Rahim

Rahim - Life & Poems

RAHIM: LIFE & POEMS Translation & Introduction by Paul Smith Abd'ur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan (1556-1627) was a Bhakti poet and scholar and linguist and great patron of the arts under Emperor Akbar and under Emperor Jahangir. He was the commander-in-chief of the army of Akbar against Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat. Rahim was known for his strange manner of giving alms to the poor. He never looked at the person he was giving alms to, keeping his gaze downwards in all humility. He was famous for his poetry and generosity even at the court of Abbas the great, the Persian Shah of the time. For his sovereign Akbar, Rahim translated the memoirs of Babur from the Chaghatay into Persian. His ghazals are said to have surpassed those of Naziri and many are Sufi and Bhakti in nature. He also composed many dohas in Hindi (Braj Bahasa... an early form of Urdu). Popularly known as Rahim and immortalised through his dohas or couplets, Rahim was among the most important ministers in Akbar's court. His tomb sits prominently along the Mathura Road, formerly the Mughal Grand Trunk Road, and is in close proximity to the Dargah of Nizam ud-din Auliya and Humayun's Tomb in South Delhi. Here is a selection of ruba'is, a ghazal, but mainly of his dohas, a rhymed couplet that is a wise, complete thought in itself. He was with Kabir, Tulsidas, Baba Farid and Vrind a master of this simple but powerful form. The correct rhyme-structure has been kept in all poems. 116 pages. Introduction to Bhakti Poets Series TULSIDAS, KABIR, VRIND, LALLA DED, RAHIM, VYASA, JAYADEVA (approx. 110-120 pages each... others to follow) Paul Smith (b. 1945) is a poet, author and translator of many books of Sufi poets from the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu, Hindi and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Obeyd Zakani, Mu'in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Lalla Ded, Mahsati, Baba Farid, Iqbal, Vrind, Rahim and others, and his own poetry, fiction, biographies, plays, children's books and 12 screenplays. amazon.com/author/smithpa Published by New Humanity Books