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Umro Ayyar or Amar Ayyar is a fictional character, an ayyār, in Tilism-e-Hoshruba, an Urdu recension of the Islamic epic Hamzanama (originally in Persian). He was first written about during the time of Mughal Emperor Akbar and many stories and novels have been written about him since.

Modern Urdu authors like Zaheer Ahmed, Mazhar Kaleem, Safdar Shaheen and Akhter Rizvi have written various different stories about the character.

Summary

is a thief and most famous character of the Hamzanama after Amir Hamza, the titular hero of the epic. He's known for his cleverness and theft in the city 'Tilism-e-Hoshruba'. His life is full of adventure. It is his habit to travel around the world and to face evils and bad spirits. Umro has a magical zambeel (bag) from which he can extract whatever he wants. He mostly uses it to show off and to kill evil. He steals from the rich and gives to the poor.

Legacy

The immense popularity of the dastan had a long-lasting effect on other forms of fictional narratives. The earliest novels in Urdu as well as Hindi often seem nothing more than simplified or bowdlerized forms of Dastans. Babu Devaki Nandan Khatri's Chandrakanta and Chandrakanta Santati and Ratan Nath Dhar Sarshar's Fasana-e-Azad are only the two most stellar examples of this genre. Chandrakanta bears the direct influence of dastans as witnessed in the case of eponymous protagonist Chandrakanta who is trapped in a tilism and the presence of notable ayyars. The dastan also influenced Munshi Premchand (1880-1936) who was fascinated and later on inspired by the stories of Tilism-e Hoshruba that he heard at the tobacconist shop in his childhood days. The conventions of the dastan narrative also conditioned Urdu theatre: the trickster Ayyar, permanent friend of Hamza provided the convention of the hero's sidekick that achieved culmination in the Hindi cinema of the sixties.

The story is also performed in Indonesian puppet theatre, where it is called Wayang Menak. Here, Hamza is also known as Wong Agung Jayeng Rana or Amir Ambyah.

In fiction

Films

Animated films

Dramas

Other books

References

1. A class warriors and outlaws in the medieval Islamic world.

1. "Ayyar, ʻUmro (Fictitious character) [WorldCat Identities]".
2. Ahmad, Dr Saeed; Fatima, Ambar (1 March 2020). "عمر و عیار۔ داستانِ امیر حمزہ کا ایک دلچسپ کردار". Noor e Tahqeeq. 4 (13): 49–55 – via ojs.lgu.edu.pk.
3. "Umro Aur Botal Ka Jin by Zaheer Ahmed]". 7 July 2019.
4. "Umro Aur Veran Qila by Mazhar Kaleem M.A]".
5. "Tilism-i-Hoshruba: Umro Ayyar Collection Series".
6. "Zambeel – The legendary bag of tricks". Zambeel Dramatic Readings. 28 April 2013.
7. Introduction to Dastangoi. dastangoi.blogspot.com.
8. "Pasha M. Khan | Institute of Islamic Studies - McGill University". www.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
9. "Chandrakanta (1956)". Cinemaazi.
10. "Umro Ayyar: Usman Mukhtar revives the Persian legend of magic, adventure". Geo News. 17 November 2021.
11. "The Chronicles of Umro Ayyar". IMDb. 21 April 2023.
12. "NISAR BUTT in Ainak Wala Jin". FUN4ALL.
13. "Chandrakanta (1994)". Indiancine.ma.
14. "Chandrakanta (2017)". Indiancine.ma.
15. "Prem Ya Paheli: Chandrakanta (2017)". Indiancine.ma.
16. "Comic review: Umru Ayar, the rebirth of a hero". The Express Tribune. 28 April 2013.
17. Tilism-e-Hoshruba. Penguin UK. 30 October 2009. ISBN 9788184758245. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
18. "The Magical Tale of Hoshruba, a Dastangoi Classic". Asia Society.

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