Hali's home to house Sufi museum dedicated to Khusro

Chandigarh, June 8: Scholars and Sufi experts, who deliberated over romantic and spiritual aspects of Amir Khusro's poetry, have suggested setting up of a Sufi museum in Panipat and a cultural centre in Panchkula in Haryana dedicated to the 13th century Urdu-Persian poet known for his innovative literature and music.

The two-day national seminar on Khusro, which concluded here last evening, recommended that the proposed Sufi museum be built in the premises of the ancestral house of 18th century Urdu poet Hali in Panipat.

The premises, presently occupied by a retired state employee who had migrated from Pakistan after the partition of the country, would be acquired by the Haryana government and converted into a museum with a library on Sufism, Haryana Urdu Akademi secretary Kashmiri Lal Zakir told UNI.

The occupant of the house, which was fortunately intact in its original form, had agreed to vacate it after getting a plot in lieu of it, said Mr Zakir who was recently honoured with the Padmashri award.

The proposed cultural centre dedicated to Khusro at Panchkula would work for the promotion of the pluralistic Indian culture with special emphasis on the publication of the poet's work in Urdu and its translations in Hindi and Punjabi, he added.

Khusro--immortalised by several of his popular Sufi songs and compositions like ''Chhap tilak sab chhini re mose naina milai ke,' in India, Pakistan and several other countries where Persian is understood--had expressed his love for Hindustani culture in his works by taking Indian customs, festivals, seasons and even birds in the ambit of his poetry.

The experts also called for the publication and translation of the poet's verses in these languages. They also called for an effort to work upon an ''authentic biography'' of Amir Khusro based on his own writings. The existing biographical works on the poet were neither scholarly nor reliable, Mr Zakir said.

Besides, publication of an ''authentic'' collection of Khusro's Persian poetry was another recommendation by the participants in the seminar organised by the Haryana Urdu Akademi in collaboration with Chandigarh Doordarshan. There was no authentic anthology of his Persian poetry available at present, he added.

Eminent Urdu, Persian, Sanskrit and Hindi scholars had been invited to present their papers on the life, poetry and other contributions of Amir Khusro, considered to be the first poet of Khari Boli, which later developed into Urdu.

''It was way back in 1975 that a national seminar was held at Delhi to commemorate the 700th death anniversary of Khusro. But after that not much effort was made to highlight the contribution of this great Sufi by any prominent organisation,'' said Mr Zakir.

However, it was heartening that research work was being done on the life and contribution of Khusro in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, he added.

The two-day programme commenced with the rendition of some of the choicest Sufi compositions of the poet.

Mr Zakir and Sahitya Akademi award winner Ghulam Nabi Khayal were honoured with ''Awards of excellence'' on the occasion for their contribution to the Urdu literature.

UNI