Book Review

Translated by: Paul Losensky and Sunil Sharma
Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 224
ISBN-10: 0670082360
ISBN-13: 978-0670082360


Seven centuries have elapsed since Tuti-yi Hind (Parrot of India) Amir Khusrau went silent but not a generation has passed ever since in the Indian sub-continent that has not sung and swayed to his verses! Ghalib, another poetic genius of India — or Delhi, to be more precise — whose charm transcends political boundaries, is a relatively recent discovery. Khusrau, on the other hand, has been alive all through. One can venture into the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi on any given day and he is very much likely to bump into a qawwal crooning Khusrau’s compositions “Bahut kathin hai dagar panghat ki… (The path to the well is very rough…) or Mohe rang de… (Come colour me in your own hue…). The qawwal would tell you that his family has been singing these compositions for generations spanning over centuries. At the feet of his master in the very premises, rests the great poet in eternal peace.

Even during his lifetime, Khusrau had attained fame and popularity that constantly evaded Ghalib during the latter’s lifetime. One of the apparent reasons could be that Ghalib wrote his poetry either in Persian or in Urdu heavily laced with Persian lexicon which was more often than not beyond public comprehension. Khusrau, on the other hand, also composed dignified verses in the language of the common people, that is, Hindavi, while at the same time writing elegant poetry in Persian.

Khusrau was equally popular among the noble elite of the court (he served five Sultans of Delhi) as well as the masses. Once on a hot afternoon, Khusrau passed from the countryside, goes an anecdote, and he felt thirsty. He beheld a few women drawing water from a well. The poet went up to them asked for some water. The women, looking at his expensive attire, playfully asked for his introduction. “I am Amir Khusrau,” he said. In no hurry to believe the stranger’s words, the women asked for some proof. “Okay, if you are Amir Khusrau, the royal poet, then compose some verses for us,” they giggled. “Suggest some words and I will versify them for you,” said the poet, in a haste to quench his thirst. One of the women said charkha, another said dholki, yet another one said kheer and so on and so forth. Amir Khusrau instantly made the verse in khadi boli: Kheer pakai jatan se charkha diya jalaye/ aaya kutta kha gaya tu baithi dhol bajaye.

The corpus of his works is huge and interestingly, despite his popularity that transcends cultural and geographical barriers, most of Khusrau’s Persian poems are unknown to the masses, at least to those whose first language is not Persian. In 'The Bazaar Of Love', a collection of Khusrau’s selected works translated in English by Paul E. Losensky and Sunil Sharma, fills that gap. On offer are Khusrau’s ghazals, long narrative poems, macaronic and short Persian poems, Hindavi poems and miscellaneous Persian poems. Most of the works included in the collection have been translated for the first time. While the ghazals (49 of them in the present collection) have been translated by Losensky, the rest of the works have been translated by Sharma. Losensky is associate professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he teaches Persian language and literature. Sharma teaches Persian and Indian literatures at Boston University.

The translators have had to take great pains to translate Khusrau’s poems, as the desire to go beyond just the translation and catch the essence of the poetry is all too visible. “Translating the Hindavi poems of Khusrau poses a special problem due to the lack of a fixed text and multiple variations current in the oral repertoire,” write the translators in the detailed introduction to the collection.

Ravani (fluency) was prized by Khusrau and the present translations, too, have maintained it presenting the flow of images and emotions in the poetry.   

The detailed introduction spread across 43 pages throws light over Khusrau’s life and times and puts his works in the proper social, cultural and historical context. The book is surely a gift for the lovers of Khusrau and his poetry.