Habbah Khatun
Habbah Khatun, later 16th cent, poet and musician A contemporary of Emperor Akbar, her original name was Zun. Married to a man of her own status, she had no child which created a rift between her and her husband, and she sought the company of a sufi saint who taught her Persian. She also learnt to sing and to write poetry. Her voice so enchanted Prince Yusuf, the heir-apparent of Kashmir, that he kidnapped her and forced her husband to divorce her. She blossomed in the court as a celebrated poet and musician. Because of the objection of the mullahs, she was abandoned by her lover, though he was later reconciled. However, when Emperor Akbar annexed Kashmir (1586) and exiled Yusuf to Bihar, she found herself deserted again, and again took to a life of a wanderer singing and reciting poetry. She gave a literary form to the Kashmiri language, and evolved a new system of music. She remains one of the most picturesque figures in the literary history of Kashmir.
