While reading Abundant Sense, I realised how many of Rahim’s doha’s were familiar. These were part of our Hindi curriculum in middle school. We had supplementary books that consisted of prose and poetry. If memory serves me correctly, we had one volume of poetry devoted to Hindi poets like Mahadevi Varma, Dinkar, Suryakant Tripathi (Nirala), Harivansh Rai Bachchan et al. Another volume of poetry consisted of poets like Kabir and Rahim. For prose, we had a fine collection of Premchand’s stories written in the Devnagari script. These were slim texts published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). So, reading Rahim’s doha’s in Abundant Sense brought back memories.

Every page has a doha. The original in Hindi, followed by a literal translation of the couplet and the explanation in English. Here are four examples of these competent translations:

Abundant Sense ( published by Westland Books) is an exquisitely produced book, beginning from the elegant dust jacket to the design layout of every single page. It is generous and a pleasure to read. This is a book that is a keeper but has probably been designed keeping the “gift market” in mind as well. For instance, it would make for an excellent contribution to the Diwali hampers that are circulated.

Book blurb

Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan was a remarkable man, a navaratna in Akbar’s court—warrior, general, administrator, minister, scholar, polyglot, translator and poet. But, today, he is remembered primarily as a poet, a fact evident in his mausoleum in Delhi, now partially restored, which introduces him thus: ‘Rahim was famous for his dohas and Persian translation of the Ramayana.’

Rahim’s life saw wild swings of fate; he knew glory and ignominy, power and insignificance, and above all, loss. Born into wealth and nobility, he was yet finely attuned to the lives and needs of the common man. And four centuries later, his dohas, or couplets, are still invoked, still on the tongue of ordinary folk.

This thoughtfully compiled volume is the first substantial body of translations of Rahim’s dohas, comprising more than half of the 290 dohas he has written. Chandan Sinha’s translation breaks with the modern tendency to use free verse, working instead with meter and rhyme to strongly evoke the original, especially its memorability. Accompanied by brief explanations of each verse as well as the original in Devanagari, Abundant Sense is a tribute to one of the greats of Indian history and literature.

A writer, translator and former civil servant, Chandan Sinha read English Literature at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and Public Administration at the Universities of South Carolina and Syracuse in the USA. In 2023 he superannuated from the Indian Administrative Service as Director General of the National Archives of India.

Sinha writes in both English and Hindi. He has published articles in various journals and is the author of three books: Public Sector Reforms in India: New Role of the District Officer (Sage, 2007); Kindling of an Insurrection: Notes from Junglemahals (Routledge, 2013) and The Vision of Wisdom, Kabir: Selected Sakhis (Rupa, 2020).

The present work is the second in a series of translations of Hindi poetry from the early modern period in India.

27 July 2025