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InterGlobe Foundation and Aga Khan Trust for Culture announce the launch of “Celebrating Rahim”: Book on Abdur Rahim Khan-I-Khanan’s literature and life
October 4, 2017
New Delhi: Celebrating Rahim: InterGlobe Foundation, the philanthropic arm of InterGlobe Enterprises, in association with Aga Khan Trust for Culture today announced the launch of the book “Celebrating Rahim”. The book comprising in-depth archival research on the life of Abdur Rahim Khan and his dohas and poetry is a part of joint conservation and culture revival project that started in 2014 under the guidance of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The literary evening saw book launch by the guest-of-honour Padma Shri awardee Smt. Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, former member Planning Commission of India, in the presence of Smt.Usha Sharma, Director-General, Archaeological Survey of India. This was followed by Dastangoi (a Persian art of storytelling) by Aamir Ahmed and Prateek Garg under the direction of Ankit Chadha and musical presentation of Rahim’s verses by renowned artists- Harpreet Singh, Dev Narayan Sarolia, Swaransh Mishra and Netai Das.
Locating Rahim’s life, his artistic and political approach in the intellectual and imperial framework of the Mughal durbar, the evening recognised his exceptional literary talents. Essays by noted scholars shed light on Rahim’s contribution to literature, art, architecture, culture and Indian society. Simultaneously, the project is focussing on physical restoration of Rahim’s tomb by setting up the arcades, stitching of cracks, marble, sandstone cladding, canopies and dalans, interior and external surface, as well as landscaping of the site of the mausoleum, which is expected to reach completion by April 2018.
Commenting on the initiative, Ms. Rohini Bhatia, Director, InterGlobe Foundation, said, “At InterGlobe Foundation (IGF) we have always believed in sustainable development and have lent our voice to critical issues that the world is facing today. We hold preservation of heritage and culture to be of paramount importance, as we believe that the future is nourished by the past. For us, the association with Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Archaeological Survey of India, in the restoration of Rahim’s mausoleum and bringing to the fore his many contributions, has been immensely satisfying, special and an incredible learning experience”
Mr. Ratish Nanda, Chief Executive, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, India shared that “coupled with the mammoth conservation project on Rahim’s tomb – a monument of national importance, the book ‘Celebrating Rahim’ captures Rahim’s cultural legacy and varied personality. The ambitious conservation effort and this publication – with contributions from a dozen scholars – has been possible only with the support of InterGlobe Foundation”
This is one of the few conservation initiatives at any of India’s nationally protected monuments that are being undertaken in collaboration with a corporate. The tomb sits prominently along the Mathura Road, formerly the Mughal Grand Trunk Road. Rahim was amongst the most important ministers in Akbar’s court. He was one of the Navratnas and continued to serve Salim after his accession to the throne as Emperor Jahangir. Besides being a strong administrator and military commander, Rahim was a great scholar and poet. He wrote verses in Turkish, Arabic, Sanskrit and Persian, translated the Baburnama in Persian and authored several prose works, including two books on astrology. The mausoleum was built by Rahim for his wife, making this the first ever Mughal tomb built for a woman. Rahim was buried here in AD 1627.
Book on Abdur Rahim Khan-I-Khanan’s literature and life
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ABDUR RAHIM KHAN KHNAN
Article adopted:
Rahiman gali hai sakri, dujo nahi thaharahi
Apu ahai to Hari nahi, Hari to aapun nahi
The alley is narrow, Rahim, it won’t take both of us
If I go, the lord can’t; and if the lord does I can not
Poet, statesman, soldier, one of Akbar’s navratna or Nine Jewels, an early-day proponent of a secular all-embracing all-encompassing culture of inclusiveness that has been “native” to this land long before the proponents of Akhand Bharat became clamorous, founding father of the movement to popularise the people’s language as the language of poetic and creative expression instead of the high-brow Persian and Turkish of the Mughal court, and patron saint of modern-day translators – Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan was all this and much more.
The son of Bairam Khan – Akbar’s uncle, tutor and regent after Humayun’s death – Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan (1556-1627) not only accompanied Akbar on his military expeditions, most notably the one to Gujarat, but also became Mir Ard, the one who heard the thousands of applications addressed to the emperor. More importantly, he is also the Rahim Das that most of us have encountered in Hindi textbooks in school along with the famous triumvirate of medieval Bhakta poets, Sur, Tulsi and Kabir.
Clearly a man of many parts, it is difficult to reconcile the bhakta Rahim Das – the Servant of Rahim (one of the 99 names name for Allah) – and the aesthete-courtier-military strategist seen in many gilded Mughal-era paintings. Yet, such a man existed. He lies buried in a vast and crumbling mausoleum on Mathura Road (once part of the Mughal Grand Trunk Road) at the mouth of Nizamuddin East in Delhi, in a grand edifice built by Rahim for his wife, making it the first Mughal tomb of its kind built for a lady.
Its proximity to the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, the thirteenth-century Sufi saint, makes it part of a cluster of over 100 monuments, mostly mausoleums and mosques, that together comprise the densest ensemble of medieval monuments anywhere in India. The AGA KHAN TRUST for Culture (AKTC), having successfully undertaken repair and renovation work on Humayun’s Tomb and several other monuments in its vicinity, has now turned its attention to Rahim’s Tomb as part of its Nizamuddin Urban Renewal initiative. While the conservation work being undertaken by the AKTC, in collaboration with the Inter Globe Foundation, is of great architectural significance laying out as it is a blueprint for conservation projects elsewhere in India, the intention to revisit Rahim’s legacy is equally laudable.
On February 9, 1956, a function was organised by the Ministry of Communications to celebrate the 400th birth anniversary of Rahim Das. After this token sarkari felicitation of a man who strove to achieve the synthesis of Urdu and Hindi, the Rahiman of countless sweet and sage pronouncements was promptly consigned to the rubbish heap of history and his tomb, despite its vantage location on one of Delhi's busiest roads, rendered practically invisible.
The poetry
The fact that three great poets lie within a bare kilometre of each other – Rahim on Mathura Road, and Amir Khuro and Mirza Ghalib close beside Hazrat Nizamuddin’s dargah –all of them among the greatest votaries of inclusiveness and multiculturalism, needs some attention. While the curtain of forgetfulness occasionally parts and the qawwali, geet and ghazal of Khusro and Ghalib make themselves heard, Rahim and his marvellous poetry have been largely neglected. It is laudable, therefore, that the conservation project has included within its ambit the documenting of Rahim’s contribution to culture; a compilation of his dohas (two-line pithy couplets) is in the works as is an edited volume of essays focusing on his multi-dimensional personality.
A poet and a patron of men of learning, Rahim was a bit of a linguist himself. He spoke some Portuguese (the first Jesuit mission had already reached Akbar’s court) and wrote extensively in Braj, Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. He translated Babur’s autobiography Baburnama from Turkish to Persian.
Abdur Rahim was barely four years of age when his father Bairam Khan was assassinated. He, however, grew up into a fine young man under the fostering care of Akbar who later gave him the title of Mirza and made him commander of Five Thousand with the title Khan-e-Khanan. He was appointed tutor to Prince Salim and one of his daughters was given in marriage to Prince Daniyal. After Akbar’s death, he served under Jehangir for 21 years.
However, for all his loyalty, he was seen as a threat by Jehangir and treated shabbily. Jehangir ordered the killing of two of his sons at the Khooni Darwaza on the trumped-up charge that they were traitors. In this he was supported by Mirza Raja Man Singh and Mirza Aziz Kokaltash, son of Akbar's wet-nurse, Maham Anagah. The bodies of the Khan-e-Khanan’s sons were left to rot and eaten by birds of prey, thus providing yet another leaf in the macabre history of Khooni Darwaza.
Rahim wrote for every occasion. Here’s something on the need to must preserve every drop of water, for, a single drop saved inside the oyster’s shell, forms a pearl:
Rahiman pani rakhiye bin pani sab soon,
Pani gaye na ubare moti manus ehoon.
On the innate goodness of character that remains untainted, like the chandan tree that retains its purity despite the poisonous snakes twined around it:
Jo Rahim uttam prakrati, ka kar sakat kusang,
Chandan vish vyapat nahin, lipitay rahey bhujang.
On the transience of both ill and good fortune:
Rahiman vipida ho bhali jo thoray din hoye,
Hit anhit eeh jagat mein, jaan paday sab koi.
On placating, time and time again, those who are good at heart:
Ruthay sujan manaiye jo ruthay sau baar,
Rahiman phir phir poiye jo tootay tootay sau baar.
On the Small vs Big debate and the use of a needle when a sword is not required:
Rahiman dekh badein ko laghu na dijiye daar,
Jahan kaam awai sui, kahan karey talwar.
On birds flying off from a drying lake to seek another perch, but what of the poor wingless fish:
Sar sookhe, pachchi ure aure saran samae,
Deen meen bin pachch ke, kahu Rahim kahan jaye?
And the most famous of them all, on the thread of love, that once snapped, forever bears a knot:
Rahiman dhaga prem ka, mat todu chatkai,
Tootey phir se na milay, milay gaanth padi jai.
ABDUR RAHIM KHAN KHNAN
Article adopted:
Rahiman gali hai sakri, dujo nahi thaharahi
Apu ahai to Hari nahi, Hari to aapun nahi
The alley is narrow, Rahim, it won’t take both of us
If I go, the lord can’t; and if the lord does I can not
Poet, statesman, soldier, one of Akbar’s navratna or Nine Jewels, an early-day proponent of a secular all-embracing all-encompassing culture of inclusiveness that has been “native” to this land long before the proponents of Akhand Bharat became clamorous, founding father of the movement to popularise the people’s language as the language of poetic and creative expression instead of the high-brow Persian and Turkish of the Mughal court, and patron saint of modern-day translators – Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan was all this and much more.
The son of Bairam Khan – Akbar’s uncle, tutor and regent after Humayun’s death – Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan (1556-1627) not only accompanied Akbar on his military expeditions, most notably the one to Gujarat, but also became Mir Ard, the one who heard the thousands of applications addressed to the emperor. More importantly, he is also the Rahim Das that most of us have encountered in Hindi textbooks in school along with the famous triumvirate of medieval Bhakta poets, Sur, Tulsi and Kabir.
Clearly a man of many parts, it is difficult to reconcile the bhakta Rahim Das – the Servant of Rahim (one of the 99 names name for Allah) – and the aesthete-courtier-military strategist seen in many gilded Mughal-era paintings. Yet, such a man existed. He lies buried in a vast and crumbling mausoleum on Mathura Road (once part of the Mughal Grand Trunk Road) at the mouth of Nizamuddin East in Delhi, in a grand edifice built by Rahim for his wife, making it the first Mughal tomb of its kind built for a lady.
Its proximity to the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, the thirteenth-century Sufi saint, makes it part of a cluster of over 100 monuments, mostly mausoleums and mosques, that together comprise the densest ensemble of medieval monuments anywhere in India. The AGA KHAN TRUST for Culture (AKTC), having successfully undertaken repair and renovation work on Humayun’s Tomb and several other monuments in its vicinity, has now turned its attention to Rahim’s Tomb as part of its Nizamuddin Urban Renewal initiative. While the conservation work being undertaken by the AKTC, in collaboration with the Inter Globe Foundation, is of great architectural significance laying out as it is a blueprint for conservation projects elsewhere in India, the intention to revisit Rahim’s legacy is equally laudable.
On February 9, 1956, a function was organised by the Ministry of Communications to celebrate the 400th birth anniversary of Rahim Das. After this token sarkari felicitation of a man who strove to achieve the synthesis of Urdu and Hindi, the Rahiman of countless sweet and sage pronouncements was promptly consigned to the rubbish heap of history and his tomb, despite its vantage location on one of Delhi's busiest roads, rendered practically invisible.
The poetry
The fact that three great poets lie within a bare kilometre of each other – Rahim on Mathura Road, and Amir Khuro and Mirza Ghalib close beside Hazrat Nizamuddin’s dargah –all of them among the greatest votaries of inclusiveness and multiculturalism, needs some attention. While the curtain of forgetfulness occasionally parts and the qawwali, geet and ghazal of Khusro and Ghalib make themselves heard, Rahim and his marvellous poetry have been largely neglected. It is laudable, therefore, that the conservation project has included within its ambit the documenting of Rahim’s contribution to culture; a compilation of his dohas (two-line pithy couplets) is in the works as is an edited volume of essays focusing on his multi-dimensional personality.
A poet and a patron of men of learning, Rahim was a bit of a linguist himself. He spoke some Portuguese (the first Jesuit mission had already reached Akbar’s court) and wrote extensively in Braj, Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. He translated Babur’s autobiography Baburnama from Turkish to Persian.
Abdur Rahim was barely four years of age when his father Bairam Khan was assassinated. He, however, grew up into a fine young man under the fostering care of Akbar who later gave him the title of Mirza and made him commander of Five Thousand with the title Khan-e-Khanan. He was appointed tutor to Prince Salim and one of his daughters was given in marriage to Prince Daniyal. After Akbar’s death, he served under Jehangir for 21 years.
However, for all his loyalty, he was seen as a threat by Jehangir and treated shabbily. Jehangir ordered the killing of two of his sons at the Khooni Darwaza on the trumped-up charge that they were traitors. In this he was supported by Mirza Raja Man Singh and Mirza Aziz Kokaltash, son of Akbar's wet-nurse, Maham Anagah. The bodies of the Khan-e-Khanan’s sons were left to rot and eaten by birds of prey, thus providing yet another leaf in the macabre history of Khooni Darwaza.
Rahim wrote for every occasion. Here’s something on the need to must preserve every drop of water, for, a single drop saved inside the oyster’s shell, forms a pearl:
Rahiman pani rakhiye bin pani sab soon,
Pani gaye na ubare moti manus ehoon.
On the innate goodness of character that remains untainted, like the chandan tree that retains its purity despite the poisonous snakes twined around it:
Jo Rahim uttam prakrati, ka kar sakat kusang,
Chandan vish vyapat nahin, lipitay rahey bhujang.
On the transience of both ill and good fortune:
Rahiman vipida ho bhali jo thoray din hoye,
Hit anhit eeh jagat mein, jaan paday sab koi.
On placating, time and time again, those who are good at heart:
Ruthay sujan manaiye jo ruthay sau baar,
Rahiman phir phir poiye jo tootay tootay sau baar.
On the Small vs Big debate and the use of a needle when a sword is not required:
Rahiman dekh badein ko laghu na dijiye daar,
Jahan kaam awai sui, kahan karey talwar.
On birds flying off from a drying lake to seek another perch, but what of the poor wingless fish:
Sar sookhe, pachchi ure aure saran samae,
Deen meen bin pachch ke, kahu Rahim kahan jaye?
And the most famous of them all, on the thread of love, that once snapped, forever bears a knot:
Rahiman dhaga prem ka, mat todu chatkai,
Tootey phir se na milay, milay gaanth padi jai.