Azad Bilgrami (29 June 1704 – 15 September 1786) was a scholar of
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
,
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The King of Yemen Husayin II had acknowledged his poetic qualities and accorded him the title of Hassan Al-Hind.
Early life
His original name was Mir Ghulam Ali Husaini Wasiti, although he is best known as Ghulam 'Ali Azad Bilgrami. He was born in
Bilgram
Bilgram is a town and a nagar palika parishad in Hardoi district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located south of the city of Hardoi, on an elevated bluff that once formed the eastern bank of the Ganges. Important industries in Bilgr ...
, India, a small town in the Indian state of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. He gained a reputation for possessing command over all topics of literature and learning. He was instructed in language by Mir Abdul Jalil of Selsibil; in prosody and literature by Mir Saiad Muhammad; in the Koran by Muhammad Hayat; and in all excellences by 'Abdul Wabhat Tantawi. According to the Masalati Shuara, he studied eloquence with Muhammad Aslam Salim and Shaikh Saad Ullah Gulshan of Ahmedabad.Gazetter of Aurangabad – H. H. The Nizam's Government 1884 pg 415–427
As a youth he left Bilgram and stayed for two years in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
. He visited
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
and
Multan
Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan is one of the List ...
and made acquaintance with scholars of these cities, and lived for five years in the province of
Sind
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
. He then traveled to the cities of
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
and
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...
Ibn Majah
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah al-Rabʿī al-Qazwīnī ( ar, ابو عبد الله محمد بن يزيد بن ماجه الربعي القزويني; (b. 209/824, d. 273/887) commonly known as Ibn Mājah, was a medieval sch ...
, Abu Daud, Abu Isa Tirmizi and Abu Abdul Rehman Nisai.Dictionary of Indo-Persian literature – pg 101
Life in Aurangabad
He returned from
Hijaz
The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provinc ...
to India and lived in the city of
Aurangabad
Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is th ...
,
Deccan
The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...
till his death. Nasir Jang and other nobles of the
Nizam
The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...
's state were his devotees but he avoided worldly favours and preferred a life of piety and poverty. Azad was a poet and a biographer of poets. He was the friend of
Shah Nawaz Khan
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
, and when the latter was murdered, he collected his friend's manuscripts (
Ma'asir al-umara
''Ma'asir al-Umara'', written by Samsam ud Daula Shah Nawaz Khan and his son Abdul Hai Khan, at Aurangabad, is a Persian-language biography of notables in the Mughal Empire during the time period approximately 1556–1780. Variants of the ti ...
) which were scattered in all directions, and published them.
Azad compiled his two diwans of poetry in Arabic and Persian. Among the works of lasting value were the dictionaries of poets.
Works
* ''Yad-i-Baiza'' – Biographies of 532 poets.
* ''Ma asir ul-Kiram Tarikh-i-Bilgram'', which dealt with 80 sufis and 70 learned men of the author's home town.
* ''Sarw-i-Azad'' – sketches of 143 poets born in India.
* ''Khizanah-i-Amirah'' – notices of 135 poets famous for obtaining rich rewards from potrons. It also contained details of events to which Azad was eye witnesses.
* ''Rauzat ul Auliya'' – on lives of saints buried in
Khuldabad
Khuldabad () is a city (municipal council) and a Taluka of Aurangabad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is known as the Valley of Saints, or the Abode of Eternity, because in the 14th century, several Sufi saints chose to reside h ...
.
* ''Ghizlan ul Hind'' – a book on Indian womanhood as reflected in Persian literature.
* ''Anis ul Muhaqqiqin'' – on Indian saints.
Azad's skill as a poet, especially as a panegyrist of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
, has long been recognized. His one critically edited Arabic work, the ''Subhat al-marjan'' (The Coral Rosary), is approvingly cited for its praise of India, which describes India as the first domicile of
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
and for Azad's knowledge of Indian languages and culture, and for his literary-critical and poetic sensibilities.India: The Land and its Excellence
The ''Miratu-l Khayal'' ("Mirror of fancy") by Shir Khan Lodi states that "the author of the Khazanahi A'amirah ... composed the Tazkirah at the request of his relation Muhammad Auladi Muhammad. Ibrahim Khalil gives the life of ' Azad in his Suhuf, and states that " up to the present time, which is the 7th year of Shah 'Alam, he is still occupied in the composition of Persian and Arabic poetry. His works are numerous, and among others, he has arranged three Tazkirahs of poets,-the first called Yadi Bayza; the; second Servi Azad; and the third Khazanahi Aamirah."
In the Khulasat ul 'Afkar, it is mentioned that "Azad was a distinguished poet settled at Aurangabad, where he was much honoured, and associated on friendly terms with the sons of 'Asaf Jah. He wrote a Persian diwan, and a book of Arabic elegies and mesnawis. His Tazkirahs are considered noble proofs of his proficiency in everything connected with prosody, versification, and composition, both in Persian and Arabic."
Recognition
His works in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
have been cited by scholars and historians since they appeared, although Azad's Persian works have received more scholarly attention than his Arabic ones. He was celebrated in India, Arabia, and Egypt for his learning and literature.
He is buried near the
Dargah
A dargah ( fa, درگاه ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargah'' दरगाह درگاہ, bn, দরগাহ ''dorgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often ...
of
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
saint Amir Hasan Dihlawi Sijzi (d.1336) at
Khuldabad
Khuldabad () is a city (municipal council) and a Taluka of Aurangabad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is known as the Valley of Saints, or the Abode of Eternity, because in the 14th century, several Sufi saints chose to reside h ...
near
Aurangabad
Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is th ...
in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
See also
*
Wali Dakhni
Wali Muhammad Wali (1667–1707), also known as Wali Dakhani, Wali Gujarati, and Wali Aurangabadi, was a classical Urdu poet from India.
He is considered by many scholars to be the father of Urdu poetry, being the first established poet to have ...
*
Siraj Aurangabadi
Sayyid Sirajuddin, commonly known as Siraj Aurangabadi ( ur, ; 1715 - 1763), was an Indian mystic poet who initially wrote in Persian and later started writing in Urdu.
Work and Life
The anthology of his poems, ''Kulliyat-e-Siraj'', contain ...
Khuldabad
Khuldabad () is a city (municipal council) and a Taluka of Aurangabad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is known as the Valley of Saints, or the Abode of Eternity, because in the 14th century, several Sufi saints chose to reside h ...
*
Urdu poetry
Urdu poetry ( ur, ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. According to Naseer Turabi there are five major poets of Urdu which are Mir Taqi Mir (d.1810), Mirza Ghalib ...
Aurangabad
Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is th ...