled from Delhi to

the neighbouring places when Timur came to Delhi.

29

Sultan Ibrahim Shah Sharqi29 ( 140 1-1440 A.D.) was a great patron

of poets and scholars and he got them back at his court. The neW; centre

of culture, Jaunpur, was referred to as the "Shiraz of India".

When Lodi dynasty took over the ruling at Delhi after much

turmoil and political upheavals, Delhi again became the cultural centre.

And Agra also became the cultural centre because poets and scholars

had started to move to Agra after the fall of the Sharqi Empire in

Jaunpur.

There were considerable activity under the Syeds and the Lodi

kings also. Shaikh Jamali Kamboh (d. 1536 A.D.), the greatest poet of

the time, composed the Siyar-ul Arifeen and the mathnavi Mihr-o-Mah.

. Syed Muinul Haq wrote a geographical account of the Syeds of Bhakkar.

Ibrahim Qiwam Faruqi compiled a lexicon known as Farhang-e-Ibrahimi.

Philosophical studies were specially promoted by the arrival at Delhi of

Shaikh Abdullah Tulambi and Shaikh Azizullah from Multan. Yahya bin

Ahmad Sirhindi and the great Sufi Abdul Quddus Gangoh, ·were other

prominent litterateurs. Azizuddin Khalid wrote a treatise on natural

philosophy, the Dalail-i-Feroz Shahi and Abdul Aziz Shams of Thanesar a

treatise on music and dancing. The reign of Sikandar Lodi ( 1488-1518

A.D.) is one of the most remarkable periods in the development of Persian ..... :·

literature in India. This was the commencement of a new period of

literary activity, which progressed to the great Mughals. This was the

29 Stanley Lane-Poole. Medieval India under Mohammaden Rule, pp. 169-171.

30

time when Jami was there in Iran. Sikandar Lodi and his nobles

patronised arts and sciences and scholars from all over the world flocked

to Delhi and settled in India.

Sikandar Lodi, himself being a poet, was responsible for the

creation of an environment where Indians could pursue Persian

literature more sincerely and vigorously. Sikandar Lodi wrote under the

pseudonym of 'Gulrukh'. He has also left a divan behind him.

Maulana Jalal Khan Jamali30 (d. 1535 A.D.) was the most prolific

poet of Sikandar Lodi's court. He wrote lyrics, which were very easily put

to music. His qasidas were preferred to his ghazals and mathnavis. His

best-known book is Mehr-o-Maah, "The Sun and the Moon". He also

wrote the biographies of the saints in a book called Siyar-ul-Arifeen.

During Sikandar Lodi's reign, Pers.i.an was used in daily life, which

saw the compilation of many dictionaries in that period. Badruddin

Muhammad from Delhi compiled a dictionary3·1, Fawaidul-Fuzala, in two

parts. Qivamuddin Faruqi compiled Firhang-i-Ibrahimi under the

patronage of the Bengal ruler Barbak Shah.

The writing of dictionaries continued during the period of Lodis.

Firhang-i-Sikandai, containing twenty-two chapters, also known as

Futuhus-Sa'adat, was completed in 1510 A.D. by Mahmud ibn Ziyauddin

Muhamhmad. Shei~h Muhammad wrote another dictionary Muyyidul-

3D A. Halim. History of Persian Literature during the Sayyid-Lodhi Period. P. 23. 31 Ibid. p. 29.

31

Fuzala during the reign of Ibrahim Lodi. The reign of Lodis will be better

known 'in the history for its contribution to the Persian lexicography.

The Adil Shahs of Bijapur (1490-1686 A.D.) and the Nizam Shahis

of Ahmad Nagar ( 1490-1633 A.D.) have also left a great mark. Their

courts were full of talented authors and poets like Malik Qummi (d. 16.15

A.D.), Nuruddin Zuhuri (d. 1616 A.D.), Sanjar-i-Kashani (d. 1612 A.D.)

and Atashi. Zuhuri is by far the most distinguished of the poets of this

period and exerted considerable influence over later poets. Several

historical works were also written under the patronage of these rulers:

the Burhan-:-i-Ma)athir by Syed Ali bin Azizullah Taba Tabai, the Tazkirah-

ul-Mulk on the Adil Shahs by Rafiuddin Ibrahim Shirazi (d. after 1611

A.D.), the Futul1at-i-Adil-Shahi (1644 A.D.) by Fuzuni Astrabadi, the

Muhammad-Namah on Muhammad Adil Shah (1627-1657 A.D.) by Mulla

c

Zuhuri, the Tareekh-i-Rchi-Nizam by Khwar Shah bin Qubadal Husaini

and the Gulshan-i-Ibrahimi by Firishta Muhammad Qasim.

In the Qutub Shahi court at Golconda, Mir Muhammad Mumin

Astrabadi(d. 1580 A.D.), the chief vizier of Muhammad Quli and

Muhammad Qutub Shah, was a great patron of Persian scholarship. He

was himself a noted poet and one of his technical brochures deals with

weights and measures and distances according to Muslim law. His

protege Mirza Muhammad Amin Sharistan styled Mir Jumla and Allamah

Ibn Khatun were also well-known administrators, poets and scholars. Of

the other poets and men of learning patronised by the Qu tub Shahs may

32

be mentioned Malikush-shura Mulla Muin Mirak Sabzwari, Rukn-i-

masih, Sirajuddin Arif, Ghiyathuddin Isfahani, Mir Hasan Askari and )

Muhsin Hamdani.

III

The foundation of the Mughal Empire in India heralded the dawn

of a new era in the history of Indo-Persian literature. This period is very 0

interesting and significant from several points of view. There is a vast

literature of this period available which requires to be looked for. The

Mughal Emperors were not' only great patrons of art and literature, many

of them were themselves litterateurs in their own rights .

. Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur, who ruled India from 1525

A.D. to 1530 A.D., wrote his memoirs in his native· language,

Chagatay, but he was also an accomplished and prolific poet of

Persian. Babar's memoirs are considered to be one of the most

revealing and sincere autobiographies ever written. His writings \

bear the testimony to the mysticism. 32 Babar's autobiography,

Tuzuk-i-Babari in Turkish, was later, translated into Persian by

Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan.

32 M. A. Ghani. History of Persian Literature, Vol. I, p. 50.

33

affluorescence of Persian literature. Humayun himself was a poet of

merit. His brother Kamran was a poet and his sister Gulbadan

Negum was a prose writer, who composed Humayun-Namah, the

biography of Humayun. Muhammad al-Muskini compiled his

encyclopaedia of Islamic sciences called the Jawahir-ul-ulum-i­

Humayuni in 1539 A.D. and Yusuf bin Muhammad Harati wrote in

1533 A.D. ·the Badai-ul-Insha, a treatise on the epistolography.

Poets like Shah Tahir Dakhni (d. 1545 A.D.), Damri Bilgrami (d.

1594 A.D.) and Khwaja Husain Marvi (d. after 1572 A.D.) adorned

his court.

Akbar's long reign (1556-1605 A.D.) 1s very significant in history

because of its wide conquests and judicious administration. His territory

extended from Kabul to Bengal and Kashmir to Ahmadnagar. Akbar was

an extremely judicious ruler and provided a very peaceful and

prosperous environment, which led people to conglomerate in India. The

sense of peace and life in prosperity attracted scholars and poets too. The

luxury in life also culminated in the cultivation of art, aesthetics, culture

and literature in general. That is why Akbar's period is the richest in the

production of literature and art. Akbar's reign is also called Indian

summer in Persian literature. Persian literature at the time of Akbar was

far richer than that m Iran during Safavids, who were the

contemporaries and counterparts of Akbar. Todarmal, one of the

35

prominent ministers of Akbar's court, made Persian the government

language for the entire empire. In Akbar's period historiography was also

well represented, and except for the later parts of Aurangzeb's reign there

are reliable histories for every reign. The Akbar-Namah and A 'in-e-Akbari

of Abul Fazal, in spite of their. difficult and rhetorical style3·1, continue to

be the greatest historical works of Akbar's period, coloured througly:>u t

by excessive adulations of the Emperor.

Muhammad Urfi (d. 1590-1 A.D.), Naziri and Zuhuri are the

exponents of the Indian style of poetry from the time of Akbar. Sheikh

Mubarak Nagori, father of Abul Fazal and Abul Faizi, Sheikh Abdullah

Muhaddith of Delhi, Sheikh Yaqub of Kashmir, Mir Fatahullah Shirazi,

Qazi Nizam Badakshi, Kazim Nurullah Shustari, the author of Majalis-ul-

Momineen, Makhdoom-ul-Mulk Abdullah of Sultanpur, Sadrus-Sudoor

Sheikh Abdun Nabi, Syed Muhammad Mir Adl, Mulla Abdul Qadir Al:.

Badauni, the uncompromising writer of Muntakhab-ul-Tawareekh,

Ghazali Mashhadi, Urfi Shirazi, Naziri Nishapuri, Sanaai, Sheri, Maahili

were some of the prominent figures of literature of the time.

Muhammad Husain Naziri from Nishapur could not get his due in

Akbar's time. But Jahangir bestowed upon him reward for his qasidas.

Naziri had contented himself with the access to the court of Abdur Rahim

Khan-e-Khanan in Agra. He was a master of ghnzal and very much c

:l1 See Harbans Mukhia's "Perspectives on Medieval Histonj'. (Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1993)

36

influenced by Hafiz Shirazi. He pursues a single thought throughout his

ghazal.

Najmuddin Muhammad Abul Qasim Kahi praises the Prophet

Muhammad (PBUH), the caliphs and Emperor Akbar in his qasidas. He··

h31-d professed and propagated Deen-e flahi, the divine religion, which is

attributed to Akbar.

Abdur Rahim Khan-e Khanan, the commander-in-chief of Akbar's

army against Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat, was a great poet, held in high

esteem, who patronized art and literature.

When Rahim Khan-e-Khanan's fame reached the court of the

Persian Shah Abbas the Great, as illustrated by the poet Kausari in his

introduction to his book Farhad-o-Shirin ( 1606 A.D.) writes: 'wishes to

send his poems to the Khan-e-Khanan in India'.:l:> According to him, the

literary standard of Iran had degraded at that time. Abdur Rahim Khan­

e- Khan a was also a leading Hindi poet and he wrote under the

pseudonym of Rahim and he popularised a nev1 metre. He also translated

Babar's memoirs from Chagatay to Persian.

Muhammad Jamaluddin Urfi36 Shirazi was born and educated in ~

Shiraz. He came to India in his early life and spent some time with Faizi.

Later on he associated himself with Hakim Abul Fath, a learned noble

and patron of poets. After Abul Fath's death, Urfi entered the service of

Khan-e-Khanan. He wrote panegyrics m praise of Akbar and Prince

-':-;M.A. Ghani. op cit. p. 224.

37

Salim but could not gain any position in either's court because of his

strained rel):l.tions with Faizi and Abul Fazal who exercised considerable

infl_uence over Akbar. He was poisoned to death at an early age of 36.

Urfi was a great poet of Persian in India. His published divan consists of ,

ghazals, qasidas and mathnauis.

Abul Faiz Faizi37 was a great scholar and an extremely prolific

writer. He is reported to have authored more than 100 books including

some translations from Sanskrit books. Faizi wrote qasidas, ghazals and

versified stories in the form of mathnavis.

Many translations from Sanskrit to Persian took place during that

period. Razm-Namah, "The Book of battle", was a Persian translation of

0

Mahabharata by a group of scholars. Ramayana was translated into

Persian. Tareekh-i Krishnaji was the translation of "the Life of Krishnaji",

based on Bhagvatapuran. Yoga Vashishta was also translated during the

same period. Faizi translated Lilavati, a treatise on Algebra and Geometry

and rewrote the story of the king Nal and princess Damayanti from the

epic Mahabharata in the form of mathnavi and gave it the title Nal-

Daman. He also translated Katha-Sarit Sagar by the poet Somdeva from

Kashmir. 38

Abul Fazl translated Bhagvad Gita into Persian. Singhasan Batisi

was translated into Persian by Chaturbhuj Kayastha. Todarmal, Mirza

,:r. See Muntakhab-ut Tawareekh; Ain-e Akbari; She'er-ul 'Ajam . . :I See Muntakhabatu-ut Tawareekh; She'rul 'Ajam . .Jx Desai. The Story of Nal Damayanti as told by Faizi. p. 84.

38

Manahar Tosni and Krishna Das are some of the Hindu Persian writers

of Akbar's time.39

Nuruddin Muhammad Tahir Zuhuri at the court of Bijapur, came '

-to India and became a court poet to Shah Burhan Nizam in Ahmad

Nagar. His famous work, Seh-Nathr, is a prose of repute. The most

important of the essays is the first one, named Nau-Ras, The rew Fruit',

and 'nine styles', which has got similes and metaphors from the world of

music. The second essay is Gulzar-e Ibrahimi and praises the Sultan

Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur at the insistence of whom he had written

the book. And the third, Khana-e Khalil, discusses with the court artists

and their merits.

The age of Akbar ( 1556-1605) was indeed a brilliant epoch in the

' history of Indo-Persian literature. Under him, Agra could justly claim to

be the literary metropolis of Central Asia. A host of poets from all parts of

Persia flocked to his court, amongst whom, Ghazali Mashhadi (d. 1572

A.D.), Jamaluddin (d. 1591 A.D.), Urfi Shirazi, Thanai l\!Iashhadi Zuhuri

Turshizi and Mulla Husain Naziri Nishapuri are the most prominent.

Faizi (d. 1595 A.D.), was the most eminent among the numerous poets

mentioned by historians. In the field of history, the outstanding works

are Akbar Namah and Ain-i-Akbari of Abul Fazal, Tabaqat-i-Akbari of

Mulla Nizamuddin Ahmad Harawi, Nafa'is-ul-Ma'athir of Mir

Alauddaulah Qazwini and Abdul Hqa's Zikr-ul-Mulk.

:>9 Syed Abdullah. op cit.

39

The tempo of progress was maintained under Jahangir and Shah

Jahan. Abu Talib Amilu 40 (d. 1626 A.D.) was the Malik-ush-Shu'ra of

Jahangir's court, and Abu Talib Kalim Hamadani4l (d. 1651 A.D.) was

the poet laureate of Shah Jahan. Besides Kalim, the other great poets

such as Qudsi Mashhadi (d. 1645 A.D.), Chandrabhan Brahman (d.

1662 A.D.) and Muhammad Ali Sa'ib (d. 1677 A.D.) adorned Shah

Jahan's court. Of the historical writings of the two reigns may be

mentioned Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri by Emperor Jahangir himself, Iqbal-Nwnah

of Mu'tamad Khan Mulla Muhammad Masum Bhakkari's Tarikh-i-Sind,

Muhammad Murad's Siyar-ul-Bilad, Alauddin Isfahani's Tarikh-i­

Bangalah Sikandarbin Muhammad Manjhu's Mir'at-i-Sikandari and

Malik Haidar's Tarikh-i-Kashmir. Shah Jahan's reign is described m a

number of works e.g. Padshah Namah of Abu Hamid Kahori and

Muhammad Warith and Shahjahan-Namah of Muhammad Salih

Kamboh.

As regards to Aurangzeb, the emperor. himself was a great scholar

devoted to scholarly pursuits. His letters or the ruqa'at, reveal the depth

of his learning and his command over the Persian language. Several

other great works were produced under his aegis: Aqil khan Razi's Zafar

Namah-i-Alamgiri, Mirza Muhammad Kazim's Alamgir-Namah and official

history of the first ten years of the reign. Muhammad Saqi Musta'id

Khan's Maa'thir-i-Alamgiri, Muhammad Rafi Khan's Hamla-i-Haidari

111 Sec Z. S. Qasimi. Mughalon Ke Malik-ush-Shu 'ara.

40

composed on the lines of the Shah-Namah of Firdausi, Muhammad Fazal

Sarkhush's biography of poets called the Kalimat-ush-shu'ra,

Muhammad Warith's Badshah-Namah, Ni'mat Khan Ali's Waqa-i­

Hyderabad, a chronicle of the siege of Golconda in 1686 A.D. written in

prose and verse and Bakhtawar Khan's Mir'atul-Alam. The Tarikh-i-Shah­

Shujaa' by Muhammad Ma'sum also belongs to this period.

Rai Bindraban and Isar Das wrote the Futuhat-i-Alamgiri ( 1690

A.D.). Bhimsena completed the Dilkusha, an account of Aurangzeb's

re1gn; Munshi Sujan Rai compiled his famous history, the Khulasat-ul­

Tawareekh; and Mirza Khan Fakhruddin completed the Tuhfat-ul-Hind,

an encyclopaedic work dealing with Hindi literature in a variety of

subjects.

Another very remarkable personality of the period is Prince Dara

Shikoh, who has contributed a great deal to the mystical ·literature of

India and has earned a wide reputation for the catholicity of his views

and for his efforts in harmonising Islamic and Hindu religious ideals. Of

his works may be mentioned Sa.finatul-Auliya, a collection of the

biographies of Sufi saints, Sakinatul-Auliya, a biography of his two

preceptors Mulla Shah Muhammad Badakshani and Miyan Mir or Mulla

Jiw; the Hasanat-ul-Arifeen and Majma'ul-Bahrain, containing his

philosophical and religious ideas; · and Sirr-i-Akbar, containing a

translation of fifty-two Upanishads.

~~Ibid.

41

A noteworthy attempt of the time was to create mutual

understanding between the Hindus and Muslims. Reciprocally, learning

and exchange of knowledge were advanced through translations from

Sanskrit and Hindi into Arabic and Persian and vice versa.

Among the important Sanskrit texts rendered into Persian the

following may be mentioned: Athnr Veda, Mahabharata, Harivamsa, -

Ramayana, Upanishads, Yoga- Vashishta, Lilavati, Panchtantra and

Rajatragini. Apart from religious and philosophical literature, story books

and scientific treatises were translated.

One or two special aspects of the literature may also be mentioned.

Firstly, there is a vast literature in Persian left by the Sufi saints, and it

is of great value both from the religious and literary points of view. A

brief account of it is to be found in the section on the religious

movements am-ong the Muslims. There are again innumerable

anthologies and collections of biographical sketches of poets, and these

give a clear picture of the literary climate of the different periods. Finally,

the contribution of India to Persian lexicography is particularly

significant, since this was a field neglected by the scholars outside India.

Of the many works on the subject, mention may be made of Farhnng-e­

Jahnngiri, Burhnn-e-Qati, Chiragh-e-Hidayat, Farhnng-e-Rashidi, Ghiyath­

ul-Lughnt, Farhnng-e-Anand Rai, Mutah-ul Arab, Mustali.wtu-Sh-shu 'ara

and the Muntakhabat-ul-Lughnt.

42

In the literature of Jahangir's time we find subjects from the Hindu

life, culture and their rcustoms. The then prevalent custom of a woman

becoming sati, to burn oneself on the pyre of her husband, is the subject

of the famous book, an epic poem, Suz-o-Gudaz1 2 . J ahangir himself was

a prolific writer. His memoirs are a testimony of his genius, which is an

excellent record of the period.

Another very famous mathnavi, Rat Padam written by Abdus

Shakoor Bazmi of Kannauj is the tale of love of Princess Padmava t:i and

King Ratanasena. This book is based on the book by Malik Muhammad

Jayasi. The book by Jayasi, Padmavati43, is in Hindi, which is the source ·~

of this, famous mathnavi and many others. ~· I

The trend of immigration Of scholars and literary figures from Iran

- -"' to India ·that had commenced very earlier did not stop after the death of

Akbar. It continued to be so in the time of Akbar's successors too. Talib

Amuli44 was introduced to Emperor Jahangir by the Minister

Itmaduddaula. Talib Amuli, had written poems in the praise of governors

of his native region Mazandran and those of Kashan and Merv. This was

of no avail. It did not get him the desired recognition. Thus, he was

forced to turn to India. When he met Jahangir, he was appointed the

poet laureate of his court. He mainly wrote qasidas and Tarkib-bands in

~'"Ibid. 1 :> The Cambridge History of Islam Vol. 2, p. 57. 11 Z. S. Qasimi. op cit

43

the praise of the Prophet and the dignitaries of the court. He wrote

Jahangir Namah too. He is mainly famous for h:is lyrical ghazals.

Taqi Auhadi'15 was another prolific writer during Jahangir's time.

He was a poet and pros_e writer. He wrote tazkirahs too. Nusratul-Arifeen

contains qasidas and satires directed against his contemporaries.

Tazkirat-ul-Ashiqeen is his other famous book. He wrote seven mathnavis

of which two are very long. These two are Safinatus-Sakina and Kabatul-

Haramayn. He also wrote a Persian dictionary Surma-e Sulaimani. But

his work, which shot him to limelight was Arafatul-Ashiqeen, which

contains biographies of 3186 poets and their quoted samples of works.

Ka'ba-e Irfan is the selection of his own tazkirahs, which is a source of

many later tazkirahs. (j)

Abu Talib Kalim from Hamadan was a great poet of immense

repute at the court of Shah Jahan. He came to India during Jahangir's

time and served in his army. Shah Jahan made him the 'king of poets'.

He wrote Shahjahan Namah, which chronicles the Mughal rulers in

Persian.

Mir Muhammad Yahya who was a panegyrist had composed a

mathnavi called Padshahnamah Haji Muhammad Jan Qudsi was

another prominent poet at the Shahjahan's court. He did not like

panegyric poems but did not go for sgtire either. When he came to India

he, was granted the title of 'Khan' by Shah Jahan. Zafar-Namah-e

15 Nazir Ahmad. Taqi Auhadi, p.276.

44

Shahjahan, mathnavi in praise of Kashmir and ghazals are of not

different from other such works. He is distinguished from others by his

qasidas.

At the time of Shahjahan and Aurangzeb, the florid style of Indian

writings reached a peak of refinement in the ghazals of Ghani of Kashmir

and Mir Nasir Ali Sirhindi. Their stylistic mastery was surpassed only by

Mirza Bedil in Patna. Emperor Aurangzeb himself was a master of style,

and various collections have been made of his letters. The letters of

Sheikh Ahmad of Sirhind, collected in Maktubaat-e Imam-e Rabbani,

form source material for writing on his mission. Muhsin Faani's book,

Dabistan-e Mazahib, is almost an encyclopaedia of the various religions

and sects found in the subcontinent during the period.

Chandra Bhan Brahman46, a personal secretary to Prince Dara

Shikoh is the greatest Hindu writer in the entire gamut of Indo-Persian

literature. He was so proficient in Arabic and Persian that despite being a

non-Muslim gave lessons of these languages to Muslims. Brahman also

stayed on in the service of Aurangzeb. A Sufi influence can be seen in his

ghazals and quatrains. The most important work of Brahman is the

book, Chahar Chaman. The first part of the four parts of the book

describes events during the reign of Shahjahan and gives particulars

about the campaigns and several viziers of the Mughal emperors. The

second part deals with the contemporary India, the third presents

1 r> Syed Abdullah. op cit. P. 79.

45

anecdotes from the author's personal life, while the last one elucidates

various religious and moral principles. The book also includes a chapter

on Russian stylistics and syntax.

Guldasta is a sequel to Chahar Chaman. This gives us the picture

of the splendour and magnificence of the court. This is not an official

systematic history of the time but is of great value because of his

intimacy to the emperor, which is reflected in the book Munsha-at-e

Brahman, the collection of his letters, a valuable contribution to the

cultural history of the period.

Dara Shikoh wrote Safinatul Aulia and Sakinatul Aulia in Persian,

which are loaded with the biographies of the saints and questions

concerning Sufism. Risaala-e Haqqnuma is a short treatise on the ways

by which ultimate spiritual fulfilment may be achieved. Hasanatul

Arifeen is a collection of Sufi aphorisms and ecstatic proverbs. Majma-ul

Bahrain is comparative study of Hinduism and Islam that demonstrates

the different points of contact. Sirr-e Akbar is the name of his translation

into simple and flowing Persian of the fifty chapters of the Upanishads.

Iksir-e Azam is his another book in Persian. Sarmad's book Dabistan-e

Mazahib is worth mentioning.

Zaib-un Nisa, the daughter of Aurangzeb, who wrote under the

pseudonym 'Makhfi' was a disciple of his uncle Dara Shikoh. She has left

a divan, which is full of ideas of Sufism.

46

The decline of Mughal Empire, its perils and destructions at the

hands of Nadir Shah is brilliantly painted in the book written by Sheikh

Muhmmad Hazin, the last of the Persian poets of Iranian origin in the

Indian court. 47

During this period Persian literature flourished most in the various

provinces of the vast empire. Many Persian poets scattered at the courts

of the minor feudal rulers. Lakshmi Narayan Shafiq!J 8 from Aurangabad

was at the court of Qu tub Shah in Golkunda. Shafiq was a poet but he

came more famous for his prose writing. He wrote Tazkirah-i Gul-i rana.

This book deals with the lives of the Indian poets writing in Persian.

Sham-i Ghariban is another book by him, which gives the details of the

lives of the poets of Persian origin who had settled in India.

This is the period where literary taste made it necessary to have

dictionaries of uncommon and rarely used words. The largest dictionary

of Persian, Arabic and Turkish languages were produced at this time in

southern India. This was authored by Munshi Muhammed Badshah.49

The dictionary was called Farhang-i Anandraj . Maharaja Anandraj of

~ Vijaynagar had patroned this dictionary. The Persian dictionaries, Bahar-

i Ajami, Javahirul-Huroof and Navadir-ul Masadir, were written by Lala

'17 Syed Abdullah. Op cit. p. 115. 18 Syed Abdullah. op cit. p. 117. 19 Bukhari. op cit. p. 35.

47

Udai Bhan who was famous by the name Tek Chand Bahar. l-Ie was at

the provirr,cial court of Jahandar Shah. 50

At the court of Valajahas in Madras, the Raja Makkhan Lal Khirad

distinguished himself in another field. He was thoroughly versed Persian

language, in astronomy and mathematics and wrote exceflent

chronograms. Bindraban Das Khushgo's writings prove that he had great

command over Persian and was well versed in the various branches of

knowledge current in the those days. His famous book, Safina-i khushgo,

is a tazkirah of poets. He wrote poems too, but his collection of poems is

not available. In the Safina-i Khushgo and other tazkirahs we come

across a few couplets and quatrains belonging to him.

IV

Bengal was also a centre for learning of Persian literature. Persian

literature flourished at the course of different governors of Bengal.

Murshid Quli Khan ( 1707-1727 A.D.) moved his government to

Murshidabad, which became an important centre for Persian literary

activity. Many a poet came here from Iran and Iraq. Aqdas, Makhmera

and Barq, the 'parrot of Bengal' were some of the prominent literary

luminaries of the time. The cultural centre and hence educational centre

:so Syed Abdullah. op cit. pp. 102-121. Chaudhary. Hindu Contribution to Persian Literature, p. 124.

48

was moved from Murshidabad to Calcutta when the English East India

Company gained power over Bengal.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy51 ( 1774-1833 A.D.) was a great scholar of

Persian. He wrote a valuable treatise in Persian on the unity of God and

named it Tuhfatul Muwahhidin in 1790 A.D. The language, diction and

style of the treatise are meritorious and up to the mark. The work as a

whole is considered as a magnum opus of the Indo-Persian literature. He

also published the first ever newspaper in Persian in India called Mir'atul-

Akhbar in 1822-23 A.D.

The Persian literature suffered at the hands of advancement of

England's colonial power and the development of the native states.

Persian got a jolt in 1844 A.D. when Urdu was proclaimed the official

language. Many Indian poets kept writing in both Persian and Urdu

languages but Persian ceded to Urdu afterwards.

Mirza Bedi152 was a poet and philosopher of great repute. He has

left voluminous works in prose and poetry, which have been published in

India and abroad. In view of his strangely beautiful poetry of

unprecedented nature, as well as his original contribution to mystical

thought, Bedil is reckoned as one of the greatest poets of Asia.

51 Syed Abdullah. op cit. pp. 244-245. 52 See Shibli Noamani. She'ru.l-Ajam. (Azamgarh: 1947).

49

One of the most prolific poets from the bi-lingual poets, Mirza

Assadullah Khan Ghalib ( 1797-1869 A.D.) 53 , wrote in Persian as well as, I

Urdu. He used Persian for the most mature poetry. He was greatly

influenced by Mirza Bedil Azimabadi and followed his style. Ghalib's chief

merit consists in him having introduced several realistic images into the

world of Persian metaphors and allegories. Ghalib has left behind a

voluminous collection of Persian poetry and prose, which has attracted

many critics and scholars in India and abroad. Although he craved to be

acknowledged as a great poet of Persian, it was his meagre ·output in

Urdu poetry, which endeared him to his people and brought immortality

to him.

The last great poet of Persian, who came on the scene in the first

half of the twentieth century, was Md. Iqbal Lahori54 (1877-1938 A.D.).

He wrote in Urdu and Persian, but for his greater works he used Persian.

Asrar-i Khudi, Persian philosophic mathnavi, expounded the theory of an

individual personality and stages of its spiritual development. Ramuz-i

Bekhudi investigates the relationship between the individual and the

aims of the community. Another collection of quatrains and ghazals in

Persian is Payam-i Mashriq. Zubur-i Ajam is the expansion of the subject

in Payam-i Mashriq. His crowning work, however, is Javed Namah

53 Sardar Jaffery and Qurratul-ain Hyder. Ghalib and His Poetry; Ralph Russel, ed. Ghalib : the Poet and His Age; Gilani. Ghalib, His Life and Persian Poetry. 54 R. A. Nicholson, trans. into English, The Secrets ofthe Self

50

consisting in mathnavi with inserted ghazals. Armaghan-i Hijaz is partly

written in Persian.

Persian literature to-ok route in Indian soil and there is hardly any 0

branch of education where it has not left its mark. It will be very hard to

find an example of a country adopting so well a language of another

country. Not only India adopted Persian language and literature as a

child but also it nurtured it with a soft heart and brought up it to be

mature offspring of it. The Indians have contributed very widely and

-extensively to the Persian literature. The contributions of the Indians to

the Persian language and literature could not be summarised in the

limited number of pages. The name of the writers who contributed to the

Persian language and literature and have figured in the discussion so far

is not the exhaustive inclusion at all. Despite utmost care of not anything

let slip, there must have been left some names that shcmld have figured.

It is not possible here to give a detailed and comprehensive

account of the literary achievements of the period. A brief reference to

some of the outstanding works of the time will show that the political and

rr:ilitary activities of the then rulers did not hamper the progress of the

intellectual movement. The Muslims had brought with them excellent

literary traditions and from the very beginning, refined scholars, saints

a..11d poets came to India either with their royal patrons or with a view to

make it their home.

51

There is a need also to look into the available literature in Arabic

and Persian and to collate these with the Sanskrit texts to understand

the nature of borrowing-s, the translations, which were carried out, and

the extent of interactions, which were part of the culture of that period.

Apart from the original texts, there is a large number of commentaries on

major books' and their shortened and summarised versions, which were

probably used as text books by the students. It will also be useful to

know the variations in the texts that occurred during the period.

52