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Khusrau, Amir: The Father of Qawali

Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau:

(1253-1325 )


Amir Khusrau or Ab’ul Hasan Yamin ud-Din Khusrau, It is being said that  after suffering the onslaughts of Chengez Khan, his father Saifuddin, a Turk chieftain, migrated to India during the rule of Shamsuddin Altamsh who presented him a high position in his army. Khusrau was born in in 1253 Patiali in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh  where his father had settled. When he was just eight years old, his father was killed in an army action after which his mother moved to Delhi to live with his maternal grandfather who was died when he was just twenty years old. Amir Khusrau is considered to be the first poet of Urdu-Hindi.


The disciple of the famous Chishti saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, was given the title of "Amir" by one of his patrons, he had the unique distinction of being a soldier, courtier, Sufi, poet, litterateur, and music maestro. He was veteran in Persian, Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi and many provincial languages of India. Khusrau had a unique consequence of serving with many princes, chiefs, and emperors like Malik Alauddin, Kashlu Khan alias, Malik Chhajju,Khan Mohammad, Sardar Hatim Khan, Kaikobad, Jalaluddin Firoze Khilji, Alauddin Khilji, Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah, Gheyasuddin Tughlaq and Mohammad Tughlaq. Even while he held high positions in some of the courts, he remained a devoted and noble  disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin from whom he pursued his spiritual strength, and at his feet Khusrau is buried. With an innate penchant for music, he is credited with the invention of musical instruments like the Tabla and Sitar. He created ragas, developed khayal, tarana, qaul, and qawwali.



Khusrau was a very prolific author and poet of rare distinction. 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 gave a new role to human speech which is perceivable from the astounding variety of nearly a hundred works he produced in poetry and prose that broadly include several divans, mathnawis, treatises, and other compositions. Some of his Khusrau’s Hindi Geets have become a part of the folk. Besides poetry, he also composed Paheliyan, Kahmukarniyan, and Dhakosle, all of whom became extremely popular.He wrote many Hindu songs which are still prevalent in the public mind; he sang so many beautiful songs in different tunes that he is also known as "Tuti-i-Hind". When Sheikh Nizamuddin died in 1325, Khusrau was with Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq on his Bengal expedition. He was so overwhelmed with grief at hearing the death of his spiritual mentor that he left for his heavenly abode within six months in 1325.

Some of his major compositions include:

  • Tuhfat-ul-Sigar
  • Wast-ul-Hayat
  • Matla-un-Anwar
  • Tughlaq-Nama
  • Khaliq Bari
  • Hasht-Bihisht
  • Afzal-ul-Fawid
  • Majnun-o-Laila




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