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Amir Hamza a popular medieval narrative poem describing the victories of the legendary warrior hero Amir Hamza. Abdul Nabi of chittagong was the first to compose Amir Hamza (1684) in
Bangla based on the Persian text, Dastan-i-Amir Hamza. He was followed by Fakir Garibullah and syed hamza who jointly composed a poem on the same subject. The first part of their monumental work consisting of 70 episodes was composed by Garibullah towards the middle of the 18th century. The remaining part was completed by his disciple Syed Hamza in 1794. This
version, written in Dobasi Bangla cheaply printed, became more popular than Abdul Nabi's poem, which was in manuscript.
Amir Hamza, the central character of the poem, was the
uncle of Prophet muhammad
(Sm). The poem describes how Amir Hamza fought and defeated different
kings. The defeated kings saved their lives and regained their kingdoms
by embracing Islam. Apart from narrating wars and describing acts of heroism,
the poem contains a number of love stories, the most spectacular of them
being the love affair of Amir Hamza and Mehernigar. Amir Hamza is struck
by the extraordinary beauty of Mehernigar and, while reaching her through
a tunnel, is caught and has to undergo a great deal of suffering. Finally,
however, the two marry. Amir Hamza assumes the proportion
of an epic with its long-winding tales of human and superhuman achievements,
its mixture of historical facts and imaginary tales, and its cast of essential
and superfluous characters. Many similar poems, such as jaiguner
puthi, Sonabhan and Hatem Tai, were
composed during the 18th and 19th centuries. These tales of Muslim heroes
and warrior women were popular with Muslims as they reminded them of their
glorious past and helped them to dream of a better future. [Wakil Ahmed]
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