Masnavi In Urdu Poetry

[Flaviano Bada]

Arabicmathnawi poetry, also known as muzdawidj (Arabic: مزدوج, literally "doubled," referring to the internal rhyme scheme of the lines), emerged and was popularized during the Abbasid era. Unlike the older poetic styles in Arabic, mathnawi verses are not monorhymes. Instead, they include an internal rhyme scheme within each bayt with an extensive use of alliteration and follow a specific meter. Arabic mathnawi (or muzdawidj) poetry is very similar to the Persian, Urdu, and Turkish equivalents, though with one major difference: most muzdawidj poems follow an aaa/bbb/ccc pattern, while the other mathnawi poems follow an aa/bb/cc pattern.[4]

Masnawī are usually associated with the didactic and romantic genres, but are not limited to them.[7] There is a great variety among Persian masnawī, but there are several conventions that can help a reader recognize a masnawī poem. Most masnawī have a distinction between the introductory and body paragraphs (although it is not always easy to determine where that is), praise of the one God and prayers, a eulogy of the Prophet, reflections on the value of poetry, and occasionally a description of an object as a significant symbol.[8]

Turkish mathnawi began developing in the 8th/14th century. Persian mathnawi influenced Turkish authors as many Turkish mathnawī were, at first, creative translations and adaptations of Persian mathnawī. The oldest known Turkish mathnawī is a didactic poem called Kutadgu Bilig.[12]

Mat̲h̲nawī remained prominent in Turkish literature until the end of the Ottoman Empire, when it began to transform into more conversational and rhetorical literature. Few Turkish mat̲h̲nawī have been translated into another modern language.[13]

Early Urdu masnawī began in the 11th/17th century. In the beginning of this period, many masnawī were religious in nature, but then grew to include romantic, heroic, and even secular stories. Early Urdu masnawī were influenced by Dakkanī literature, as well as Persian mat̲h̲nawī. Because of this influence, many early Urdu masnawī were translations of Persian masnawī, although there are some original early Urdu masnawīs.[14]

Middle Urdu masnawī became prominent in the 12th/18th century, when Urdu literature broke away from the Dakkanī tradition. In the 12th/18th century, romantic masnawī became very popular. Another new convention that appeared in middle Urdu masnawī was authors using their own personal experiences as a subject for their poem.[15]

Modern Urdu masnawī began in the 13th/19th century, during a time of literary reform. Masnawī as a whole became much shorter, and the traditional meters stopped being observed. These masnawī deal more with everyday subjects, as well as providing a medium for children's poetry.[16] A well-known masnavi-writer in Urdu in recent times was Allama Dr. Syed Ali Imam Zaidi "Gauhar Lucknavi" (great-grandson of Mir Baber Ali Anees).

great to see Rumi translated into urdu. its tragic that Pakistani nation has abandoned Farsi and lost teachings of great thinkers like Rumi,Hafiz Shirazi,Saadi,Jami,Neshapuri and many more.Its tragic.how can you study Iqbal if you have not studied Rumi and Shirazi. Also a nation will remain intellectually dwarf if they just rely on couple of thinkers and discard rest of extraordinary people.i want Farsi back into schools.It will connect us with our Muslim civilisation and will give us badly needed identity.Otherwise Pakistan will merge into India or will remain child of India.

I want to ask the administrator of this website to grant us some drops from the ocean of Attar as well. Please translate his poetry from Persian into Urdu as well. I have been trying to find his Book " The Conference of Birds" with Persian verses and Urdu translation. I have not found it. I request you to translate his poetry into Urdu as well. Thank you very much.

salam alikum this is mohammad Khalid kakar ,i just want to say thanks and have to say this words mulana jalaluddin mohammad balkhi he is the God of poetry its not easy for you Guy's to translate is be care full

we have been benefited and enjoying reading Masnavi The great book of the great sufi Roomi we love him very much he is a becon of light for us.Your translations and work is Excellent Keep it up jazakillah may Almighty keep us safe from evils eyes and bless you health walth both of spititual and material, deen u dunia ma surkh roo karay give you more courage to spread true knowledge in this world and make you successful in hereafter Ameen Khaksar Karim Khan

Khusrau is regarded as the "father of qawwali" (a devotional form of singing of the Sufis in the Indian subcontinent), and introduced the ghazal style of song into India, both of which still exist widely in India and Pakistan.[7][8]Khusrau was an expert in many styles of Persian poetry which were developed in medieval Persia, from Khāqānī's qasidas to Nizami's khamsa. He used 11 metrical schemes with 35 distinct divisions. He wrote in many verse forms including ghazal, masnavi, qata, rubai, do-baiti and tarkib-band. His contribution to the development of the ghazal was significant.[2][9]

Amīr 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 Amīr Saif ud-Dīn Mahmūd, a man of Turkic extraction and Bibi Daulat Naz, a native Indian mother.[9] Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud was a Sunni Muslim. He grew up in Kesh, a small town near Samarkand in what is now Uzbekistan. When he was a young man, the region was destroyed and ravaged by Genghis Khan's invasion of Central Asia, and much of the population fled to other lands, India being a favored destination. A group of families, including that of Amir Saif ud-Din, left Kesh and travelled to Balkh (now in northern Afghanistan), which was a relatively safe place; from there, they sent representatives to the Sultan of distant Delhi seeking refuge. This was granted, and the group then travelled to Delhi. Sultan Shams ud-Din Iltutmish, ruler of Delhi, was also Turkic like them; indeed, he had grown up in the same region of Central Asia and had undergone somewhat similar circumstances in earlier life. This was the reason the group had turned to him in the first place. Iltutmish not only welcomed the refugees to his court but also granted high offices and landed estates to some of them. In 1230, Amir Saif ud-Din was granted a fief in the district of Patiyali.[citation needed]

Amir Saif ud-Din and Bibi Daulatnaz became the parents of four children: three sons (one of whom was Khusrau) and a daughter. Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud died in 1260, when Khusrau was only eight years old.[12] Through his father's influence, he imbibed Islam and Sufism coupled with proficiency in Turkish[clarification needed], Persian, and Arabic languages.[12] He was known by his sobriquet Tuti-i Hind ("Parrot of India"), which according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam "compares the eloquent poet to the sweet-talking parrot, indicates his canonical status as a poet of Persian."[13] Khusrau's love and admiration for his motherland is transparent through his work.[14]

Khusrau was an intelligent child. He started learning and writing poetry at the age of nine.[14] His first divan, Tuhfat us-Sighr (The Gift of Childhood), containing poems composed between the ages of 16 and 18, was compiled in 1271. In 1273, when Khusrau was 20 years old, his grandfather, who was reportedly 113 years old, died.

After Khusrau's grandfather's death, Khusrau joined the army of Malik Chajju, a nephew of the reigning Sultan, Ghiyas ud-Din Balban. This brought his poetry to the attention of the Assembly of the Royal Court where he was honoured.

Nasir ud-Din Bughra Khan, the second son of Balban, was invited to listen to Khusrau. He was impressed and became Khusrau's patron in 1276. In 1277 Bughra Khan was then appointed ruler of Bengal, and Khusrau visited him in 1279 while writing his second divan, Wast ul-Hayat (The Middle of Life). Khusrau then returned to Delhi. Balban's eldest son, Khan Muhammad (who was in Multan), arrived in Delhi, and when he heard about Khusrau, he invited him to his court. Khusrau then accompanied him to Multan in 1281. Multan at the time was the gateway to India and was a center of knowledge and learning. Caravans of scholars, tradesmen and emissaries transited through Multan from Baghdad, Arabia and Persia on their way to Delhi. Khusrau wrote that:

On 9 March 1285, Khan Muhammad was killed in battle while fighting Mongols who were invading the Sultanate. Khusrau wrote two elegies in grief of his death. In 1287, Khusrau travelled to Awadh with another of his patrons, Amir Ali Hatim. At the age of eighty, Balban called his second son Bughra Khan back from Bengal, but Bughra Khan refused. After Balban's death in 1287, his grandson Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad, Bughra Khan's son, was made the Sultan of Delhi at the age of 17. Khusrau remained in Qaiqabad's service for two years, from 1287 to 1288. In 1288, Khusrau finished his first masnavi, Qiran us-Sa'dain (Meeting of the Two Auspicious Stars), which was about Bughra Khan meeting his son Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad after a long enmity. After Qaiqabad suffered a stroke in 1290, nobles appointed his three-year-old son Shams ud-Din Kayumars as Sultan. A Turko-Afghan named Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji then marched on Delhi, killed Qaiqabad and became Sultan, thus ending the Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate and starting the Khalji dynasty.

Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji appreciated poetry and invited many poets to his court. Khusrau was honoured and respected in his court and was given the title "Amir". He was given the job of "Mushaf-dar". Court life made Khusrau focus more on his literary works. Khusrau's ghazals which he composed in quick succession were set to music and were sung by singing girls every night before the Sultan. Khusrau writes about Jalal ud-Din Firuz:

3a8082e126