Amir Khusrow

Amir Khusro
Amir Khusrau teaching his disciples; miniature from a manuscript of Majlis al-Ushshaq by Husayn Bayqarah
Background information
Birth name	Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn K͟husrau
Born	1253 Patiyali, Delhi Sultanate
Died	October 1325 Delhi, Delhi Sultanate
Genres	Ghazal, Khayal, Qawwali, Ruba'i, Tarana
Occupation(s)	Great Sufi, Musician, Poet, Composer, Author, Scholar
Website	http://www.khusrau.com

Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253–1325 CE) (Urdu: ابوالحسن یمین‌الدین خسرو‎,Hindi:अमीर ख़ुसरो), better known as Amīr Khusrow, was a Sufi musician, poet and scholar. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. He was a mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, and is reputed to have invented certain musical instruments like the sitar and tabla. He wrote poetry primarily in Persian, but also in Hindavi. A vocabulary in verse, the Ḳhāliq Bārī, containing Arabic, Persian, and Hindavi terms is often attributed to him. Khusrow is sometimes referred to as the "parrot of India".

Khusrow is regarded as the "father of qawwali" (a devotional music form of the Sufis in the Indian subcontinent), and introduced the ghazal style of song into India, both of which still exist widely in India and Pakistan. He is also credited with introducing Persian, Arabic and Turkish elements into Indian classical music and was the originator of the khayal and tarana styles of music..

Khusrow 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 wrote in many verse forms including ghazal, masnavi, qata, rubai, do-baiti and tarkib-band. His contribution to the development of the ghazal was significant.