Raskhan was one of the great poets of Hindi. Though he was a Muslims, he was devoted to Lord Krishna. There is no any authentic information relating to his real name, lineage, place of birth, etc. There are differeces in the opinion of scholars regarding his year of birth. Some scholars opine that his year of birth is 1615 and others say that it is 1630, whereas Mishra Bandhu believes that Raskhan was born in 1558 and the year of his death is 1628.
Birth place of Raskhan
Most of the scholars say that Raskhan was a Pathan Sardar belonging to Delhi, but some scholars opine that his birth place was Pihani in Hardoi district.
Name of Raskhan
Raskhan is not his original name. Hajari Prasad Dwivedi has described his two names, Saiyad Ibrahim and Sujan Raskhan, in his book. It appears that the original name of Raskhan was Saiyad Ibrahim and Khan was his title.
Childhood and education
It is said that Raskhan was sone of a Jagirdar having all the luxurious facilities. He got good and quality education as he was born in a wealthy family. His poetry reveals his wisdom. Raskhan had good knowledge of Hindi and Farsi. His translation of “Shrimadbhagwat” to Farsi is the proof for it.
Subjet of Raskhan’s poetry
Poetry of Raskhan are based on Lord Krishna. ”Lilas” of Lord Krishna, like ‘Bal Lila’, ‘Chir Haran Lila’, ‘Kunj Lila’, ‘Ras Lila’, ‘Panghat Lila’, ‘Dan Lila’ etc. were his favourit subjects. Apart from ‘Lilas’, Raskhan has also created poems on Lord Shankar, Goddes Ganga, Holi festival etc.
