Alaol

An aristocratic background
Syed Alaol is one of the most famous Bengali poets of the Middle Ages. He was
born around 1607 AD. There are disagreements over the place of his birth. Some
scholars suggest that he was born in Chittagong while others say Faridpur. Alaol's
father was a minister of Majlish Kutub, the ruler of Fatwabad (Fatehabad). Since
he was born into an aristocratic family, Alaol received a good education in his
early years. He learnt Bangla, Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian languages as well as the
art of war and music.
Captured by pirates
On one occasion when Alaol was quite young, he was going to Chittagong with his
father by boat. On the way, they were attacked by Portuguese pirates. The pirates
killed his father and captured him. He was sent to Arakan in Myanmar.

Young Alaol found work as a bodyguard in Arakan. Later he worked as a teacher

of music and dance in a well-to-do family. His poetic talent soon became well
known and he was able to secure a place at the royal court of Arakan where he
received royal patronage. Among his patrons were Syed Musa (Royal Minister),
Solaiman (Chief Minister), Mohammad Khan (Minister of Army), Majlis Nabaraj
(Minister of Taxation) and Magan Thakur, the Prime Minister and the adopted son
of the king's sister.

Translations and original work

Alaol was a prolific writer. His most significant contributions to Bangla literature
were made through translations of famous works in different languages into
Bangla. His masterpiece,Padmavati, is a translation of a Hindi poem Padmavat by
Malik Mohammad Jayasi. Most of his other translations were made from Persian
and include Saifulmuluk Badiuzzamal, Satimayana-Lor-Chandrani, Saptapaykar,
Sikandarnama and Tohfa. But Alaol also produced his own original works. These
include a number of songs, mostly vaishav, and a book on the art of music,
Ragtalnama.

Alaol is mostly hailed as one of the great poets who introduced romantic themes
in Bangla poetry. Another characteristic of his works was that though they were
mostly translated from other languages, his creative touch and unique style made
the works essentially the property of the Bangla language. In addition to
contributing to Bangla literature, Alaol also paid attention to questions of religion
and morality, which were reflected in his Tohfa.
His works, apart from Ragtalnama, are adaptations of works in other languages
which include:
•Padmavati (epic poem-1648)
•Saifulmuluk Badiuzzamal (1669)
•Saptapaykar (poetry-1665)
•Tohfa (A didactic book-1660)
•Satimayna O Lorchandrani (completion of DaulatQazi's
work) (1659)
•Sikandarnama (poetry-1671–72)
•Ragtalnama (his earliest piece of writing and this is his
only original writing)

An award in his name

Alaol died around 1673 in Hat Hazari of Chittagong. A prestigious literary award in
his name, Alaol Sahitya Purashkar, has been introduced to recognise important
works in contemporary Bangla.