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Introducing Braj bhasha archive for

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Hidden in Plain View: Brajbhasha Poet s at t he Mughal Court

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Int ernat ional Res Jour Managt Socio Human
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Introducing Braj bhasha archive for the study of the history of Mughal
India

Shreekant Kumar Chandan

Brajbhasha derives its name from the region of Braj which included Mathura and Vrindavan
where the dialect of Brajbhasha was prominently spoken. Shahnawaj Khan, the author of Tuhfat
al Hind (the gift of India) also identified the Brajbhasha with the region of Brajmandal and
commented on the nature of its literary culture in the following eulogising way.

“„Ornate poetry and the praise of the lover and the beloved are mostly composed in this
language. This is the language of the world in which we live. Its application (i.e. of the Bhakha
as a language) is generally inclusive of all other languages excepting Sanskrit and Prakrit. It is
particularly the language of the Birj (i.e. Braj) people. Birj is the name of a country in India four
kos round with its center at Mathura, which is quite a well-known district.

The language of the Brij people is the most eloquent of all languages……..since this language
contains poetry full of color and sweet expressions of the praise of the lover and the beloved, and
is much in vogue among poets and people of culture, for that reason its grammatical laws are
formulated here. The author of this (grammar) is this humble person.‟1

However its nomenclature clouds its larger circulation in the entire Indian subcontinent barring
some southern part of the Indian peninsula in the seventeenth and eighteenth century which can
be considered its period of heyday before it was eclipsed by the rise of khadi boli based hindi
language. The nationalist Hindi scholars perceived riti poetry, a prominent genre of Brajbhasha
poetry which focused on erotic and love poetry in contrast to bhakti poetry as a mark of feudal
moral decadence under the influence of colonial knowledge regime. The need to create a body of
literature which would be amenable to the project of nation building as a response to colonial
critique of the decadence of Indian culture made the sensuous and erotic literature an anathema
to the nationalist scholars of Hindi literature. The preoccupation with the bodily beauty of the
heroine was to be replaced by poetry on patriotism, national awakening, and duty towards the
nation.

The discomfort of Nationalist Hindi scholars to Brajbhasha Riti poetry is anachronistic as it was
a dynamic, wide spread and once flourishing literary culture in the North India and some parts of
the Peninsular India as well.2 Even today, research in Hindi has not been able to shed its sense of
discomfort towards Riti poetry and a prominent scholar of Brajbhasha literature has chronicled
1
Tuhfat al Hind of Mirza Khan tr M. Ziauddin, visva-Bharti Bookshop, 1935 p.34-35.
2
Allison Busch, „The anxiety of innovation: The practice of Literary science in the Hindi/Riti tradition‟ in
Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle east, Vol. 24, no. 2, 2004. P.47. Also See, Allison Busch,
Poetry of kings, The classical Hindi Literature of Mughal India, (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011) p. 103.

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her surprise towards the preoccupation of Hindi Research scholars with Modern literary heritage
of Hindi language. In other words, the pre modern legacy of Hindi literature, especially the
component of sensuous and erotic poetry awaits a critical evaluation. Some of the scholars who
have taken notice of the Riti past of the Hindi literary culture have not been able to shed the
baggage of colonial and nationalist mindset and continue to approach this body of literature as
symptomatic of a decadent society immerse deeply in the enjoyment of bodily pleasure.

This research paper is a humble attempt to introduce and critically evaluate the historical
significance of Brajbhasha literature from the point of view of a historian while being sensitive
to its literary sensibilities. In the following paragraphs, we would look at its various genre like
war narratives, eulogies, biography etc and the varying linguistic registers of Brajbhasa poetry
from Sanskritic to Persianised one. We would also look at the social groups who were
patronizing Brajbhasha poetry as an attempt to evaluate the admirable extent of patronage from
different levels of the ruling class of Mughal society. We would also historicize the community
of Brajbhasha poets who fashioned themselves as kavikul and functioned as a corporate body of
intellectuals.

The significance of vernacular literature for the guild of historians have been underlined by a
number of prominent historians. Velcheru Narayan Rao, David Shulman and Sanjay
Subrahmanyam suggested a sensitive examination of the texture of literary text in order to hear
the voices contained in them. They caution historians from adopting a rigid approach to poetry as
fictional and prose as more suitable as repository of historical information. In fact, their
intervention has taken away the sheen usually associated with the conventional archive in prose
produced by the state and brought in significance more fluid literature, layered poetic narrative to
the focus of historical inquiry.3 The significance of Brajbhasha literarue vis a vis Persian
archive lies in its ability to subvert the gaze of the historians of Mughal India. It facilitates an
evaluation of the Mughal state from the below, a peep into the crevices of the Mughal society
which should be seen as its strength as a source of studying history. For example, in the
Brajbhasha war narratives chronicling the war of succession fought among sons of the Mughal
emperor, the Mughal Princess appear to be vulnerable characters plucked away from the aura of
invincibility created by the Persian archive.

The Persian archive portrays Mughal society as a completely persianised society with little room
for a vernacular culture like Brajbhasha literary culture so much so that Muzaffar Alam argued in
his study of the rise of Persain language in the Mughal state under Akbar and later that
vernacular could make its presence felt in the Mughal court and literary culture only in the
eighteenth century in the light of political pressure created by the regions in the form of

3
V. Narayan Rao, David Shulman, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Textures of Time: Writing History in South India, 1600-
1800, New York: Other Press, 2003.

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rebellions.4 Such a perception comes under question if one uncovers continuous patronage of
brajbhasha literature especially its riti poetry by the imperial Mughal court and by the Mughal
ruling class which included Mughal Princes, high mansabdras and middle ranking mansabdars as
well. Some of these Mughal men were participants in the brajbhasha literary cultre in the role of
poet and not simply as patron of vernacular poets.

The name of Abdur Rahim khan-i-Khanan, the polyglot Mughal Noble remains the best example
of this tradition who was famed for his reputation to art and literature. His poetry has become
immortal under the pen name of Rahim in the canon of literary history of Hindi language.
Patronage of Braj poets by several of Awrangzeb‟s other courtiers and at least one of his sons is
also well attested. Himmat Khan Mir Isa (d.1681), a mansabdar of Awrangzeb, has been dubbed
the “Rahim Khankhana of his age” for his patronage of poets, including the Braj writers Shripati
Bhatt (fl.1674, author of Himmatprakash), Balbir and Krishna kavi. A few of Mir Isha‟s Braj
poems also survive under the chaap “Miran”. Fazil Ali, a minister of Awrangzeb commissioned
Sukhdev Mishra to write the Nayikabhed work Fazilaliprakash (Light on Fazil Ali, 1676).5

In the following paragraphs, we would do a brief survey of some brajbhasha poets who played
critical role in popularizing a vernacular literary culture in the Mughal society which has been
otherwise presented as Persianised society. This will also help historians in pluralizing the
cultural space during Mughal rule where Persian literary culture was in tight embrace with
vernacular literary culture as argued by Shantanu Phookan in his recent researches on bilingual
poetry composed by Persianised poets.

The Brajbhasha poets identified themselves as members of a vernacular literati or larger poet
community and fashioned themselves as kavi kul. This poet community was heterogeneous
group as it had members from various castes as well as religious communities. In a way, the
Brajbhasha literary culture was another cultural avenue which contributed to the creation of a
syncretic culture. Form the literary oeuvre of these poets, it becomes clear that there was a basic
training in the art of writing Brajbhasha poetry, text books on the genre of nayika bhed, critical
evaluation by the master poets and recital in a salon or gathering of poets which can be summed
as symptoms of mature literary culture.

Bihari (1595-1663)

Some tradition claims that Bihari was the son of the riti poet Keshavdas and Agra Mathura,
Gwalior and Orchha hav been associated with his birth. Other tradtion however trace him to
Keshav Rai, A Brahmin near Gwalior in 1595 and his father settled in Orchha. It was here that
Bihari got an opportunity to learn to write poetry from Keshavdas. It is also believed that he
encountered Mughal emperor Shahjahan during his stay at Vrindavan and became a part of the
4
Muzzafar Alam, „The Pursuit of Persian: Language in Mughal politics‟, Modern Asian Studies, vol. 32, 1998,
pp.317-49. Also see, Muzaffar Alam, The languages of Political Islam in India C. 1200-1800, New Delhi:
Permanent Black, [2004] second paper back printing 2010, pp.135.
5
Allison Busch, 2011, p.158

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imperial entourage and joined the emperor at his court in Agra. It seems that Bihari got
disappointed perhaps because of the snobbery of the Persianised elite or Persian poets in the
Mughal court and left for Amber where Raja Jai singh offered him patronage. It was under the
patronage of Amber king that he composed his famous Satsai (a collection of seven hundred
verses on the ways of riti) and died in 1663.

Vrind (1643-1723)

Vrind originally hailed from the Rajput kindom of Kishangrah in modern state of Rajasthan
however as was the fate of Brajbahsha poets of his time, he had to move from place to place in
search of patronage or along with the entourage of his patron. His first major literary-historical
composition was Varta Roop Singh ki in 1648 AD chronicling the role played by his patron,
Roop Singh, the ruler of Kishangarh in the war of succession fought among the sons of
Shahjahan. His next composition was Bhavpanchasika, written in 1686 locating his presence in
Awrangabad in the midst of Mughal campaigns against Deccani sultanats. In 1691, He composed
Srngar Shiksha, a treatise on Nayika Bhed for his patron Mirza Qadri, the member of Indo-
Persianate elite in Ajmer.

He was a prolific author and nitisatsai (a collection of seven hundred aphorisms on niti) was his
most celebrated work which was composed in AD 1704 in Dhaka for another patron from the
Indo-Persianate background, Mughal prince Azim us Shan 6. His last work seems to be another
war narrative, Satya Saroop Roopak chronicling the war of succession among Awrangzeb‟s sons
composed around AD 1707. Besides, these works ranging from war narrative to Nayika Bhed,
Vrind also demonstrated his command over Brajbhasha and the genre of riti poetry by
composing various texts on Srngar Ras e.g. Yamak Satsai. Vrind straddled across both cultural
spheres Persianate as well as non-Persianate cultural spheres and catered to the need of
connoisseurs from both sections.

Jaswant Singh , the ruler of Marwar from 1626 to 1673 was an eminent scholar of poetics. In
addition to being a prominent Mughal mansabdar under Shahjahan and later under Awrangzeb,
he had an elevated self-image of being an Alankarik. The texts that are credited to him are
Bhasha Bhushan, and an adaptation of prabodh Chandrodaya Natak.

Keshav Das 1555- 1616

Keshav Das is known to the students of hindi literature as the ghost of inscrutable riti poetry had
a great career as poet in the Bundela court of Orccha. His role in perfecting Brajbhasa as a
literary language has been immense. He modelled the Brajbhasha vernacular on the pattern of
classical Sanskrit literary heritage and made it respectable. His father was the court poet of
Madhukar Shah Bundela. He served three different Bundela chief at a time when the Orchha
state was experiencing the heat of Mughal imperial expansion. Infact, the Orchha-Mughal

6
Cheler,Vrind aur unka Sahitya, Agra: vinod Pustak Mandir, 1973,45-6

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conflict and later the acceptance of Orccha into Mughal imperium found suitable expression and
commentary in his poetry. His works can be easily categorized into two parts where one dealt
with the poetics while the other captured the political development of the period. The former
would include, Vir Singh Deo charit or Veer Charitra, Ratan Bavani and Jahangir Jas
chandrika while the latter would include Rasik Priya, Kavi Priya, Nakh Sikh.

Somnath, the court poet of Jat state

Somanth was the court poet of Raja Badan Singh , the Jat ruler. Somnath adopted a fine penname
for himself, shashinath (the Lord of the moon) suitable for a poet who was formulating the
ideology of a fledgling regional state ruled by Jat dynasty. His literary oeuvre is vast and what
assumes significance is the fact that he adapted many of the classical Sanskrit literature to the
Brajbhasha for his patron in cluding a retelling of Ramayana. His other literary work included
Ras Piyush Nidhi, Shringar Vilas and Sujan vilas. The last one is a biography of the the Jat king
Sujan Mal.

Anandghan (d.1757)

In comparison with other Brajbhasha poets of his time, Anandghan was less vocal about his
personal background in his poetry. In the light of such self-imposed silence, the Historians of
Hindi literature has relied on references to him by his contemporaries and critics in their literary
oeuvre and on a pool of rich anecdotes to reconstruct his life giving rise to a lot of myths and
fantasies regarding the historical Anandghan. For instance, they believed Anandghan to be the
Mir Munshi of Mughal state during the reign of Muhammad Shah. However, no contemporary
Persian source either from the court or authored outside court corroborates such a claim.

Anandghan was a poet, an accountant and later a bhakta of the Nimbarka sect based at
Salemabad and Vrindavan. Anadghan knew Persian and hence the linguistic register of his
brajbhasha poetry is persianate compared to other poets. However, he was not court poet rather
composed rpoetry on love and later on Krishna devotion for the larger community of
connoisseurs of Brajbhasha poetry. The references in his contemporary‟s account made it clear
that he was killed by the soldiers of Ahmad Shah Abdali when he invaded north India in March
1757. His literary oeuvre mostly comprise of love poetry and Krishna devotion poetry. Some of
his well-known texts are Sujanhit, Kripakand nibadh, Prempatrika, Danghata, Prakirnak,
Ghananand kabitt and Padavali7.

In the above paragraphs, I have tried to briefly outline the life and oeuvre of some of the
prominent BRajbhasha poets who could be called representative poets of the Brajbhasha kavikul
who were part of the Mughal cultural sphere. Its important to underline that Brajbhasha literature
flourished in the heyday of Persian literature however it remains untapped by historians of

7
Ibid, p.139.

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Mughal India for understanding various cultural processes like graded notion of gentlemanliness,
perception of Mughal emperors and state in the Brajbhasha literature.

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