HARDLY ever has one person carried out such varied tasks, learnt so many diverse languages and written such different kinds of books as did Richard Francis Burton.

An Irish-born British army officer, Richard Burton was a fiction writer, poet, translator, travelogue writer, linguist, soldier, orientalist, explorer, cartographer, diplomat, mystic, secret agent, ethnologist and geographer.

It is often said that Richard Burton discovered the Kama Sutra and brought The Arabian Nights to the West, but he is known more for his journeys across the world as well as his profound knowledge of different languages and cultures. He knew 29 languages. Richard Burton came to India as an officer of East India Company in 1842 and, as mentioned by C.E. Buckland in his Dictionary of Indian Biography, he “made himself proficient in oriental languages and learned Muhammadan life and customs thoroughly”.

The languages he learnt while in India included Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Pashto, Balochi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Seraiki, Marathi, Persian, Arabic and some others. He also wrote a grammar of the Seraiki language. Burton already knew many European languages.

Burton, back in England between 1849 and 1853, published his works on different languages and wrote about his experiences in India. In 1853, he made a pilgrimage to Makkah in disguise without being detected and published a full account of his Haj travel. He travelled along with some Muslims from Sindh and disguised as a Muslim in different ways, at times pretending to be a Pathan to cover up his deficiency in accent.

But his adventure to Arabia for performing Haj was not without some grave dangers — being robbed or killed by bandits was one of them. Despite his deep knowledge of Islamic rituals, manners and traditions that he had acquired during his seven-year stay in India, Burton had to prepare himself quite well. The reason simply was that the public did not spare any non-Muslim caught entering the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, let alone performing Haj and then declaring himself a Jew or Christian, though local rulers, as put by Burton, did not enjoin death for such unwelcome travellers to the holy cities.

His travel account describing his Haj, titled Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, was published in three volumes. Though he was not the first non-Muslim to have performed Haj, Burton was among the few non-Muslims who had till then made this treacherous journey.

Dr Qudsiya Qureshi in her book Urdu Safar Name Unnisveen Sadi Mein (Lucknow, 1987) has mentioned that Burton’s Haj travelogue was translated into Urdu under the title Safar-i-Dar-ul-Mustafa by Moulvi Mohammad Insha Allah, the editor of Vatan, an Urdu newspaper published from Lahore. But Dr Qudsiya has incorrectly mentioned the year of publication of Burton’s Urdu translation as 1855, which is simply impossible as Moulvi Mohammad Insha Allah Khan was born in 1870. Burton’s Haj travelogue had indeed originally been published in 1855 but, as mentioned b y Dr Anwer Sadeed, its Urdu translation appeared from Lahore in 1910. Also, the Urdu translation of Burton’s Haj pilgrimage is an abridged version, just as an English abridged version appeared in 2015.

According to Moulvi Insha Allah Khan, Burton was sanctioned a leave from East India Company and Royal Geographical Society had arranged for his journey to Arabia. Though the apparent purpose of the journey was stated as to collect geographical and social information, one feels that intelligence gathering too might well have been an intention.

Sir Richard Francis Burton was born on March 19, 1821, in Torquay, a seaside town in Devon, England. Aside from his adventures in India and Arabia, he travelled vastly including South and North America, visited Somaliland, was the first European to see Lake Tanganyika, served in the Crimean war and also discovered the source of River Nile. Burton came to India again in 1876 and visited Sindh, Goa and some other areas. Later in life, he served as consular at Brazil, Damascus and elsewhere. Burton died in Trieste on Oct 20, 1890. Rumour had it that he had secretly embraced Islam, but Burton called himself an atheist.

Burton wrote some 40 books and numerous essays, most of which are available online, free of charge, but many of his works are still not catalogued. Also, many of Burton’s writings still remain unpublished. Ibn-i-Insha, one of Urdu’s foremost humorists and travelogue writers, had developed a deep interest in life and works of Burton and after some research had penned a few pages on him, which are a part of his book Dunya Gol Hai. Insha visited Burton’s tomb, built in the shape of a Bedouin tent and known as the Marble Tent, at Mortlake Cemetery in Kew, in a London borough.

After Burton’s death, his wife burnt his innumerable manuscripts and papers, including journals that he wrote for 40 years and that must have had treasures of knowledge and rare information, a loss still mourned.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2019