Seh Nasr of Zuhuri (The Three Essays)

The Seh Nasr is Zuhuri's major work at Bijapur: a trilogy of the Nauras, a Persian preface to the sultan's Urdu book of the same name; the Gulzar-i Ibrahim (The Rose Garden of Abraham); and the Khwan-i Khalil (The Table of the Friend of God). The first two praise the sultan's character and accomplishments; the third gives valuable information on his courtiers. ¹

In the Nauras Zuhuri presents Ibrahim as a skilled musician, painter and calligrapher and a tireless patron who sent messengers across the world for skilled men and built at Nauraspur, a suburb of Bijapur, a residence for musicians. The Gulzar-i Ibrahim lists his nine virtues, borrowing the story of Abraham for whom the fire became a garden; the Khwan-i Khalil likens the court to the Friend's table and names six courtiers: the chief minister Shah Nawaz Khan, a mathematician; the poet Malik Qumi; the calligrapher Hazrat Shah Khalilullah; the painter Farrukh Husain; the wit Mullah Haidar Zehri; and Zuhuri himself. ²

Mark Zebrowski notes that Deccani literature, like its painting, is idealised and gives little factual data, the Khwan-i Khalil praising in metaphor rather than recording. ³ Yet from Zuhuri's lines on Farrukh Husain he infers that the painter led the royal workshop and that some painters in Islamic India held very high standing. ⁴