Tilism-e-Hoshruba

by Syed Muhammad Hussain Jah

The greatest work of fantasy ever written. Part of the longest epic ever written in any language. A grand oral tradition converted into a written masterpiece of prose interspersed with choice poetry in Persian, Urdu, Arabic, Brij, and Avadhi. The prose itself varies between the lyrical, the flowing everyday and the grand. The specially created Saqqal Kitab Urdu font for this edition is such a fine new version of Khat e Naskh and very easy on the eyes. Hoshruba’s vocabulary is mind bogglingly vast and the extensive glossary now makes it accessible to us for the first time, as do the grammatical pruning, textual modernisation & additional up-gradations, paragraphing & punctuation.

The high register of Persianized descriptions of courts and battles combine seamlessly with the charming Hindustani flavoured descriptions of merrymaking and romance. The high adventure is followed by wit and the fantasy is succeeded by drama, acts of cunning and mystery. As many words are there objects and things both real and imaginary in Hoshruba that are not well known to us - an entire civilisational caravan of goods, concepts and artefacts. And then the names - those sonorous, evocative, ever so musical names. One of the world's greatest classics. This is a special collectors' edition.

521 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2022