Amir Khusrau

Lore & Background

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 Turkic officer, and Bibi Daulat Naz, a native Indian mother. His father was a member of the Turkic Hazāra-yi Lāchīn clan of Transoxiana and arrived in India during the rule of Shams al-Din Iltutmish. Khusrau's father died in 1260, when Khusrau was only eight years old. Through his father's influence, he imbibed Islam and Sufism coupled with proficiency in Turkish, Persian, and Arabic languages. He started learning and writing poetry at the age of nine. 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, his grandfather, who was reportedly 113 years old, died. Khusrau joined the army of Malik Chajju, a nephew of the reigning Sultan, Ghiyas ud-Din Balban. Nasir ud-Din Bughra Khan became his patron in 1276. Khusrau visited Bughra Khan in Bengal in 1279 while writing his second divan, Wast ul-Hayat (The Middle of Life). He then accompanied Khan Muhammad to Multan in 1281. On 9 March 1285, Khan Muhammad was killed in battle fighting Mongols; Khusrau wrote two elegies in grief. After Balban's death in 1287, Khusrau served Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad for two years. In 1288, he finished his first masnavi, Qiran us-Sa'dain (Meeting of the Two Auspicious Stars). Under Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji, he was given the title "Amir" and the job of "Mushaf-dar." In 1290, he completed his second masnavi, Miftah ul-Futuh (Key to the Victories). In 1294, he completed his third divan, Ghurrat ul-Kamaal (The Prime of Perfection). Under Ala ud-Din Khalji, he wrote Khaza'in ul-Futuh (The Treasures of Victory) and composed a khamsa (quintet) with five masnavis, completing it in 1298: Matla ul-Anwar (3310 verses, completed in 15 days), Khusrau-Shirin (4000 verses), Laila-Majnun, Ayina-i Iskandari (4500 verses), and Hasht-Bihisht. In 1300, when Khusrau was 47, his mother and brother died. In 1310, Khusrau became a disciple of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. In 1315, he completed the romantic masnavi Duval Rani - Khizr Khan. After Ala ud-Din's death in 1316, he wrote Nuh Sipihr (Nine Skies) on Mubarak Shah Khalji's reign, and also Ijaz-e-Khusravi (The Miracles of Khusrau).

Reader's Guide

Amīr 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. He 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. He wrote poetry primarily in Persian, but also in Hindavi and Punjabi. A vocabulary in verse, the Ḳhāliq Bārī, containing Arabic, Persian and Hindavi terms is often attributed to him. He was known by his sobriquet Tuti-i Hind ("Parrot of India"), and was also called "God's Turk" by his teacher Nizamuddin Auliya. His khamsa emulated that of the earlier poet of Persian epics, Nizami Ganjavi. His works include the first masnavi Qiran us-Sa'dain, the second masnavi Miftah ul-Futuh, the third divan Ghurrat ul-Kamaal, the Khaza'in ul-Futuh, the khamsa of five masnavis, the romantic masnavi Duval Rani - Khizr Khan, Nuh Sipihr, and Ijaz-e-Khusravi.

Did You Know?

• Khusrau started learning and writing poetry at the age of nine, and his first divan, Tuhfat us-Sighr, was compiled in 1271 when he was between 16 and 18 years old.
• His father, Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud, died in 1260 when Khusrau was only eight years old.
• Khusrau's grandfather reportedly died in 1273 at the age of 113.
• He completed his first masnavi, Qiran us-Sa'dain, in 1288, about Bughra Khan meeting his son Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad after a long enmity.
• In 1310, Khusrau became a spiritual disciple of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya of the Chishti Order.

Roots Between Two Worlds

Amir Khusrau was born in 1253 in Patiyali, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, India. His father, Amir Saif ud-Din Mahmud, belonged to the Turkic Hazara-yi Lachin clan from Transoxiana and had grown up in Kesh, a small town near Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan. When Genghis Khan's armies devastated Central Asia, the family fled first to Balkh in northern Afghanistan, then sent envoys to the Sultan of Delhi seeking refuge. Sultan Shams al-Din Iltutmish, himself Turkic and from a similar background, welcomed the refugees and granted them high offices and landed estates. In 1230, Saif ud-Din received a fief in the Patiyali district. There he married Bibi Daulat Naz, daughter of Rawat Arz, an Indian noble who had converted to Islam and served as war minister under Sultan Ghiyas ud-Din Balban. This union of a Central Asian Turkic father and a native Indian mother gave Khusrau a dual cultural identity that would permeate his entire life and work. His father died in 1260 when Khusrau was just eight, leaving him to be shaped by both his mother's Indian heritage and the Islamic and Sufi traditions his father had instilled.

A Poet's Odyssey Through the Courts

Khusrau's career as a court poet unfolded across a turbulent stretch of the Delhi Sultanate. After his grandfather's death in 1273, the young man entered the service of Malik Chajju, a nephew of Sultan Ghiyas ud-Din Balban. His verses reached the royal assembly, catching the ear of Nasir ud-Din Bughra Khan, Balban's second son, who became his patron in 1276. When Bughra Khan was posted to Bengal, Khusrau followed him in 1279, composing his second divan, Wast ul-Hayat, during that sojourn. He then returned to Delhi and was summoned by Khan Muhammad, Balban's eldest son, to accompany him to Multan in 1281, a bustling crossroads where caravans from Baghdad, Arabia, and Persia passed through on their way to the Indian heartland. Khusrau served Khan Muhammad for five years until the patron was killed fighting Mongol invaders in March 1285, prompting the poet to pen two elegies. He subsequently served Amir Ali Hatim in Awadh, then the young Sultan Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad from 1287 to 1288, before the Khalji dynasty upended the political landscape. Under Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji, Khusrau was elevated with the title Amir and appointed Mushaf-dar, a post that deepened his literary output.

Master of Form and Father of a Musical Tradition

Khusrau's command of Persian poetry was extraordinary for his era. He worked across a wide spectrum of verse forms—ghazal, masnavi, qata, rubai, do-baiti, and tarkib-band—drawing on traditions that ranged from Khāqānī's qasidas to Nizami's khamsa. His technical mastery is evident in his use of eleven distinct metrical schemes divided into thirty-five variations, a breadth that few medieval poets could match. His contribution to the ghazal in particular is considered significant, and he is credited with introducing the ghazal style of song into the Indian subcontinent, where it continues to thrive across India and Pakistan. Beyond written verse, Khusrau is widely regarded as the father of qawwali, the devotional singing tradition of Sufi communities in South Asia. This dual legacy—shaping both a poetic form and a musical one—means his influence extends far beyond the page into the lived spiritual and artistic culture of the region. He also composed in Hindavi and Punjabi, and a verse vocabulary called the Khaliq Bari, blending Arabic, Persian, and Hindavi terms, is often attributed to him.

Mystic, Multilingual, and the Voice of a Subcontinent

Beyond his literary and musical accomplishments, Khusrau was deeply embedded in the Sufi spiritual tradition. He became a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, the renowned mystic of Delhi, who affectionately called him God's Turk. This spiritual bond shaped his devotional output and anchored him in the Sufi community even as he moved through the political currents of the Sultanate. His cultural identity was inherently hybrid: a son of a Turkic father from Samarkand and an Indian mother, fluent in Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, and writing poetry in Persian, Hindavi, and Punjabi. This multilingual, cross-cultural fluency earned him the enduring epithet Parrot of India (Tuti-e-Hind), a comparison that, according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, likened his eloquence to the sweet-talking parrot and affirmed his canonical standing as a Persian poet. He is also sometimes called the voice of India. His love for his adopted homeland is transparent throughout his work, making him an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent who bridged Central Asian, Persian, and Indian traditions in a single, remarkable body of creative work.

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