Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism [Paperback]

Muhammad Husain Jah (Author), Musharraf Ali Farooqi (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2009

The world's first and longest magical fantasy HOSHRUBA (1883-1893) was compiled in the Urdu language by two of its greatest prose writers. Spread over eight thousand pages, it reached the summits of popularity and acclaim never attained by any other epic in the history of Urdu literature. But the richness of its language and its length deterred translations for more than 125 years. In this first translation of this iconic fantasy classic by Musharraf Ali Farooqi, whose translation of THE ADVENTURES OF AMIR HAMZA was hailed by the international press as a gift to world literature, we enter the magical world of Hoshruba, conjured in the untold past by sorcerers defying the laws of God and the physical world. Filled with dazzling illusions and occult realms inhabited by powerful sorceresses and diabolic monsters, Hoshruba had a fixed life, and a designated conqueror who would use its magical key to unravel it one day. The first book of the HOSHRUBA series begins with the giant Laqa entering Hoshruba's protection, and its sorcerer emperor finding himself at war with Laqa's arch fiend, Amir Hamza the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction, who pursues the giant with his numerous tricksters and a young prince - the yet to be known conqueror-designate of Hoshruba. When the prince is kidnapped by the devious trickster girls sent by the sorcerer emperor, it falls to an extraordinary trickster and a rebel sorceress to continue his mission.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

THE AUTHOR: Muhammad Husain Jah (Born: ? - Died: 1891-93?) was one of Urdu's greatest prose stylists and an accomplished poet. His father, Syed Ghulam Husain, was a rammal or diviner. Hardly any information exists about Jah's life before he published his first composition, TILISM-E FASAHAT, in 1874 through the Naval Kishore Press, Lucknow. After Jah's success with TILISM-E FASAHAT, Naval Kishore Press hired him to compose the TILISM-E HOSHRUBA. A first volume was published in 1883. According to Jah's own account, he compiled the fantasy using traditions from the three written accounts of Mir Ahmad Ali Rampuri/Amba Prasad Rasa, Muhammad Amir Khan, and Ghulam Raza. He also used traditions from a fellow dastan narrator and dastan writer, Shaikh Tasadduq Husain. The second volume of TILISM-E HOSHRUBA came out in 1884. But there was a delay of four years before the third volume was published in 1888-89. Jah was devastated by the deaths of his young son and daughter, which occurred while he wrote the third volume. For awhile he even stopped writing and only resumed it at the encouragement of publisher Munshi Naval Kishore. After the printing of the fourth volume of TILISM-E HOSHRUBA in 1890, the Naval Kishore Press replaced Jah with another Lucknow dastan narrator, Ahmed Husain Qamar. The time recorded for the death of Jah's young children and a comparison of his contemporaries' ages reveals that Jah died at a relatively young age.

THE TRANSLATOR: Musharraf Ali Farooqi (Born July 26, 1968) is a novelist, author and translator. His critically acclaimed translation of Indo-Islamic classic THE ADVENTURES OF AMIR HAMZA (2007) was published by the Random House Modern Library. His children's picture book THE COBBLER'S HOLIDAY OR WHY ANTS DON'T WEAR SHOES (2008) came out from A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press. His novel THE STORY OF A WIDOW (2008) was published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada. A translation of contemporary Urdu poet Afzal Ahmed Syed's selected poetry, ROCOCO AND OTHER WORLDS (2010) is forthcoming from the Wesleyan University Press Poetry Series.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

OF THE TILISM CALLED HOSHRUBA AND THE MASTER OF THE TILISM, EMPEROR AFRASIYAB ---

We are told that at the bottom of the untold past, a group of sorcerers met to create a tilism or magical world by using occult sciences2 to infuse inanimate matter with the spirits of planetary and cosmic forces. In the tilism, the sorcerers exercised powers that defied the laws of God and the physical world. They created illusions, transferred spirits between bodies, transmuted matter, made talismans, and configured and exploited Earth's inherent physical forces to create extraordinary marvels. Once the tilism was created, the sorcerers named it Hoshruba. A sorcerer named Lachin ruled Hoshruba in its early years. Then one of his deputies, the cunning sorcerer Afrasiyab, deposed his master and usurped the throne. Afrasiyab became the Emperor of Hoshruba and Master of the Tilism. Afrasiyab and his sorceress wife, Empress Heyrat, ruled over Hoshruba's three regions: Zahir the Manifest, Batin the Hidden, and Zulmat the Dark. These regions were also tilisms and contained countless dominions and smaller tilisms filled with thousands of buildings, enclosures, gardens and palaces governed by sorcerer princes and sorceress princesses. Ordinary citizens of Hoshruba lived in the region of Zahir the Manifest. Empress Heyrat and the emperor's ministers, peers and confidants made their abode in Batin the Hidden. Zulmat the Dark was a secluded region of Hoshruba to which few had access. It was inhabited by two of Hoshruba's most powerful sorceresses. An enchanted river called the River of Flowing Blood divided the regions of Zahir and Batin. A bridge that was made of smoke and guarded by two smoke lions stretched over it. It was called the Bridge of the Magic Fairies and from it a three-tiered tower rose to the skies. On the lowest tier of this tower, magic fairies stood alert, holding trumpets and clarions to their lips. From the second tier, another group of magic fairies constantly tossed pearls into the river to the fish that swam, carrying them in their mouths. On the topmost tier, gigantic Abyssinians arrayed in double rows skirmished together with swords. The blood that flowed from their wounds poured into the water below and gave the River of Flowing Blood its name. Emperor Afrasiyab moved freely between the three regions of Hoshruba. Whenever anyone called out his name in the tilism, Afrasiyab's magic alerted him to the call. The emperor's fortune revealed itself in the palms of his hands. His left hand warned him of inauspicious moments and the right hand revealed auspicious ones. He also possessed the Book of Sameri, which contained an account of every event inside and outside the tilism. And he had a magic mirror that projected his body into his court during his absence, and many magic doubles who replaced him when he was in imminent danger. Besides sorcerers and sorceresses, Afrasiyab also commanded magic slaves and magic slave girls, who fought at his command and performed any and all tasks assigned them. Emperor Afrasiyab was among the seven immortal sorcerers of Hoshruba who could not be killed while their doppelgangers lived. But every tilism had a fixed lifespan and a tilism key that contained directions for its unravelling. The conqueror of a tilism was one who would use that key to unravel the tilism at the appointed time. Over the years, the whereabouts of Hoshruba's tilism key was forgotten. As Hoshruba's life neared its end, Emperor Afrasiyab resolved to defend his empire and tilism and foil the tilism's conqueror when he appeared. Unbeknown to Emperor Afrasiyab the Master of the Tilism events were already unfolding outside Hoshruba that would soon test his resolve. The false god Laqa was in flight after suffering fresh defeats at the hands of Amir Hamza the Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction, whose armies and spies hotly pursued him. Each day brought Laqa and Amir Hamza a little nearer to Hoshruba.

Product Details

• Paperback: 516 pages
• Publisher: Urdu Project; First edition (May 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978069552
• ISBN-13: 978-0978069551
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,346,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hoshruba is fascinating but two-dimensional, June 8, 2009

By 

Syed Imran (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism (Paperback)

Hoshruba is a very good example of the kind of stories we grew up hearing. The good hero always wins and the evil sorcerers who imprison fair damsels get killed. The characters in Hoshruba do not rise above these stereotypes. Farooqui does a good job of translating the magical and mythical nature of Hoshruba. But I wish that instead of being a faithful translator, he would cut to the chase and add some modern dimensions to the story.
After a while, it gets tedious reading about how the tricksters get trapped by sorcerers and then kill them using their cunning. There is no middle ground in Hoshruba: the tricksters are the pinnacle of cunning, the fair damsels are all beautiful beyond imagination, the sorcerers are vile and powerful and the lovers are the epitome of fidelity. Its black or white with no shades of gray.
The characters are well-described - but not well developed. Familiarity with the characters, their motives and thoughts is assumed.