Habba Khatoon


Habba Khatoon, also known by the honorary title Nightingale of Kashmir, was a Kashmiri Muslim poet and ascetic. She was the wife of Yousuf Shah Chak, the last ruler of Kashmir.

Biography

She was born in a small village in Pampore, Pulwama in the Jammu and Kashmir state. Her real name was Zoon, Zon or Zun, a common Kashmiri first name. According to the oral tradition, she was called Zoon because of her great beauty. Although a peasant, she learnt how to read and write from the village moulvi. At an early age her father married her to a peasant boy but this first marriage proved difficult, and apparently ended in divorce.
According to legend, one day Yusuf Shah Chak was out hunting on horseback. He heard Zoon singing under the shade of a chinar tree, and the couple met and fell in love. The oral tradition describes Zoon as Yusuf Shah's queen consort, although there is scholarly debate about whether she was in fact a lower status mistress or member of his harem. She entered the palace in about 1570, and at some point changed her name to become Habba Khatoon.
The couple were reportedly very content, and Yusuf Shah became the ruler of Kashmir. However, they were separated in 1579 after the Mughal emperor Akbar had Yusuf Shah arrested and imprisoned in Bihar, never to return. After this, Habba Khatoon became an ascetic, and spent the rest of her life wandering across the Valley singing her songs.
Habba Khatun composed songs in the Kashmiri language. It is claimed that she introduced "loal" to Kashmiri poetry, "Loal" is more or less equivalent to the English 'lyric'. It conveys one brief thought. Braj Kachru states that Habba Khatun and Arnimal "perfected the loal form of Kashmiri poetry".
There is some dispute about the historical accuracy of Habba Khatun's biography, however the songs associated with her are widely popular across Kashmir. Her songs are frequently mournful and full of the sorrow of separation. Her tomb lies near Athwajan on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
She has a profound presence in the oral tradition and is hailed as the last independent poet queen of Kashmir.

Honours

An underpass in Mughalpura, Lahore has been named after Habba Khatoon.
Indian Coast Guard has also named a ship as CGS Habba Khatoon after her name