Onika Maheshwari / New Delhi

“I feel that my passion for Amir Khusro is a miracle because despite facing financial problems, I am alive,’ says Pradeep Sharma Khusro, who had dedicated his life to tracing and studying the works of the 13th-century legendary poet, singer, Sufi, musician and sacholar.

New Delhi-based Pradeep Sharma Khusro claims to possess the world's largest collection of Amir Khusro's works and yet his search for more continues.

Pradeep Sharma told Awaz-the Voice that he may not be the richest man in the world but “I have the world's largest collection on Amir Khusro. I have about 3000 books on Amir Khusro from 14 countries in 12 languages like Persian, English, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Multani, Punjabi, Uzbek, and many more. I have about 300 audio cassettes, DVDs, CDs and audio cassettes. Amir Khusro wrote many books in Persian and Hindi.”

Pradeep says that “When I first started collecting works on Khusro, I found only a few books. I talked to collectors and many such people. I also contacted antique dealers who deal in books and furniture. Each book I bought was worth Rs 20,000, which would probably be worth much more in the international market. Many scholars gifted me their collections at the end of their day because they knew that after their death, those books maybe thrown away. I befriended students from different countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Tajikistan, etc. and they helped me buy books.”

"Interestingly, Amir Khusro is probably one of the few Indians who are taught in most of the universities of the world across the departments of Music, History, Philosophy, Sufism etc, " Pradeep said.

​Amir Khusro, known as Tota-e-Hind, was a philosopher who introduced the Hindi words in Persian poems. He was the first poet to write in Hindi, Hindavi, and Persian simultaneously.

A painting of Amir Khushro

He is credited with the invention of Khari Boli.

Pradeep Sharma Khusro hold dual degrees in Fine Arts and Education. ”I started my career as a cartoonist; taught in schools and kept writing exams so that I could work as a drawing teacher in government school.”

​According to Pradeep Sharma Khusro except for Khalik Bahari, one may not find many books by Amir Khusro written in the Hindi language,

Amir Khusro wrote a book on Krishna named Halat-e-Kanhaiya, and yet despite all his efforts he has not been able to lay his hands on it. “I do have one of his rare books called Chehel Roza.”

Pradeep says, "Wherever I go, whatever I do, I think only of Khusro. My name is Pradeep Sharma Khusro because I believe that I have some relation with Khusro. I didn't intentionally develop this passion. The circumstances and the people I met helped me to move forward on this path. I didn't take it for profit or loss. This is what Mirabai felt for Krishna. He did not think of anything other than Krishna. I think it is a form of divine love towards God."

He says his mission of life is about Khusro. "Maybe years after I am gone, people will read my books and say that this is the man who discovered Khusro in such a way that no one can even dream of," says pradeep who is currently working on writting 25 books on his muse.

Pradeep Sharma Khushro delivering a lecture

Pradeep Sharma told Awaz-The Voice that he was never career-oriented. "It was as if I was hypnotized by Khusro, it was as if my whole thought was this obsession. There is a price to be paid for everything. I have lost many things in this process."

Amir Khusro was creative person who is even known for his wit as he wrote riddles and puzzles. He called his admix of Hindu-Persian-Urdu Hindawi though he mainly wrote in Persian. He was working for the Delhi Sultanate. The list of his books is long and these are important sources of history today.

Khusro's poetry in Persian and Awadhi emphasized the pluralistic Indo-Islamic tradition and are in sync with the Indian culture. Born in 653, Khusrau was since childhood, a poet who had a spiritual inclination.

Pradeep feels he has a long way to go in search of Khusro’s legacy. “I am compiling the Hindi works of Amir Khusrau. I am probably the only person in the world who has translated more than 5000 pages of Amir Khusro's Persian works.  I used all the money I earned from it on the Aga Khan Foundation projects. I talk to my friends in Pakistan almost daily and they send me Khusro's works by email or WhatsApp because they share my passion about Khusro.

Pradeep said that "I am doing research on Khusrau as a historian, a philosopher, a Persian poet, and also a Sufi mystic. As a historian, he wrote not only about the prevailing political scenario but also the cultural aspects. He wrote extensively about the animals, food, clothing, languages, religion, and ethnicities of his era, he talked about samosas and the spices used in them and the influences present in Indian food.”

He also wrote about the makeup used by women, festivals, and rituals followed in both rich and poor societies. As a musician, he contributed a lot to Hindustani music. There are many such stories of Amir Khusro about which people do not know. I am writing about them too.

He was a multifaceted personality who was also an astrologer and astronomer too." People say that no other poet wrote in such detail.

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"I have started writing songs for Bollywood films in the style of Khusro. His first song was composed in 2018 for a film titled 'Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain', which was directed by Harish Vyas and produced by Manav Malhotra, Bunty Khan, and NFDC (National Film Development Corporation of India)," says Pradeep.