IN SEARCH OF MEHRI ARAB THE POETESS AT MUGHAL HOUSEHOLD – COMPANION OF EMPRESS NUR JAHAN WHO WAS HER GUARDIAN

IN SEARCH OF MEHRI ARAB THE POETESS AT MUGHAL HOUSEHOLD

COMPANION OF EMPRESS NUR JAHAN WHO WAS HER GUARDIAN

LITTLE BY LITTLE INFORMATION PILES UP IN HISTORICAL RECORD

A Mughal scene
A Mughal scene

Mehri is not an unusual name. It is an actually abbreviated form of Mehr, and for that matter Mehr unnisa was the name of Empress Nur Jahan herself. Little bits and pieces are known. It should be clarified that there were at least three Mehri poetess in those times. One was Mehri Khanum, a Turkish poetess, who wrote both in Turkish and Persian. Then there was Mehri Herawi, from the city of Herat, whose work was also known here. And then there was Mehri, the poetess attached with Empress Nur Jahan herself.

One strange aspect is that little of Mehri’s verses have survived and copies of a Masnavi or two exists in the famous Berlin library as well as Bombay University library. Nowhere else the same is known. It is called as the SARRAPA I MEHRI , and is just of a few pages. Enlarged writing makes it 14 pages, condensed writing just four pages. Some verses here and there in tazkhiras. But the funny aspect is that she is known a a PERSIAN POETESS but in the collections which saves her writing, she is written as MEHRI ARAB. A strange contradiction. We have a story of Emperor Akbar in Afghanistan who met a group of 200 Arabs in Afghanistan and and treated them with honour. We have the legend of Hamida Begum who brought a group of 300 Arabs back to Hindustan from her Haj trip to Mecca. In that respect we have the famous ARAB SERAI in Delhi. And on one of the Eastern gates, there is written MEHR BANO QADIMI JAHANGEER SHAH. Some scholars believe this Mehr to be an eunuch in the service of Emperor Jahangeer. Other believe it to be the name used of Nur Jahan herself. But the inscription very strangely written, and not the normal elegant inscriptions of Empress Nur Jahan. It is too brief and too vague to have other meanings. Perhaps the small Arab girl Mehr was part of these Arab travellers and Empress Nur Jahan liked the child and adopted her as her own. We do know that this Mehr was married to Khawaja Hakeem of the Mughal Court.

Sarrapa i Mehri Arab
Sarrapa i Mehri Arab

An interesting episode is related by Tazkhira writer Sher Khan Lodi of Bengal. He says that one day Nur Jahan and Mehri were standing on the balconey, when Khawaja Hakeem passed from underneath. Nur Jahan asked Mehri to summon Khawaja Hakeem, and the man got so nervous, that he started walking with an unusual gait. Nur Jahan asked Mehri to recite some verses on the stupid walk of her husband. And Mehri said these extempore verses:

“MARABA TO SARE YARI NUMANDA,

SARE MEHR OH WAFADARI NUMANDA;

TORAH ASZAF OH PEERI QUWAT OH ZOAR,

CHUNANCHAY PAY BARADARI NUMANDA.

In the couplet Mehri complains to her husband that due to old age and weakness, he does not have even the ability to walk forward, so the possibility of good marital relations has diminished considerably and no loyalty was to be expected.

Mehr Bano Inscription Arab Serai
Mehr Bano Inscription Arab Serai

Empress Nur Jahan was highly amused and as expected from an Empress, rewarded the poetess in a proper manner. Everyone calls Meri a Persian poetess raised by Nur Jahan but references show her as Mehri Arab. Further research obviously required in the life of Mehri.

5 thoughts on “IN SEARCH OF MEHRI ARAB THE POETESS AT MUGHAL HOUSEHOLD – COMPANION OF EMPRESS NUR JAHAN WHO WAS HER GUARDIAN”

  1. Lobbies suggest rewriting of history. They have already done that to us thousands of time.

  2. The cirticism of the Indian resourses in presenting the manuscript of Mehri’s Sarapa Masnavi:
    India has a rich resourses of persian
    manuscripts and it is really necessary to understand this great cultural heritage and to prepare scientific and reliable lists of it, because the analysis of Indian resourses and lists shows that these resourses were not successful in presenting these persiap manuscripts and don’t show clear pictures to the readers. The manuscripts of Mehri Arab’s Sarapa is among the works that was wrongly presented and this manuscript is attributed to Mehri who was the poet of Nur Jahan government and Mehri Heravi. In this essay, firstly, a shorr list of well known Mehris that have a biography in literature is presented , then we introduce Mehri Arab and his poems book and finally, we crircism Indian Indian resourses that are concened with Sarapa Masnavi. This essay emphasizes on criricism, examining and controlling the resourses related to Iranian culture that written by non-persian speakers….
    http://noskheh.dehaghan.ac.ir/article_666354.html

    1. Thanks we will study more but the mention of Her Afghan in Carrara clears things well.

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