Book tries to solve riddles in Khusrau's poetry

Amir Khusrau often intended to convey two meanings in his poems - one that has to do with the everyday world and another dealing with the other-worldly - and a new book tries to solve these riddles in his poetry in an innovative manner.
In "Amir Khusrau: The Man in Riddles", Ankit Chadha unravels the fascinating life of one of greatest poets of medieval India through 20 illustrated riddles.
Most of these riddles reflect an important characteristic of Khusrau's personality and poetry - duality, or the way he balances the physical and the metaphysical, the real and the unreal, light and darkness and so on.

Khusrau would often compose verses to describe each collection of poetry he wrote. When taken together, these introductory verses can form an ode or a poem of praise.
The book, published by Penguin, pieces together a portrait of the enigmatic poet.
The illustrations by Urmimala Nag are not just visual representations of the verses, but extensions of the narrative, enriching rather than complementing it.

A riddle is a mystery concealed in words, each a clue one must unravel. In this book, it is also a piece of verse, part of the puzzle that is the fascinating life of Khusrau.
So what does it mean when you say, "Teli ka tel, kumhaar ka handa/ Haathi ki soond, nawab ka jhanda" (The oilman's oil, the potter's pot/ The elephant's trunk, the king's flag)? It's a lamp.

Or what or who is "Bindhinaa ne ek purukh banaaya/ Tiriya dee aur neh lagaaya/ Chook padi kuch waa se aisi/ Des choda hua pardesi" (The divine power created a man/ Body given, seed of life sown/ But the man made a mistake so grave/ That from his own home, he was thrown). The answer is Adam.
According to Chadha, who specialises in weaving research-based narratives for performance in Dastangoi, Khusrau would often compose verses to describe each collection of poetry he wrote and when taken together, these introductory verses can form an ode or a poem of praise.
"Similarly, each of the 20 riddles in the book acts as an introductory verse to a part of Khusrau's personality or thought process, the entire thread of riddles thus forming a story on the life of this phenomenal man," he says.