I have long had a fascination with epic myths and multicultural legends. In fact, a decent slice of my reading touches on myths or fantastic stories in some way. So when I heard about Hoshruba I was intrigued. What is Hoshruba? Here is some background:
The world’s first and longest magical fantasy Hoshruba was compiled in the Urdu language by two of its greatest prose writers. Spread over eight thousand pages, it reached the summits of popularity and acclaim never attained by any other epic in the history of Urdu literature. But the richness of its language and its length deterred translations for more than one hundred and twenty-five years.
In this first translation of this iconic fantasy by Musharraf Ali Farooqi, whose translation of The Adventures of Amir Hamza was hailed by the international press as a gift to world literature, we enter the magical world of Hoshruba, conjured in the untold past by sorcerers defying the laws of God and the physical world.
Filled with dazzling illusions and occult realms inhabited by powerful sorceresses and diabolic monsters, Hoshruba had a fixed life, and a designated conqueror who would use its magical key to unravel it one day.
It sounds like a fascinating and entertaining story. Unfortunately, I am behind in working through my TBR pile so I haven’t had a chance to dig into this epic. But I look forward to doing so once I catch up.
Those of you with an interest in the history of myth and fantasy will want to check it out. Who says you can’t mix entertainment and education?
