Two exhibitions on Amir Khusrau celebrate the pluralist philosopher.
Poet, scholar, Sufi, statesman, musician and a man of science. Amir Khusrau Dehlvi was, as Shakeel Hossain says, a Renaissance Man. “What Mozart was to Austria or da Vinci was to Italy, Khusrau was to India,” says Hossain, curator of two exhibitions on Amir Khusrau in Delhi.
The idea, says Hossain, is to show the context in which the 13th-14th century poet lived, and elaborate on the subjects of his work and link it to contemporary culture. While much of his writings may be in Persian, the culture that informs it is Indian. So, for instance, in one of his writings, he mentions India as a paradise where Adam was banished to. “It was the beginning of the Indo-Islamic culture what today we call Hindustani,” says Hossain, a consultant with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and curator for Jashn-e-Khusrau, the month-long festival that hosted seminars, musical performances and exhibits on the poet.
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