نشریه مطالعات شبه قاره
سال دوم شماره 4 (پاییز 1389)

Amir Najmuddin Hasan ’Ala Sijzi, a pure Sistan extraction was born in the city of Badayun (India) in the year 651AH. On completion of early education he shifted to Delhi and joined in the service of Prince Mohammad son of Balban. Hasan’s circle of friends included, the genius of that time, Amir Khusrau and the talented chronicler, Diauddin Barni. Through Amir Khusrau, Hasan became a favourite disciple of Hazrat Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya. His book entitled “Fawaidul Fuwad” is regarded as the best account of Hazrat Nizamuddin. Amir Khusrau had expressed his cravings to offer all his prose and poetical works to Hasan in view of his Fawaidul Fuwad. The emotional fervour and melody possessed of elegant manners in his lyrial poetry (Ghazals) earned him the title of “Sa’di-i-Hind”.Makhdumul Mulk Hazrat Shaikh Sharfuddin Ahmad Maneri (born.661AH), a contemporary of Hasan sijzi, who hailed from Bihar province of India, was an erudite scholar, a renowned and celebrated mystic as well as a stalwart Persian Prose writer. His spiritual thoughts and didactical mystic writings are reckoned and regarded with great esteem all the world over. His works consist of four catagories viz. Talifat, Maktubat, Rasail and Malfuzat. There exist three sets of his Maktubat, Fourteen Rasail, Ten Collection of his Malfuzat while only one book entitled Matalib-ut-Talib is obtainable.In the full length article, it has been endeavoured to present a comparative study of the mystic thoughts of the two celebrities and also an estimate of their Persian Prose styles.

Persian language came in contact with Bengal in 13th Century and continued till 1837 when it was finally abolished as the official language of India. In this vast period of six hundred years, thousands of books were written in Persian, and tens and hundreds of poets composed their poems in this sweet language. During this period, Persian language and literature reached the highest stage of its development, which yielded a huge collection of manuscripts, documents, miniature paintings and other artifacts to Bengal and made her Sonar Bangla. The large-scale acquisition of manuscripts by Indians and British officials in Bengal gave birth to rich library collections that can sustain academic research in Persian Studies not only in Bengal but internationally. The cataloguing of these collections has preserved the fruits of knowledge of Persian literature. The most important collections of Persian manuscripts are to be found at the Asiatic Society, Victoria Memorial, National Library and Hazarduari Palace Library in Murshidabad etc. Though these collections have been documented to an extent by their cataloguers but many of them still need proper documentation, care and conservation treatment. But their best fruition lies in their consumption for cultural studies as it is proverbially believed that the proof of pudding lies in its eating.

Mir Nasir Khan Talpur nom de plume Jaffery was the last crowned prince of Sind.His father Mir Murad Ali Khan the son of Mir Sobdar Khan was also the ruler of Hyderabad Sind in the 13th centuary.Jaffery in the second half of the 13th centuary i.e 1259AD was defeated by the Britishers and was exiled. He stayed in Bombay and Calcutta during his exilation and at last on 7th Rabiulthani 1261AD breathed his last there.His poetry is full of love. Love of Hazrat Ali(A.S)and the Imams of the Shiites. He has expressed his deep love and emotions in a very romantic way. The style of his poetry resembles that of the Khurasani style generally known as ‘Sabke Khurasani’ which is simple and clear. The words and phrases used in his poetry are simple, melodious and the syntax consists homogeneity in sounds. His lyrics are far from ambiguity and obscurity of meaning, and are very simple but difficult to imaginate. Pleasant imaginations such as attractive similes are mostly found in his lyrics.

For nearly seven hundred years, Fawaid-Ul-Fuad by Ameer Hassan Ala Sijli Dehlavi has been acknowledged as among the earliest examples of the genre of Malfuzat, which enjoys such a long afterlife in Sufi-literary culture. It is also held that unlike many later Malfuzat, which establishes the value of the text as a reliable historical document from the Tughlaq Shahi period of the medieval Indian history. In this paper, I shall examine how the question of the historical reliability of Fawaid-Ul-Fuad exists in a complementary relationship with that of personal testimony. Whereas, it is generally believed that historiography, in order to be reliable, must elide the historian, in Fawaid-Ul-Fuad, it is the presence of Hassan Sijli that gives the assurance of reliability. But Hassan Sijli is not a historian like contemporary court chroniclers such as Ameer Khusrao or Ziauddin Barani, whose relationship with the regimes they describe, is official and formal, indeed secular. In Sijli's case, his relationship with what he records is certainly imbued with a sense of the historical, but mediated by a Pir-Murid (mentor-disciple) relationship, itself founded on an act of faith. I shall try in this paper to establish the usefulness of reading Fawaid-Ul-Fuad as the work of murid-historian,comparable with,yet wholly distinct from the official historiography of the Sultanate period.

South Asia is linguistically and culturally a pluralistic region where not only different languages of the region coexist and affect each other, but, more importantly, foreign languages also interact and at times get acculturated. The early Persian literature that came to India already had the impact of mysticism. A significant text of that time is the Fawa’id al-Fu’adwhich contains conversations of the great sufi Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya. This text spread the message of humanism, love and benevolence and was revered by the Sultans of Delhi as well as by both muslim and non-muslim populations. It indirectly communicated through parables and stories which related to the Muslim as well as the Hindu worlds.The present paper will focus on the Indo-Persian mystical and sufistic elements with special reference to the English translation of Nizamuddin Auliya’s Fawa’id al-Fu’ad. And also, it will try to look at the art of story telling, the use of the poetic medium etc as they emerge through English translations of a text like Fawa’id al-Fu’ad or through some other nature and function, the focus on poetry will view the poetic structures used as well as look at some problems that arise in the act of translation. The overall attempt is to the view the area of synthesis of Indian and Persian traditions that had led to the vicreation of very vibrant forms in India which in turn have influenced and are still influencing generations of people.

The civilization of the valley of Sindh which dates back from 3rd millennium to 1500 B.C had a glorious impact on the Indus valley and part of the sub-continent, and is known as the first and greatest civilization of the world.This civilization was explored after 1922 when the exploration of Moen jo daro and Harrapa took place. Both these places were the main centres of the Indus valley civilization.This civilization has produced several skillful artists, writers, scholars, poets and mystics in the society. Among them is Mir Sobdar Khan Talpur son of Mir Fateh Ali Khan Talpur-the conqueror of Sindh. He was born in 1217 Hijra/1802 AD an hour before his father’s death and died at the age of 44 in 1262/1846 under very pitiable condition during his exilation in Calcutta. He has written several mathnawis following the style of Nizami the persian poet of the sixth centuary. Mathnawi Judai Nama was composed by him in 1260 Hijra. As known by its title it is a narration of his separation from his homeland. This mathnawi is written in the poetic meter of Bahre Mutaqarib (Faoolun-Faoolun-Faoolun Faal) which resembles the meter of Shahnamye e Firdousi. The great epic poetry of Iran is also written in the same meter. I name this Mathnawi of Mir Sobdar Khan as the “Epic of Sorrow” My article consists a critical appreciation of this mathnavi.

Sindh’s relations with Iran go deep down in history to the Indus valley civilization era. It has been established that close economic and cultural connections existed between the two highly cultured people. Historians have conclusively proved that before and after the advent of Islam, Sindh and Iran enjoyed intimate neighborly relations which had its effects on almost all spheres of human activity.During the period from 1783 AD to 1843 AD, Sindh was ruled by the Talpur Mirs and in the same period Qachar dynasty held sway in Iran. The present study provides an accurate list of the rulers of both these dynasties and throws ample light on the political and diplomatic ties between Sindh and Iran during this period. The changes and challenges which were taking place on the international scene have also been highlighted. A thorough discussion encompassing social, economic, political and cultural aspects has been made in the light of available historical and literary sources. This is the first serious research study on the subject which is congregated with very useful historical material for further research and enquiry.

The study of the world's civilization is significant not only for historians and archaeologists but also for the ordinary man. Harappan civilization is one of the greatest ancient civilizations which had considerable effect on the world's civilization. The improvements made by Harappan- the people of Harappa- can be considered as a basis for modern developments in different domains. The main objective of the present article is to have a survey on the issue of language or means of communication used by Harappan people at that time. The paper first represents a general overview of Harappan Civilization and then, it discusses different views on the formation and development of the so called communication systems, or language.

Amir Hasan Sejzi (1272-1360 AD) and Ameer Khosro Dehlavi (1253-1325 AD) were amongst the disciples of Shiekh Nizammuddin Auliya (1238-1325 AD). Both of them were thought to be intimate disciples of the grand Shiekh. Both were closely attached to the court of the king in Dehli. In the court of prince Muhammad entitled Khan-e-Shaheed, the two poets had special seats of the intimate companions. Both the poets were the pupils of the grand saint Shiekh Nizamuddin Auliya and became his committed devotees to the extent that they could achieve their aims, for one could compile "Afzalul Favaaed" and the other "Favaaed-Ul-Favaad". Both the works are based on the utterances of grand mystic Shiekh Nizamuddin Auliya. In it the manners of the closest disciples who often had the companionship of the grand mystic are narrated. In this paper, the style of writing of these two works would be discussed. Whether under the influence of Ameer Hassan Sejzi had Ameer Khosro written the "Afzalul Favaaed"? if so, to what extent has its influence been upon? What role had "Favaaed-Ul-Favaad" played in this regard? What effects have the socio-political conditions left on it? These and many other related issues will be discussed in the article.

India during Timurids (932-1274 AH) was flowrished and reached to its very high level in cultural and literary activities. The corts of Timurids rulers were the place to gather the writers and poets from Sub-continent and outside. During the noble rulers of this dynasty such as Humayoon (937-947 and 962-963 AH), King Akbar (963-1014 AH), Jehangir (1014-1037AH) and Shahjehan (1037-1067), India extended and got more powerful and glorious so that all cities became the safe place for growing culture and literature. Very soon, these safe places attracted artists, writers, poets, architetures, scientists as well as sufists and ulamas to migrate to India from Iran and other neighboure countries and from all parts of Indian sub-continent. They were accepted with warm and got good jobs. Especially during the last and greatest emperor of this dynasty who was known as patronized of literature and arts, means Ourangzib(1067-1118 AH), India reached to its highest glory.One of the most remarkable techniques at the time of Timurids was historiography. It was prevailing hobby at the courts of kings and princes. Persian language and literature extended in Sub-continent because of social attendings and gradually developed. Kings and their ministers were found of the Iranian literary prose and loved it as well as historiography. Therefore historians began their great job to write History. On the other side, during medieval period, many renowned historiographers from western part of sub-continent, Sindh region, wrote a lot of historical texts in Persian. Some of those manuscripts edited and printed by scholars in the recent years. These are the most important sources for better understanding not only Sub-continent history during the Islamic period but also social and cultural status in the same period. Hence, very soon the best historic sources were prepared and written by the noble historiogrphers, Indian or Iranian, in Persian. This article tries to disscuss on 17 of these main and real sources and highlightes their potential and preference.