Sahibqirani: An Ideal of Kingship and Manhood in the Romance of Amir Hamza
The ideals of manhood have been celebrated in all cultures through interesting stories of adventure, warfare, and love. The concept of Sahibqiran as an ideal king and world conqueror remained ingrained in the consciousness of the Muslim ruling elite as well as in the common reader's sensibility...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2014]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
Year: 2014, Volume: 26, Issue: 2, Pages: 187-201 |
| Further subjects: | B
Oral Tradition
B Urdu B Romance B Amir Hamza B world conqueror B Dastan B Sahibqiran B Kingship |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The ideals of manhood have been celebrated in all cultures through interesting stories of adventure, warfare, and love. The concept of Sahibqiran as an ideal king and world conqueror remained ingrained in the consciousness of the Muslim ruling elite as well as in the common reader's sensibility throughout Islamic history and across the widespread Islamic territories from the Arabian Peninsula to the South Asian subcontinent. This article analyzes the concept of Sahibqirani as illustrated by the compositional techniques and thematic devices employed by storytellers of an oral narrative titled Dastan-e-Amir Hamza Sahibqiran (1855). It explores the historical, political, and cultural backdrop of the honorific Sahibqiran and its romanticization in popular Islamic literature. The Adventures of Amir Hamza: Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction (2007) is an English translation of Dastan-e-Amir Hamza Sahibqiran. The work is the longest romance cycle in Urdu, comprising a forty-six-volume written record of an oral storytelling tradition. The stories in this work are centered on the heroics of Amir Hamza, a fictitious character with complex historical and religious affiliations. As a popular Indo-Islamic romance, it combines history, religion, and culture. This article explores the ideals of manhood and kingship as depicted in this romance and introduces a non-native speaker of Urdu to a new world of collective imagination informed by history, religion, and culture. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.26.2.187 |