43 Facts About Amir Khusrau

Abu'l Hasan Yamin ud-Din Khusrau, better known as Amir Khusrau, was an Indian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar who lived during the period of the Delhi Sultanate.

Amir Khusrau is an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent.

Amir Khusrau was a mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, India.

Amir Khusrau wrote poetry primarily in Persian, but in Hindavi.

Amir Khusrau is regarded as the "father of qawwali", and introduced the ghazal style of song into India, both of which still exist widely in India and Pakistan.

Amir Khusrau was an expert in many styles of Persian poetry which were developed in medieval Persia, from Khaqani's qasidas to Nizami's khamsa.

Amir Khusrau used 11 metrical schemes with 35 distinct divisions.

Amir Khusrau wrote in many verse forms including ghazal, masnavi, qata, rubai, do-baiti and tarkib-band.

Amir Khusrau was born in 1253 in Patiyali, Kasganj district, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, India, in what was then the Delhi Sultanate, the son of Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud, a man of Turkic extraction and Bibi Daulat Naz, a native Indian mother.

Amir Khusrau grew up in Kesh, a small town near Samarkand in what is Uzbekistan.

Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud died in 1260, when Khusrau was only eight years old.

Amir Khusrau started learning and writing poetry at the age of nine.

In 1273, when Amir Khusrau was 20 years old, his grandfather, who was reportedly 113 years old, died.

Amir Khusrau was impressed and became Khusrau's patron in 1276.

In 1277 Bughra Khan was then appointed ruler of Bengal, and Amir Khusrau visited him in 1279 while writing his second divan, Wast ul-Hayat.

Balban's eldest son, Khan Muhammad, arrived in Delhi, and when he heard about Amir Khusrau he invited him to his court.

Amir Khusrau remained in Qaiqabad's service for two years, from 1287 to 1288.

In 1288 Amir Khusrau finished his first masnavi, Qiran us-Sa'dain, which was about Bughra Khan meeting his son Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad after a long enmity.

Court life made Amir Khusrau focus more on his literary works.

In 1290 Amir Khusrau completed his second masnavi, Miftah ul-Futuh, in praise of Jalal ud-Din Firuz's victories.

In 1294 Amir Khusrau completed his third divan, Ghurrat ul-Kamaal, which consisted of poems composed between the ages of 34 and 41.

Amir Khusrau wrote the Khaza'in ul-Futuh recording Ala ud-Din's construction works, wars and administrative services.

Amir Khusrau then composed a khamsa with five masnavis, known as Khamsa-e-Khusrau, completing it in 1298.

All these works made Amir Khusrau a leading luminary in the world of poetry.

In 1300, when Amir Khusrau was 47 years old, his mother and brother died.

In 1310 Amir Khusrau became a disciple of Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, Nizamuddin Auliya.

In 1315, Amir Khusrau completed the romantic masnavi Duval Rani - Khizr Khan, about the marriage of the Vaghela princess Duval Rani to Khizr Khan, one of Ala ud-Din Khalji's sons.

Amir Khusrau wrote a masnavi on Mubarak Shah Khalji called Nuh Sipihr, which described the events of Mubarak Shah Khalji's reign.

Amir Khusrau classified his poetry in nine chapters, each part of which is considered a "sky".

Amir Khusrau wrote another book during Mubarak Shah Khalji's reign by name of Ijaz-e-Khusravi, which consisted of five volumes.

In 1321 Amir Khusrau began to write a historic masnavi named Tughlaq Nama about the reign of Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq and that of other Tughlaq rulers.

Amir Khusrau's tomb is next to that of his spiritual master in the Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi.

Amir Khusrau is credited with fusing the Persian, Arabic, Turkic, and Indian singing traditions in the late 13th century to create qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional song.

True, Amir Khusrau had before him the example of Nirgit songs using susk-aksaras and pat-aksaras.

Amir Khusrau introduced two innovations in this form of vocal music.

Amir Khusrau hid and listened to Gopal Naik for six days, and on the seventh day, he reproduced Naik's rendition using meaningless words thus creating the tarana style.

Amir Khusrau rechristened the 3 stringed Tritantri Veena as a Setar, which eventually became known as the sitar.

Amir Khusrau was a prolific classical poet associated with the royal courts of more than seven rulers of the Delhi Sultanate.

Amir Khusrau wrote many playful riddles, songs and legends which have become a part of popular culture in South Asia.

Amir Khusrau's riddles are one of the most popular forms of Hindavi poetry today.

Amir Khusrau's poetry is still sung today at Sufi shrines throughout India and Pakistan.

The 1978 film Junoon opens with a rendition of Amir Khusrau's Aaj Rung Hai, and the film's plot sees the poem employed as a symbol of rebellion.

Amir Khusrau was portrayed by actor Bhawani Muzamil as a court poet of Alauddin Khalji in the 2018 Indian film Padmaavat by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.